"Ghana has made progress in achieving the SDGs" | General news

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, Minister of Planning, said that Ghana has made progress in achieving many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Overall, poverty has declined slightly, from 24.2% in 2013 to 23.4% in 2017. Domestic productivity growth, measured as gross domestic product (GDP), is accelerated to 8.1% in 2017, making Ghana the second fastest growing economy in Africa. this year.

According to him, the main macroeconomic indicators, including the budget deficit, inflation and interest rates, were down, adding that the trade balance registered surpluses in 2017 and 2018, leading to an improvement in the balance of payments.

Voluntary national examination

This question was included in Ghana's first National Voluntary National Review (VNR) report on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, presented at the 2019 High-level Political Forum (HLPF) to the United Nations. United.

The forum is part of the monitoring and review agreement for the 2030 Agenda and provides a platform for reviewing progress in implementing the SDGs.

It also aims to provide a phase of mutual learning and forge partnerships to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs.

The 2019 HLPF brought together more than 2,000 participants representing governments, businesses, academia, civil society organizations, youth groups, UN agencies and others.

The Minister of Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, was also present; the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations, Mr. Ignatius Baffour Awuah; Ms. Patricia Appiagyei, Deputy Minister of the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; Ms. Abena Osei Asare, Assistant Minister of Finance, and Ms. Barbara Ayisi Asher, Assistant Minister of Public Works and Housing.

Other indicators

Acting from the social sector, Professor Gyan-Baffour said that access to education, especially at the high school level, has generally improved.

He attributed this to the introduction of the government's free SHS flagship initiative, which allowed an additional 271,000 students to enroll in SHS in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years.

Professor Gyan-Baffour, also a member of Wenchi, added that gender parity had been reached at the basic education level.

He added that the proportion of the population with access to electricity has also improved, from 70.6% in 2013 to 81.1% in 2017.

Environment

On the environment, he said that there had been a marginal increase in forest cover.

He added that Ghana had started implementing a 2017-2040 forest plantation strategy to protect forest cover to ensure a sustainable supply of planted forest goods and services.

The Minister highlighted some important lessons learned from the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, including the importance of developing strategic partnerships with key stakeholders; build strong links between government, research institutions, universities, the private sector, and other research and innovation actors; strengthen the capacity of subnational structures for the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and mobilize adequate national resources to support and expand ongoing interventions.

challenges

Professor Gyan-Baffour, however, mentioned some of the obstacles to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including the lack of sustainable funding.

According to him, the mobilization of national resources should be improved and the available resources of the private sector should be used to accelerate the implementation of priority interventions.

Acting on data issues badociated with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, he said the government was implementing a data roadmap with three priority areas of action, filling gaps, encouraging Use of data and strengthening the data ecosystem.

CSO Platform

Ghana's efforts are characterized by the fact that the government is implementing the Sustainable Development Goals through the joint efforts of the Platform of Civil Society Organizations on the Sustainable Development Goals.

In the spirit of "leaving no one behind", the CSO presentation was read by Mr. Alexander Bankole Williams, a visually impaired.

The platform of civil society organizations commended the government for its efforts and declared itself ready to continue working together to raise awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mr. Williams emphasized that "citizen awareness of sustainable development goals is crucial because many of them can only be achieved through behavioral change".

He also called on the government to help build the capacity of CSOs for efficient data collection, as the platform also produced complementary data to track progress towards the SDGs.

Lack of awareness of the SDGs

However, at a press conference in Accra, the platform of civil society organizations, in a report on Ghana's progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, revealed that the majority of Ghanaians do not Were unaware of the sustainable development goals.

Known as the "2019 Parallel Report," it states that 57% of over 1,000 random sample respondents said they had never heard of sustainable development goals, said Philip Boateng Kessie & Nicole Maafo.

56.4% of respondents also said they did not know who had the responsibility to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.