Samoa

Given the fast pace of global socio-economic development, more tailored, focused, and localised efforts to strengthen public sector capacity in small island developing states (SIDS) is increasingly important. SIDS have unique vulnerabilities, rich histories and contexts, and strengths that can be harnessed for sustainable development. Development partners need to adapt how they provide capacity-strengthening support, taking individual SIDS’ circumstances and needs into account to better help them achieve their ambitions. This report summarises perspectives from small island developing states (SIDS) on current experiences and opportunities to improve capacity-strengthening support to make it more tailored, impactful, and sustainable. The report uses the broad definition of capacity-strengthening as activities that improve the competencies and abilities of individuals, organisations, and broader formal and informal social structures in a way that boosts organisational performance. It concentrates on public sector capacity, including interactions with other stakeholders across sectors.

The re-opening of Samoa’s borders in late-2022 kickstarted the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This offers an opportunity to rebuild sustainably its tourism, maritime transport, and fisheries sectors. Samoa’s ocean resources can also augment its resilience to future shocks such as climate change. Through an analysis of Samoa’s economic trends and environmental pressures, institutional set-up and policy tools, as well as financing landscape, this report identifies opportunities and challenges for Samoa’s ocean economy to drive sustainable and resilient development. The Samoa Ocean Strategy offers a blueprint for such a pursuit, but there remain gaps and impediments. To address them, the report provides several cross-cutting and sector-specific policy recommendations to accelerate Samoa’s transition to a sustainable ocean economy.

L’instauration de sociétés durables, équitables et résilientes est le défi qui se pose à l’humanité au XXIe siècle. Pour réaliser cette ambition, la communauté internationale du développement a besoin d’un cadre de référence commun, universel, pour travailler en plus étroite coopération. Les Objectifs de développement durable (ODD) répondent manifestement à ce besoin, mais des problèmes d’ordre technique, politique et structurel empêchent les fournisseurs de coopération pour le développement de les utiliser comme cadre de résultats commun. S'appuyant sur sept études de cas, cette publication identifie deux facteurs déterminants et un évènement majeur qui peuvent aider à surmonter ces défis. En premier lieu, la prise en main par les pays doit être soutenue par la communauté internationale. En second lieu, les partenaires au développement doivent changer leur organisation pour réaliser les ODD. Enfin, en obligeant les gouvernements et les partenaires au développement à redéfinir leurs stratégies à long terme et à revoir leurs mécanismes internes, la pandémie de COVID-19 offre une occasion rare d’utiliser le cadre des ODD collectivement comme une feuille de route vers la reprise : cette crise peut changer la donne.

This case study explores whether the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be used as a shared framework for results by development co-operation actors in Samoa. The study offers an introduction to Samoa’s progress in mainstreaming the SDGs in national policy making, as well as in monitoring the SDG targets and indicators. It then focuses on the experiences of development co-operation partners in aligning their country-level programmes and frameworks with the SDGs, and identifies enabling factors, drivers and obstacles that contribute to SDG alignment and monitoring in Samoa. The study concludes with recommendations for both the government and its development partners to increase the collective use of the SDG framework and improve policy coherence, effectiveness and sustainable impact of all development efforts.