Principal Coordinator SDG Affairs Zuena Aziz participates in online side event of 76th UNGA
The Principal Coordinator SDG Affairs, Zuena Aziz, participated in an online side event, at the UN General Assembly on September 23, where she spoke at the Business Call to Action Annual Forum event "Development in Harmony: Aligning private sector impact with public sector goals through Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) reporting".
According to the SDG Financing Strategy of Bangladesh, it has been estimated that the government will have to mobilize additional funds of $928 billion to implement SDGs by 2030. The share of the private sector is estimated to be 42 percent.
With this in mind, Zuena Aziz highlighted how with a view to executing the 8th Five Year Plan and also to achieve the SDGs, social and environmental challenges have to be solved through market driven entrepreneurial opportunities.
While Bangladesh has made its mark by completing the Development Finance Assessment (DFA) in 2016, the first DFA included only high-level private sector targets, but a more data driven roadmap to boost sustainability financing and especially private sector sustainability investments, is required.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with support from the Economic Relations Division and other relevant Ministries, the Government of Bangladesh is now updating Development Finance Assessment (DFA) and Financing Strategy (FS), in alignment with its 8th Five Year Plan, to include a private sector sustainability investment roadmap. This is done under the aegis of the Joint Programme (JP) called Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) for Accelerating Achievement of SDGs (INFF4SDGs) in Bangladesh, to boost public and private SDG financing with support from UNDP together with UNCDF, UNWOMEN, ILO and the UN leadership of the Resident Coordinator (UNRCO). The Government is supporting the process of setting up a governance and coordination mechanism, between the government and private sector.
In this regard, Zuena Aziz spoke about the first sector wide SDG impact management report released in Bangladesh last March, highlighting the impact of the Apparel Sector on the National Priorities and of the Government of Bangladesh and related SDGs. This report was done with support from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), UNDP and Global Reporting Initiative. Forty-seven BGMEA member factories voluntarily self-reported on their sustainability impact showcasing both their contribution to economic growth as well as to the attainment of national priorities and SDGs through employment; supporting healthcare of the workforce; investing in up-skilling the workforce; adopting resource recycling and increasingly uses of renewable energy among others. A scale-up phase is being planned to include a hundred factories by the end of this year.
This collaborative effort is especially important as it follows the milestone achieved by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, by winning the SDG Progress Award at the Ninth Annual International Conference of the United Nations Sustainable Development solutions network in New York, earlier this week.
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