By MOSES K. GAHIGI

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Dr Belay Begashaw has over 20 years of experience in agriculture extension and rural development, ranging from being a grassroots development agent to the Minister of Agriculture for Ethiopia.

Prior to his appointment as the director-general of the Sustainable Development Goals Centre for Africa, Dr Begashaw was director of the Columbia Global Centres for Africa as part of the Earth Institute.

He joined the Earth Institute in January 2009 as a senior agriculture policy specialist for East and Southern Africa. He soon became the director of the Millennium Development Goals Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. He has served as the associate director of the Agriculture and Food Security Centre of the Earth Institute.
Education: Dr Begashaw holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard, a Masters in science from the University of Reading in the UK and a bachelors degree from Addis Ababa University, Almay College of Agriculture.
He also holds a doctorate in agricultural policy from Texas A&M University in the US.

The SDGs came into force in January last year, taking over from the Millennium Development Goals. How does the 2030 global development agenda differ from its precussor?

The MDGs and SDGs are similar because they both call for global action to fight poverty.

There is, however, a qualitative difference — even though the SDGs number 17, while the MDGs were only eight. The MDGs focused primarily on poverty alleviation, although health, education, partnerships and economic growth, and were key during the period 2000-2015.

The SDGs are about inclusiveness and how to build on the MDGs’ successes. They include more programmes and content.

They are only feasible if they meet the three pillars of sustainable development — inclusive economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

Funding is a key element in the success of SDGs. How do you intend to attract funds?

The SDGs, being more comprehensive and inclusive, require more resources. Considering that we were struggling to meet even 30 or 40 per cent of the budget for the MDGs, the SDGs present a challenge.

But the point is, the SDGs are by and large investment projects — whether it is in water, energy, infrastructure, roads, information technology or communication.

The most important funding partner is the private sector. The SDG agenda is banking on partnerships between the global North and South. This is not a new idea; it existed even in the MDG era but it did not work as anticipated. We are re-examining it to ensure it is successful.

What budget are you looking at to implement the SDG agenda?

We are working on the SDG costing now, but at the global level the estimate is between $4.5 trillion and $5 trillion.

How sustainable are the SDGs?

The most important thing is the mindset; we want to build the capacity to enable us to examine if every plan meets the sustainable agenda. All partners including governments, businesses, NGOs and the academia, must play their part.

Malnutrition and stunting are among problems that the MDGs failed to stamp out. What is your strategy regarding the twin challenges this time around?

The impact of malnutrition is far-reaching. If we let it persist, it will compromise the physical and mental capacities of future generations. Malnutrition is not only about food, it is about education and health; it is about how food is diversified.

On the one hand, is the challenge of undernourishment, scarcity in food supply or unbalanced diets. You can still find cases of malnutrition in areas where there is food but the practice is monoculture. Then there is also the problem of industrial foods and the rise of obesity in Africa.

Beyond being healthy, there is a need to create wealth in order to sustain livelihoods and leave a surplus for future generations. How are you tackling this need in the new programme?

A combination of programmes will help to tackle the matter. But the most important is how inclusive these programmes are and what kind of policy incentives governments will have in place to distribute wealth evenly and justly. The type of tax and subsidy, wealth distribution systems that governments adopt is extremely important in narrowing the gap between the haves and have-nots.

We also need to work hard on improving the productivity of people, in creating jobs and adding value to already existing enterprises.

However, because we are not at the same level, we need to see how the policy system will support equitable distribution of wealth among the different segments of society. 

Your vision is for all African countries to have achieved their national and sub-national targets by 2030. What parameters will you use to measure these goals?

There are clear global target indicators, but we are also trying to see how we can translate them into local socio-economic constructs and ensure we have a steady reporting system to help build performance data and track systems at the country level.

That will be underpinned by the global data system that we are building. Without this, there will be no comparable data systems.

SDGs are a global programme so each country has to know where it stands; so the rating will be done annually on all the 230 indicators and 160 targets.

How will you engage civil society?

Civil society has been part of the development agenda since 2013. It is taking an active role; we want to see how it can build its capacity further. The national performance is an aggregate of how all actors are doing including civil society.

You are organising a conference on mobilising African intellectuals towards quality tertiary education; what gaps are you seeking to plug?

This is a big concern. If the tertiary education structure remains as it is, we won’t be able to meet the SDG targets. Education is a key lever for SDGs; there is a need to create an environment for quality education by empowering teachers and building competitive education institutions.

The target is to have at least 25 African universities in the top 300 universities ranked globally by 2030. Currently there are only five from Africa in the first 500 universities.