Moving from talk to action is the biggest challenge facing countries following the recent adoption of the United Nations’ 2030 agenda of wiping out poverty, fighting inequality and tackling climate change.

President Yoweri Museveni, who co-chaired the summit for the adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in New York, said that while a lot had been achieved towards fighting poverty, there is a need to recognise national circumstances, different levels of growth and the needs of countries in special situations during the critical phase of implementation.

They include the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing states and African countries.

“Making the SDGs part of our respective national and regional development plans, mobilising financial resources, and being able to develop and transfer technology will be critical during the implementation phase,” he said.

For example in East Africa, countries have national blueprints that are expected to transform them into a middle-income economies. Uganda has its Vision 2040, Kenya has Vision 2030 (which coincides with the conclusion of the SDGs); Tanzania has Vision 2025; Rwanda has Vision 2020 while Burundi has Vision 2025.

Consequently, the UN Development Group (UNDG) is pushing for a common approach dubbed MAPS — Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support — and has pledged to support countries to meet the post-2015 agenda.

UNDG unites the UN funds, programmes, agencies, departments and offices that play a role in global development.

“Mainstreaming refers to the support that would help governments incorporate the agenda in national and local plans and budgets,” UN Development Programme administrator Helen Clark told a meeting of the UNDG on the sidelines of the Sustainable Development Summit.

She added: “We can contribute towards helping countries strengthen data systems and sensitise stakeholders about the new agenda.”
On acceleration, she said that the past five years of experience gained in speeding up the Millennium Development Goals and its 15-year lifespan would help identify obstacles and show what countries can do to ensure progress with the new agenda.
“On policy support, we can advice, drawing from our experience,” said Ms Clark.

Critics, however, have raised concerns about how practical it is to turn the broad agenda of 17 goals and 169 targets into reality, given the fact that they carry forward the “unfinished business” of the trimmer MDGs (eight goals and 21 targets).

Most of this “unfinished business” lies in sub-Saharan Africa which, according to the UN’s final report on progress on the MDGs, lags behind other developing regions of the world.

For example, World Bank estimates on poverty incidence in sub-Saharan Africa show that with the resurgence of growth, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 58 per cent in 1990 to 51 per cent in 2005 —but the absolute number of poor people rose — those severely deprived of basic human needs — rose from 296 million to 388 million.

Question is, can the world eradicate poverty by 2030?

Equally, what are the chances of “finishing the job” in the next 15 years when countries are now confronted with as many as eight times the targets they have been dealing with under the MDGs when gaps were left behind. They include poor women in rural areas and other vulnerable and marginalised groups.

But UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is resolute about the agenda ahead saying that the MDGs made poverty history for hundreds of millions of people and that the world was poised to continue the job while reaching higher, broader and deeper.

Weaving goals together

“The new framework does not just add goals. It weaves the goals together, with human rights, the rule of law and women’s empowerment as crucial parts of an integrated whole,” Mr Ban told delegates at the General Assembly. “Our mission is possible and our destination is in our sights: An end to extreme poverty by 2030; what counts now is translating promises on paper into change on the ground.”

He said that achieving the SDGs means organising ourselves better.

“Let there be no more walls or boxes, no more ministries or agencies working at cross-purposes. Let us move from silos to synergy, supported by data, long-term planning and a will to do things differently,” said Mr Ban.

And while the UN is calling on everyone to make it their personal agenda to make the goals popular, there have also been concerns about whether people are even familiar with the goals and even if they are, how easy it is for them to remember all of them.

However, there are advocacy groups selling the SDGs to the public. They include “Project Everyone” which created pre-summit buzz by asking the public to do “whatever it takes to tell everyone” about the goals.

Global Citizen, an anti-poverty advocacy organisation, and Action2015, a coalition of more than 2,000, non-profit organisations and NGOs are also helping spread the word.

Meanwhile, a structure, to be developed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators, will be agreed on by the UN Statistical Commission by March 2016 to monitor progress. Governments will also develop their own national indicators to assist in monitoring progress made on the goals and targets.

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will review progress annually through a progress report to be prepared by the Secretary-General.