Ghana applauded for achieving some MDGs
Ghana has been commended for making tremendous progress towards achieving its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The targets of halving extreme poverty and providing potable water for people without access to safe drinking water were attained well ahead of 2015.
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The target of gender parity in primary school was also achieved ahead of time, though not in all the regions of the country. This came to light at the launch of the 2015 MDGs Report in Accra on tuesday.
A lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr William Baah-Boateng, and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana, Ms Christine Evans-Klock, who made the commendation, however, urged the government to change its strategy during the post-2015 era to fast-track progress on health-related goals.
The MDG Report for 2015 highlights the successes to be celebrated in Ghana but also points out the unfinished business.
MDGs Report
Reviewing the report, Dr Baah-Boateng said although the target was not met for universal primary education, there was substantial progress, as was the case for halting and reversing HIV prevalence, access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and considerably reducing hunger.
He said although Ghana made impressive progress, progress in some areas had been slow in terms of achieving full and productive employment.
He said some of the areas where the country made slow progress were equal share of women in wage employment in non-agricultural sectors, women’s involvement in governance, child and maternal health, as well as reversing the loss of environmental resources and improving sanitation.
He said efforts to ensure debt sustainability continued, in spite of recent economic challenges. Dr Baah-Boateng said Ghana’s transition to a lower middle-income country, coupled with poverty reduction and social protection interventions, largely explained the progress made so far.
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Challenge
He said the challenge, however, was how to sustain the progress made and advance towards the targets not likely to be met.
He said additionally, the relatively high incidence of extreme poverty and deeper depth of poverty in the three northern regions required particular policy attention.
Similarly, Dr Baah-Boateng said the high incidence of vulnerable employment and the considerable proportion of working people living in poor households needed to engage the attention of policy makers, so that economic growth could generate much more decent employment.
Domestic revenue
Launching the report, Ms Evans-Klock noted that with the achievement of a lower middle-income status, there was the need for Ghana to improve domestic revenue mobilisation to be able to finance its policies and programmes.
She said the government’s efforts to increase domestic financial resources could be supported by co-ordinated efforts with new development actors such as philanthropic foundations, prudent public-private partnerships and securing carbon financing options.