Sustainable development is the basic principle resulting from the Polish Constitution. The challenges are, among others, to end poverty, to end hunger or to ensure healthy lives, but also to ensure a sustainable use of the natural environment, to reduce social inequalities or to ensure access to energy. The goals will be implemented in 5 areas:
- people
- planet
- prosperity
- peace
- partnership.
The Ministry of Development, and after re-organisation - the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, coordinated the implementation of the 2030 Agenda’s objectives, including goal 11: to ”Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. This is a packet of initiatives that encompasses institutional, advisory and investment support, aimed to increase the number and value of investments financed, among others, by the European Union and the Local Government Initiative Fund. Ministry of Investment and Development prepared the ”Package for Medium Sized Cities Losing Social and Economic Functions”. Besides ministries, the audit encompassed 122 presidents and mayors of towns losing the aforementioned functions, as well as Statistics Poland.
In course of the audit presidents and mayors of medium-sized towns, which are the most prone to lose their social and economic functions (in line with the analysis conducted by the Polish Academy of Sciences) were asked, whether they use or intend to use the support offered by the ”Package for Medium-Sized Cities Losing Social and Economic Functions”. According to the answers, cities are familiar with the support-offer available within the package, monitor the announcements and consider participation, in line with the diagnosed needs and the adopted development goals. 24 cities (22,4%) began the implementation of projects, however in 45 cities (41,2%) no actions have yet been taken.
NIK also pointed out the areas that the government should pay particular attention to, among others: to create social and institutional partnership, which is supposed to involve as many persons or institutions in the implementation of projects, as possible. The 2030 Agenda is based on the principle ”No one left behind”. The second important area is promotion and dissemination of Sustainable Development Goals. According to the public opinion research on these goals conducted among the EU Members States by the European Commission in late 2016, citizens of Finland (73%), Luxembourg (62%) and the Netherlands (61%) are the most aware of SDGs. Almost 65% of the Poles that participated in the survey have never heard of the goals, 24% are aware of them, but do not exactly know what they mean, and only 9% of the respondents are familiar with their meaning. Therefore, the Polish authorities should particularly focus on the promotion. The UN also declares assistance. NIK President, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, spoke twice on this topic with Mariola Ratschka, Officer in Charge at the UN Information Centre in Warsaw,.
The 2030 Agenda audit programmes were prepared by 63 states. NIK conducted the audit in January-March 2018, and exchanged experience with SAI India and SAI Indonesia. In May 2018 the NIK audit team participated in a meeting in Nanjing, China, aimed to analyse audit findings and draft national reports. In June, Poland and Slovakia presented their audits at a meeting of the V4+2 Group, attended by the Secretary General of INTOSAI.
