• High-level coordination bodies, such as the Planning Commission of India (headed by the Prime Minister, with the specific aim of cutting through ministerial silos), the National Development and Reform Commission of China, the High Planning Council of Turkey and the National Planning Commission of South Africa. Other examples include the Social Partnership initiative of Barbados, which brings together ministers, employers and trade unions to address major economic, social and environmental challenges under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister; and the cross-sectoral approach of Switzerland, inherent to the structure of the federal Government, which, in the absence of a Prime Minister, facilitates collective decision-making on all policy issues and shared responsibility for implementation by all Government members.
• National sustainable development plans and strategies, which are championed by the Head of State or Government, receive broad political support in parliament and bring all relevant stakeholders (including the private sector, civil society, and local and regional authorities) together in a broad partnership. Such plans and strategies should include the economic, social and environmental dimensions of such issues as poverty eradication, job creation, inequality reduction, unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, energy, climate change, biodiversity and green growth. They should also include specific commitments that go beyond the narrow time frame of the electoral cycle, and include monitoring and accountability provisions.
• Ministries of foreign affairs with responsibility for coordinating the foreign policy of their country with the sectoral ministries in order to ensure more coherent representation of national positions in international forums. In Sweden, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for International Development Cooperation are responsible for coordinating and developing the Government’s policy coherence for development, unanimously adopted by the Parliament in 2003.
•A better interface between policymakers and the scientific community, which, in turn, can contribute to deeper understanding of the causes and impacts of sustainable development challenges and point to innovative and effective ways of addressing them. The United States President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology and the United Kingdom Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser are both useful examples of this approach.