The Republic of Benin and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
announce the launch of a partnership to monitor and evaluate the progress and efforts of the
government of Benin to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through this technical partnership, the SDSN will play a key advisory role to Beninese authorities.
Its observations and conclusions will be considered by the various ministries and administrations to
further integrate the SDGs into all areas of public action, including in its funding programs.

This partnership was formalized at the same time as Benin launches an SDG bond issue program
designed to mobilize international investors to finance public spending with a high SDG impact

The SDSN and its network of correspondents will contribute to strengthening the evaluation of Benin’s
public and budgetary policies in relation to the 2030 Agenda.

This bilateral technical partnership complements the work of the SDSN, which publishes each year
a flagship report on global sustainable development, including the SDG Index and Dashboards, under
the leadership of SDSN President Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs.

This globally recognized work is widely used by states under the UN High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development (HLPF). They will be further developed in the case of Benin to provide an
in-depth analysis of the country’s performance in achieving the SDGs.

The goal of this partnership is to help close the “SDG gaps” and advance Benin in the SDG index
published by the SDSN. The country has already made significant progress recently on SDG #2
(Zero Hunger), SDG #8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG #16 (Peace, Justice and Strong
Institutions), notably through work on integrating the SDGs into the national budget and the
various planning instruments.

Indeed, Benin has made efforts and institutional innovations in relation to the SDGs in recent
years: the costing exercise required to determine the costs of achieving the 17 SDGs, the evaluation of
the State budget with regard to the contribution of expenditures to the achievement of the 17 SDGs,
and the creation of an ad hoc coordination and steering entity. In partnership with the International
Monetary Fund, priority social expenditures have been identified. They particularly target areas related
to education, social insurance, social assistance, health, water sanitation and agriculture.

This technical partnership will enable the production of useful data and information to consolidate and
diversify Benin’s sources of financing. It will help improve the quality of public investment in the
SDGs alongside private financing. As such, it reflects paragraph 41 of the 2030 Agenda which states:
“Public finance, both domestic and international, will play a vital role in providing essential services and
public goods and in catalyzing other sources of finance.”

The partnership will span an initial period of 12 months. SDSN’s study will be finalized for the UN Highlevel Political Forum in July 2022 (one year before the 2023 SDG summit). Excerpts may be used for
allocation and impact reports on Benin’s SDG obligations.

Romuald Wadagni, Minister of State for the Economy and Finance:
“This innovative partnership with SDSN completes our institutional set-up in favor of the implementation
of the SDGs. The work carried out will provide a critical and scientifically rigorous perspective on the
policies we are pursuing and which we intend to finance in part through the SDG bond issue. The SDSN
will play an important advisory role by providing observations and recommendations that will be
considered in the design of our public policies and government action, but also shared with our various
stakeholders, including our international investors.”

Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, President, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network:
“The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) promotes solutions for
sustainable development through its global network of research centers and practitioners. It is a great
honor for SDSN to partner with the Government of Benin over the next year to support the government’s
efforts to achieve the SDGs. Building on SDSN’s tools, including the SDG Index and Dashboards, this
partnership will help identify priorities and strategies for Benin to accelerate progress towards the
SDGs.”