SDGs: Rwanda outlines priorities

The Government has outlined three targets to be mainstreamed into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) after they were not fully achieved under Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These include total elimination of stunting of children under five, further reduction of poverty and ensuring more women are weaned off farming jobs, according to Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, the state minister for economic planning. Ndagijimana said it was not because of lack of effort to deal with the problems that Rwanda failed to deliver on the indicators, but because of where the country was coming from. Ndagijimana was speaking during a global workshop on initiatives to pilot illustrative work on governance in the context of SDGs. Under SDGs, the governance and rule of law indicators are enumerated under goal 16, as fundamental catalysts for development. The initiative was piloted in five countries; Rwanda, Indonesia, Tunisia, the UK and Albania. As they move toward full implementation, these countries were meeting to share knowledge and experience on approaches to governance and it’s monitoring to serve as an example for other countries to follow in the SDG implementation. The SDGs were launched by the UN last year after the conclusion of MDGs, as global targets to achieve sustainable development. “The implementation of the MDGs faced several challenges and many countries did not manage to achieve all the set goals. However, the lessons learnt during the implementation of the MDGs should help countries implement the SDGs,” Ndagijimana said. “In our case, all MDGs were achieved at goal level, with only three specific indicators not fully achieved, and those are the percentage of people living under poverty line, that of under 5 children stunted and the share of women in waged employment in the non-agricultural sector.” Rwanda’s success in implementing MDGs led to the naming of the country as host for the African Centre of Excellence for SDGs. Before adopting the post-2015 development agenda, Rwanda had been selected to pilot the agenda “helping to strengthen capacities and build effective institutions” as well as “governance and rule of law”. According to Ndagijimana, specifically on the governance indicator (under MDGs), Rwanda’s gains were attributed to accountable governance, transparency, zero tolerance to corruption and full integration of the MDGs in the national Vision 2020 roadmap. Other factors included home-grown solutions such as performance contracts, Gir’inka programme, Umuganda, Gacaca, Umushyikirano and use of community mediators (abunzi), among others. The process of domesticating SDGs has already started in Rwanda by analysing the existing strategies and plans, identifying gaps on each SDG indicator to make necessary adjustments to meet the SDGs, according to officials. To achieve these, Ndagijimana said, they will mainstream the indicators into the national development blueprints like the EDPRS III, Post-2020 Vision and Vision 2050. Stephen Rodriques, the UN Development Programme country director, said they are conducting a gap analysis with Finance ministry to see goals, indicators and targets not reflected and mainstreamed in national and sectoral development plans which will help incorporation of targets within the country’s development agenda. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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SDGs: Rwanda outlines priorities