The Centre for Policy Dialogue yesterday suggested the government to form an inter-ministerial body under the leadership of the Prime Minister’s Office for proper implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The civil society think-tank also said it would form a platform involving similar organisations to help the country achieve the SDGs.
The comments came at a media briefing on the outcome of the SDGs adopted by the member nations at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York last week.
Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD, made a presentation on the agenda of the SDGs and highlighted the challenges Bangladesh will face in implementing them.
Attainment of SDGs will require a strong and effective institutional mechanism involving all stakeholders, he said.
Many stakeholders, such as public representatives, government offices, private sector, civil society and development partners are involved in the SDGs process.
The government now needs to adapt the SDGs to national contexts and ensure that all ministries provide the right policy ingredients into the mix.
He urged the Prime Minister’s Office to take the lead role.
Heads of states and governments, together with leaders of the civil societies and the private sectors, adopted the 17 SDGs with 169 associated targets to replace the Millennium Development Goals that will expire at the end of the year.
The member states, including Bangladesh, have committed to work towards implementing the agenda within their own countries and at the regional and global levels.
But the agendas have been launched at a time when the world is passing a challenging time, including economic slowdown and wars.
New goals and targets will come into effect on January 1 next year to guide the international development agenda over the next 15 years.
The CPD identified five major challenges linked to the attainment of the SDGs.
They are: integration into the national planning process, institutional mechanism, financing, data for monitoring and participation, and accountability.
An ongoing CPD study has found that among the 17 SDGs, eight are better integrated into the existing national prioritisation processes.
But 20 percent of the targets are not currently reflected in the national priorities.
Integration of these goals into national planning and policies will be a major challenge.
The think-tank said Bangladesh must integrate Goal 10 (inequality) and Goal 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), which, it thinks, are important for the country.
Achieving the SDGs in all countries will require additional global investment in the range of $5 trillion to $7 trillion per year up to 2030, according to estimates by the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing.
Developing countries will need between $3.3 trillion and $4.5 trillion a year to finance basic infrastructure, food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and health and education, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
But at the current level of public and private investment, there will be an annual financing gap of $2.5 trillion, or 3.2 percent of world GDP.
The CPD said the funding issue will be the key challenge for Bangladesh as it already faces deficiency in its spending on social security, education and healthcare.
For example, the think-tank said the average share of healthcare in total public expenditure stagnated at 0.7 percent of GDP during 2003-2014.
As per World Health Organisation, the spending should be 5 percent of GDP. Similarly, budgetary allocation on education remains at 2 percent of GDP in Bangladesh instead of UNESCO-recommended 6 percent.
The think-tank said domestic resource mobilisation has to rise to 17 percent of GDP from the present 12.1 percent for implementation of the SDGs.
In addition, Bhattacharya advised the government to utilise low-cost foreign aid and attract foreign direct investment in this regard.
Illicit financial flow out of the country must be stopped, he said.
Replying to a query on how much money Bangladesh needs to implement the SDGs, Bhattacharya said it cannot be estimated now.
Accessibility, quality and timeliness of data will be critical for the implementation of the SDGs, he added.
CPD Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman said broad participation and accountability are essential ingredients in delivering the SDGs.
He said new areas of SDGs — cities and human settlements, ecosystem and biodiversity — will call for greater efforts and resources at the country level.
Goals have to be implemented by public-private partnership, Rahman said. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the CPD, also spoke.
Source: The Daily Star
