‘Strengthen collaboration with govt to achieve SDGs’

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has emphasised the need for civil society organisations (CSOs) and the private sector to strengthen collaboration and strategic partnerships with the government to help achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

He said the SDGs were extraordinary goals that had the potential to propel the socio-economic growth of local economies but maintained that the attainment of the goals required bold, pragmatic and collaborative efforts from all stakeholders.

“It is everybody’s business and everybody’s responsibility to help transform our world and the SDGs are global blueprints towards alleviating poverty and protection of the planet,” he said.

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CSOs conference

The President’s call was contained in a keynote address delivered on his behalf by his Special Advisor, Dr Eugene Owusu, at a multi-stakeholder conference on the SDGs that was held in Accra Thursday.

It was held on the theme: “Opportunities in sustainable development through strategic partnerships” and was attended by key stakeholders from state institutions, private entities, CSOs and the international community.

The meeting was held under the auspices of the Civil Society Forum, Ghana, a platform for corporate, community-based and other organisations engaged in programmes on SDGs.

President Akufo-Addo described the theme for the conference as appropriate and stressed that: “It is a wake-up call for all of us as governments, CSOs and the private sector to come together and garner support and momentum in order for the goals of the SDGs to be realised.”

He said as a co-chair of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Eminent Group of Advocates on SDGs, he was ready to engage all who mattered regarding the implementation and financing of the initiatives, as well as promoting the attainment of their goals.

While lauding the pivotal role CSOs played in championing the SDGs, the President called for collective and decisive action to be taken to accelerate implementation of the SDGs.

Policies

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the government’s transformational policies in the areas of education, agriculture, industry and infrastructure were geared towards attaining the SDGs.

“The government’s flagship programmes, including Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), Free Senior High School, one district, one factory, water for all programme and the establishment of an integrated aluminium industry, are fundamentally about achieving the SDGs,” he said.

He urged all stakeholders to redirect their efforts towards creating awareness and empowering citizens with knowledge of the SDGs so that they could demand accountability from leaders.

Other speakers

The UN Resident Coordinator, Ms Christine Evans-Klock, said the lessons from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which gave birth to the SDGs, ought to guide stakeholders as they partnered to achieve the SDGs.

She emphasised the need for concerted effort and strategic programmes at the country level to eradicate extreme poverty and meet the other 17 SDGs.

For his part, a Deputy Government Statistician, Mr Anthony Amuzu, underscored the need for a credible and reliable data regime to hasten attainment of the SDGs.

He said qualitative and updated data helped in implementing programmes to attain the SDGs and also facilitated partnerships and collaboration among institutions.

Mr Amuzu said the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) was collaborating with counterparts in other countries, as well as corporate entities and other institutions, to provide quality data for national development planning.