THERE has been no progress in implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) although three years have passed since its adoption. “Rather, there have been only talks,” said a Member of the General Economic Division (GED) of the Planning Commission at a discussion titled: ‘Enhancing the participation of community-based organisations and civil society organisations in democratic governance in Bangladesh’, jointly organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Oxfam and the EU in the city on Wednesday. The global goals were adopted in 2015. But the NGOs which are interested in working to achieve the targets of the SDGs have not yet forwarded any action plan.
At present, the information on 70 indicators of the SDGs is readily available in the existing system, while data related to 171 indicators is not available. This is a severe bottleneck to implementing the goals. We must consider that, changes in the country’s socio-economic landscape were evident during the last decade with its rise as an emerging economy that consistently maintains above 6.0 percent growth on an average. Bangladesh economy proved to be resilient as the major economic indicators remained healthy during the period in the wake of global recession. We crossed the threshold of lower middle-income country status fulfilling the criteria set by the World Bank in 2015.
We are surprised as to why the designated bodies did not perform their specific duties. It’s also a big question why the authorities didn’t make the persons accountable for their failure. The local government bodies are important to achieving the SDGs. For that reason, the GED had fixed the activities of the line ministries to implement the action plans and provided trainings to all government officials, officials of the Islamic Foundation and imams of all mosques in Dhaka city. At this stage, it is will be very tough for Bangladesh to have a reasonable estimate of costing and mode of financing before full-fledged implementation of SDGs.
It is fact that, the main barrier to development is the lack of coordination among government organisations, NGOs and donors. Here, a participatory role is compulsory for development as well as accountability and transparency at every level.
At present, the information on 70 indicators of the SDGs is readily available in the existing system, while data related to 171 indicators is not available. This is a severe bottleneck to implementing the goals. We must consider that, changes in the country’s socio-economic landscape were evident during the last decade with its rise as an emerging economy that consistently maintains above 6.0 percent growth on an average. Bangladesh economy proved to be resilient as the major economic indicators remained healthy during the period in the wake of global recession. We crossed the threshold of lower middle-income country status fulfilling the criteria set by the World Bank in 2015.
We are surprised as to why the designated bodies did not perform their specific duties. It’s also a big question why the authorities didn’t make the persons accountable for their failure. The local government bodies are important to achieving the SDGs. For that reason, the GED had fixed the activities of the line ministries to implement the action plans and provided trainings to all government officials, officials of the Islamic Foundation and imams of all mosques in Dhaka city. At this stage, it is will be very tough for Bangladesh to have a reasonable estimate of costing and mode of financing before full-fledged implementation of SDGs.
It is fact that, the main barrier to development is the lack of coordination among government organisations, NGOs and donors. Here, a participatory role is compulsory for development as well as accountability and transparency at every level.
