Financing, public-private partnership and proper monitoring would be major challenges for implementation of the new set of global goals, stakeholders said in Dhaka on Thursday.
They expressed their views on how to achieve the targets of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), at a roundtable on "MDGs to SDGs at a city hotel.
UNDP assistant administrator and director of regional bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Haoliang Xu, said, “SDGs are much broader and comprehensive."
The goals of SDGs, which have replaced the MDGs this year, are interlinked, he pointed out. He cited the example of dealing with disasters, saying it is not just an issue of disaster management ministry; rather it is a collaborative work of several ministries.
Member of Planning Commission (general economics division) Shamsul Alam laid emphasis on financing of projects, saying, “SDG projects need three times more funds than those of the MDGs. Taking massive amount of loan for implementing the project is not a solution.”
He felt that health and education sector should be focused more than any other sectors to attain SDGs.
Editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam said SDGs are coming to the fore at a time when the world has become cynical about everything. "We don’t trust what the world leaders and the media say as lots of lies have been told earlier.”
“SDGs have a glimmes of hope as its goals are more participatory than the process of MDGs. Resources are important, so is monitoring if it is well-used. The media could play a very important role here,” he pointed out.
“The whole issue is good governance. However, in recent days the government is becoming arrogant,” he added.
Shedding light on gender issues in SDGs, executive director of Nijera Kori, Khushi Kabir, said eliminating gender inequality is not a stand-alone issue in implementing SDGs as women are food producers; they deal with clean water and other development issues.
Focussing on the challenges regarding implemention of SDGs, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh Farah Kabir said that SDG will be just a tick box project if we do not change some fundamentals such as right to mobility, right to inheritance, and right to citizenship.
She also said private organisations should see SDGs beyond their corporate social responsibility.
With the adoption of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, a new set of 17 SGDs were agreed upon at the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015.
Source: Prothom Alo English (
http://en.prothom-alo.com/economy/news/86435/Constant-monitoring-key-to-attaining-SDGs)
