Partnership Agreements for the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals – History of Ghana

General News of Thursday, July 11, 2019

Source: Akosua D. Ntim Sekyere

2019-07-11

The Government of Ghana shared its experience of how it collaborated with other non-state actors to promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the High-level Political Forum (HLPF). ) in progress at the UN in New York.

It was at a side event organized jointly by the Government of Ghana and the CSO Platform on Sustainable Development Goals, under the theme "Building Partnerships for Sustainable Development Goals: Government, civil society, the private sector and traditional authorities ".

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, Minister of Planning and Member of Parliament for Wenchi, who was chairing the government delegation to the forum, recalled in his speech the crucial role played by effective partnerships to ensure sustainable and transformative development. He said, "Partnerships for development are based on a win-win relationship in which partners can pool their resources and skills to more effectively achieve economic, social and environmental goals."

The minister said that for the world to achieve inclusive growth, sustainable development, peace and security, it needed the support of all stakeholders – government, private sector, civil society, traditional leaders, faith-based organizations, universities, development partners and youth groups. , among others.

In his view, achieving global and continental commitment to sustainable development – the 2030 Agenda and the 2063 Agenda of the African Union – requires a comprehensive approach. The SDG 17 Sustainable Development Goals recognizes multi-stakeholder partnerships as important means to mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of sustainable development at all levels and in all sectors, he added.

He said that since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, the Government of Ghana has created the enabling environment needed to build partnerships among development actors.

He said that the implementation arrangements for Ghana's sustainable development goals reflected the multi-stakeholder approach in which state and non-state actors worked together at all levels. This has resulted in a number of innovative partnerships and actions by traditional leaders, religious organizations, the private sector, academia, civil society organizations and youth to accelerate the implementation of the Development Agenda. sustainable by the 2030 horizon, he revealed.

Ambbadador Nana Effah-Apenteng, supreme chief of the Bompata Traditional Area and Secretary of Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who represented the traditional authorities, said that the leaders of all times have always been the defenders development of their respective communities, in addition to government efforts. .

According to him, several interventions of traditional chiefs contribute to the development of the society in general and to the achievement of the global and continental commitments of the countries. He said that the educational funds set up by traditional leaders to provide scholarships to poor and needy students at different levels of education contribute "directly to the SDG 4 which puts the emphasis on providing quality education and indirectly to SDGs 1, 2, 3, 8 and 10. "

He added that the Sustainable Development Goals provided a framework for building on the achievements of traditional leaders' initiatives to improve the population. "We recognize that the future well-being of the communities we represent is based on the successful implementation of the SDGs. We are therefore committed to working fully with the government and all stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of the goals, "he said.

The private sector, represented by Mr. Alhbadan Andani, Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana, and Mr. Gayheart Mensah, External Affairs Director of Vodafone, emphasized the vital role that this sector must play in accelerating sustainable development. According to Mr Andani, prosperous capital where peace and development reigns – SDG 16. Thus, the DGs' SDG Advisory Group provides unflinching support for achieving sustainable development through the creation of the Millennium Development Goals Fund. Sustainable Development Goals and the Green Fund to finance implementation and support sustainable development. the use of renewable energies, respectively.

Gayheart Mensah warned that companies should not be affected by the profits they make but by the sustainability of their social and environmental activities in the economy. He badured that Vodafone would continue to partner with the government for innovative use of mobile data to solve development problems.

Civil society organizations, represented by the Co-Chair of the Platform of Civil Society Organizations on Sustainable Development Goals and the Director of SEND Ghana, Mr. George Osei-Akoto Bimpeh, Country Director, noted that the antagonistic relations between civil society organizations and the government were now less a collaboration that also allows for effective accountability. He noted that CSOs have a responsibility to complement the government's national development efforts while standing up for themselves and forcing the government to report on development issues.

He commended the Ghanaian government for the observer status, as the civil society platform for the SDGs at the highest levels of government plays a key role in the development discourse, adding that " we can not achieve the SDGs without such partnerships. "

Mr. Inge Herman Rydland, Norway and Special Envoy for the 2030 Agenda, said the partnership between Ghana and his country was based on a shared vision for achieving sustainable development, adding that the global agenda meant that all were equal and had work to do. . Jenna Slotin of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, Data, congratulated the Government of Ghana for its leadership role in creating partnerships to ensure that no one is left behind.

The High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) opened on Tuesday, July 9, 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the theme "Empowering People, Ensuring Inclusion and Improving Opportunity". ;equality". Forum discussions will focus on Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17.