National action plan needed to reach SDGs

An accountable 'national action plan' prioritising the goals and targets holds the key for Bangladesh to achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030, analysts said yesterday.

They also suggested “coordinated efforts” in the public and private sectors and “active participation” of all stakeholders for achieving the SDGs.

“There are 169 targets under the 17 SDGs of the United Nations. The first task is prioritising the targets and the goals that we want to achieve,” said Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation.

There should be integration between strategic policies and institutions, and the state itself will have to coordinate the whole process step by step from top to bottom, he said.

His comments came at a roundtable on sustainable development goals and Bangladesh organised by Bangla-language daily Prothom Alo in association with Standard Chartered Bangladesh at the office of the newspaper.

Ahmad said: “We put efforts on the development works excluding the participation of people. The development works would have to be people-centric.”

Although financing would be a major challenge for Bangladesh in achieving the SDGs, Ahmad referred to the success in reaching the millennium development goals.

“We have achieved most of the MDGs at our own cost, not with the assistance of donor or aid agencies. So, we have to give importance to our own financing,” he said, emphasising proper management of the funds.

Meher Afroze Chumki, state minister for women and children affairs, said with active participation of all tiers of people and institutions, from public to private, the goals and targets of the SDGs can be achieved. “It's not possible for the government alone to attain these -- participation from all segments is required.”

She also said the government is not going to lower the minimum age of marriage for females from 18.

“Rather, the rate of the under-age marriage would decline if we can make education free for female students up to the higher secondary level,” she added. Ainun Nishat, professor emeritus of Brac University, said the SDGs are the guidelines for governance at the national level.

“So, we have to prepare our own indicators through a national plan of action but in line with the goals under the SDGs,” he said, adding that the annual progress of the action plan will have to be disclosed with accountability.

Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre, said there is a need to focus on all types of partnerships such as government with civil society and civil society with civil society.

Innovative solutions by NGOs, start-ups and individuals are a must, he said, putting emphasis on quality education and health services.

Abrar A Anwar, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said the SDGs cannot be achieved only by providing funds.

“We have to work together. Only then we can reach our desired goals,” he added.

Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh; Manoj Kumar Biswas, general manager of sustainable finance of Bangladesh Bank; Md Munir Hossain, national programme officer, adolescent and youth of UNFPA; and Shantanu Gupta, monitoring and evaluation specialist of Unicef, also spoke.

Abdul Qayyum, associate editor of Prothom Alo, moderated the roundtable. Matiur Rahman, editor of the daily, was also present.