Centre for Policy Dialogue has stressed the need for integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the national planning process and institutional mechanism for their effective implementations.
The integration of SDGs is one of the five challenges identified by the CPD.
The five are inclusion of SDGs in the national planning process, financial and non-financial resources, institutional mechanism for implementation, data for monitoring and participation and accountability to implement the SDGs.
CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya cited the challenges in his keynote presentation on “The Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals: Implementation Challenges for Bangladesh” in the city yesterday.
“It would be a big issue as to how the SGDs will be integrated into the national planning process, who will be included and how much it will be inclusive,” Debapriya said, calling for inclusion of all stakeholders in the process.
“Finance is a key component if the coming process is to successfully deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said Debapriya.
To meet the financing, the government has to focus on domestic resources, to enhance tax and to ensure maximise use of it, he added.
According to the estimates in the final report by the Intergovernmental Committee of Exports on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF), achieving the SDGs in all counties will require additional investment in the range of $5tn to $7tn per year up to 2030.
The average annual additional investment requirement is about 3% of GDP in Bangladesh.
However, UNTCTAD estimates that out of this, developing countries will need between $3.3tn and $4.5tn a year in financing for basic infrastructure, food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, health and education.
Stressing data monitoring, Debapriya said capacities of national statistics office and other government agencies will be built to prepare an updated data producing and financing plan.
An ongoing CPD study has found that among the 300 indicators proposed by UNStatCom, data for about one-third indicators are not available for Bangladesh, he said.
As per the CPD study, among the 17 SDGs, eight goals are better integrated in the existing national prioritisation process while about 20% targets are not currently reflected in national priorities.
Attainment of SDGs will require a strong and effective institutional mechanism involving all stakeholders including public representatives (central and local), government (executive and bureaucracy) and private sector, civil society, knowledge community and development partners, said CPD fellow.
One of the weaknesses of MDGs implementation was absence of dedicated institutional mechanism for implementation, he observed.
He suggested forming an inter-ministerial body under the leadership of Prime Minister’s Office to implement the agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The government may form a set of task forces involving both government and non-government experts and the national budgetary process should also be informed by the SDGs, he suggested.
Debapriya underscored the need for emphasis on weaker areas of MDGs achievement instead of focusing on stronger areas only.
The 193 member states committed to work towards implementing the 2030 Agenda within their own counties and at regional and global level for sustainable development.
