OPINION: Isaac Mwangi: From MDGs to SDGs, Can We do Better With New Goals?

OPINION: Isaac Mwangi: From MDGs to SDGs, Can We do Better With New Goals?

Taking their place will be the much more expansive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will now take us through to 2030. The new 17 goals will now take the place of the eight MDGs.

But beyond the hype around the world, do all these goals mean anything in the face of debilitating poverty? Whether we talk of five-year development plans, MDGs, SDGs, Human Development Index, or whatever other measures, the fact is that the poor have continued suffering.

In fact, severe poverty appears to have increased in many parts of the world. This is especially the case in countries broiled in long-running conflict, from South Sudan and Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are other reasons that have stopped many parts of the world, including East Africa, from making much headway in the fight against poverty. Endemic corruption, gender inequality, ethnic and religious discrimination, and non-participatory development approaches are but a few of those reasons.

Inescapable poverty in the region

This is not to undermine the achievements that have been witnessed over the past 15 years. Millions have been lifted out of poverty, jobs created as new industries come up, and innovations such as mobile telephony and M-Pesa have made it easier and cheaper for people to communicate and transact business everywhere.

However, the world’s population continues to increase. Climate change has worsened the fate of the rural poor across the region as the vagaries of the weather wreak havoc on their lives. 

The policies of leading international institutions have been unforgiving, pressuring governments to take measures that have consigned the poor to inescapable poverty even as these very institutions trumpet MDGs.

At the recent 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam, more than 700 MPs and over 50 Speakers from 127 countries debated on the implementation of the SDGs. 

The Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly, Daniel Kidega, urged Parliaments and Parliamentarians to focus on a number of priorities for the post-2015 development agenda – including fighting inequalities, ending poverty, as well as a variety of social, economic and environmental development issues.

Ineffective parliamentary oversight, he said, was partly responsible for non-realization of the MDGs. This loophole, of course, needs to be sealed if the SDGs are to fare any better.

That calls for appropriate legislation by partner states as well as allocation of sufficient budgets for the effective implementation of those laws. It also calls for research and advocacy on the status of preparedness of the region with regard to implementing the SDGs.

Fighting and containing terrorism

Common goals in the areas of sustainable development that will require sustained attention include the promotion of human rights and democracy, children’s rights, gender equality and other fundamental rights. These rights will ensure that nobody is left behind in the implementation of the agenda regarding all other goals.

As Uganda’s Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said, effective implementation of SDGs will require the development of targets, norms, benchmarks and indicators by national parliaments if they are to properly monitor the performance of governments.

Naturally, the issue of security around the world will also have to be tackled. This necessitates the development of new ways to fight and contain terrorism. No development can take place in a context of global terror, whatever the root causes of that terrorism.

Yet, it must be recognized that the frustrations of young people everywhere contribute a great deal to the rising threat of terrorism, other forms of insecurity, drug trafficking, and other types of criminal behaviour. This is especially so in this information age, when our young men and women can clearly see the rot among corrupt leaders who are bleeding whole nations dry for selfish gain without being held to account.

The poor and development workers can no longer be hoodwinked by lofty-sounding declarations coming from world capitals and conferences. East Africa, and the world at large, will need to do more to ensure livelihoods improve and that the SDGs do not become an empty slogan.

 

Courtesy: East African News Agency

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