Polycentric SDG Governance The role of a shared system of rules in East Africa SDG Achievement (PhD project Charles Tonui)

Background

Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 (UN, 2015), they have provided overarching shared norms for governments and non-state actors in sustainability. However, these norms are very broad in scope (Yamane & Kaneko, 2022), and the governance of SDGs lacks overarching legally binding instruments and substantial institutional arrangements (Green, 2020). SDGs as international norms have not only led to creation of more institutions but also more norms to be diffused (Chiba & Katsuma, 2022),rules and standards (UNECE, 2018).

The UN’ Principles of Effective Governance for Sustainable Development (UN, 2018; UNECOSOC, 2018) support countries to operationalize SDG 16. Particularly of relevance to this study is SDG16.7.2, which relates to how actors are ensuring inclusive and responsive decision-making for sustainable development(UNDP, 2022). However, these principles do not clarify how each actor can adopt to contribute to building synergies and better governance of SDG implementation. This has meant a lack of clear guidance, particularly regarding local bottom-up capacities and initiatives (Garfias et al., 2022). The fragmented implementation of SDGs (Bogers et al., 2022; Kanie et al., 2019), which has been attributed to its complex, multi-level, and multi-actor governance (Li et al., 2019; Long, 2018; UN, 2022b), has led to the emergence of polycentric structures (Chan et al., 2021).

The developing countries greatly rely on the UN system/ agencies and local and international agencies who augment national efforts (Akenroye et al., 2018; Leal Filho et al., 2022). Some of the efforts include prioritization of SDGs and mobilization of financial and technical support for the implementation of SDGs at various levels and sectors. SDGs have fed into policies and programmes of regional governance bodies and steered the creation of new institutions (Biermann et al., 2022)

This proposed PhD study considers there is emerging polycentric structures in the governance of SDGs implementation and is focused on establishing the degree to which these characteristics define SDGs governance in East Africa as a polycentric system. Therefore, mapping and analysing shared rules and norms and how they shape the emerging polycentric structures in the governance of SDGs implementation at various levels is necessary.

Description

This proposed PhD study considers there is emerging polycentric structures in the governance of SDGs implementation. The study adopts polycentricity as a theory of governance and characteristics (attributes, institutional essentials, and prerequisites) which a polycentric system must have (van Zeben, 2019). This study aims to assess in what ways and to which degree, SDG governance in East Africa can be qualified as a polycentric system and how its polycentric characteristics could be enhanced.

To do so, the study will focus on (1) what polycentric characteristics does the SDGs framework have? (2) the shared system of rules and norms across levels for SDG governance in East Africa; (3) the polycentric characteristics of the multilateral/global financing system as enabler of polycentric governance of SDG implementation and (4) the polycentric characteristics of SDG financing system and its influence on the alignment of external support with national SDGs priorities in East Africa.