The Fourth Meeting of the Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) Task Force was organized by the Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in collaboration with the European Union (EU) on 29-31 May 2018 in Brussels, Belgium. At the Meeting, SESRIC was represented by HE Amb. Musa Kulaklıkaya, Director General, and Dr. Atilla Karaman, Researcher.

The Fourth Meeting of the TOSSD Task Force focused on the remaining issues of Pillar I of TOSSD; i.e., cross border flows, and gave the opportunity to the participants to discuss more in detail about Pillar II of TOSSD which is development enablers and global challenges, particularly the extent of covering peace and security related cooperation within TOSSD.

Additionally, the TOSSD Secretariat informed the participants about their pilot exercise in Nigeria which took place in the first weeks of May 2018. Apart from these, the Meeting covered the following topics:

• Support to development enablers and response to global challenges at regional or global levels
• Example of a development enabler at regional level: Peace and security
• Example of a development enabler at global level: Work of standard setting international organisations
• Highlights from TOSSD country pilot in Nigeria
• Reporting format: Information to be collected on the SDG focus, purpose and sector of destination of TOSSD activities
• Communication and outreach
• Feedback from consultations with stakeholder groups on excerpts of emerging Reporting Instructions

Furthermore, the TOSSD Task Force exchanged views on how to engage with the members of the Inter-Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals Indicators (SDGs) for the inclusion of the TOSSD as a possible measurement framework in the Global SDG Framework in 2020.

The TOSSD Task Force welcomed the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) as a new full member for having an additional perspective of the multilateral development banks and Brazil as a new observer member. In this connection, the current membership of the TOSSD Task Force is composed of:

• National Statistics Offices (NSOs): Colombia, France, Mexico, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, and United Kingdom;
• OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members: Canada, Denmark, European Union (EU), France, Japan, and United States of America (USA);
• Partner country and non-DAC provider country representatives: Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Ghana, Nigeria, and Timor Leste;
• International agencies including Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and SESRIC; and
• Observer: Brazil

The TOSSD Task Force members also held a Consultative Meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) representatives on 31 May 2018. During the meeting, the TOSSD Task Force Members and the Secretariat had the opportunity to discuss the TOSSD reporting instructions with the representatives of the CSOs in order to collect a broader view of the stakeholders of the development finance community on the TOSSD mechanism.

The TOSSD Task Force has the primary objective to clarify the features of the TOSSD statistical framework and develop recommendations for adjusting or improving the framework (definitions, measurement parameters and methodologies, eligibility criteria).

For more information, please visit:

https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/tossd-task-force.htm