Give a human face to the SDGs – Finance Minister
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance has charged stakeholders to localise the Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) to make them beneficial to every Ghanaian.Ministries, Municipal, Metropolitans, District Assemblies, among others must make the implementation of the SDGs practicable so that their impacts will be felt by the citizenry as they include them in the implementation process.
Mr Ofori-Atta gave the directive at the launch of the 2018 SDGs budget baseline report held in Accra.
Ghana is the second country to come up with such a report apart from Mexico following the September 2015, world leaders’ commitment to attain the 17 goals and 169 targets by 2030.
The SDG budget baseline report is based on a detailed analysis of how the coding of the policy objective segment of the chart accounts can track Ghana’s SDGs budget allocations and is the maiden of the bi-annual series of SDG budget allocation and spending.
The Finance Minister said the Agenda 2030 would transform three interconnected elements; social Inclusion, economic growth and environmental sustainability, focusing on the people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
It would also require a comprehensive approach that would help in mobilising public finance, setting of the right policies and regulatory frameworks, the Minister explained.
This, he said, would unlock the transformative potential of the people, private sector as well as promote changes in consumption, production and investment patterns in support of sustainable development as contained in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) which was adopted at the third International Conference on Financing for Development.
He said, the SDGs which succeeded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be more related to and make it part and parcel of the Ghanaian development agenda aimed at ending poverty and hunger, improving access to health and education and also building strong institutions and partners.
Emphasising that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as the co-chair to the United Nations’ (U.N) Advocacy Group for the SDGs, in his vision for Ghana Beyond Aid, is committed to streamlining the goals with Ghana’s policies and programmes and creating ways for financing, hence, the need for national budget to institutionalise the goals.
The Finance Minister said, the Ministry in mobilising, allocating, disbursing and accounting for funds would comply with the Agenda 2030, adding that key inputs of budget statement and economic policy would be linked to the SDG targets and indicators.
Mrs Gladys Ghartey, Head of United Nations Systems Unit, giving the background said, SDGs succeeded MDGs because some goals were not achieved, thus, SDGs is to champion local development.
Mr Alex Amankwa-Poku, Head Budget Technical Assistance and Support, said in localising Ghana’s SDGs, planting for Food and Job creation and others would be targeted at ending hunger and poverty.
Source: GNA