Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Dr Abul Kashem Mozumder :
Sustainable development goals (SDG) have been set as the as a tangible shift to new development thinking for poverty alleviation. For, globally defined Strategies under MDG were not premeditated in terms of sustainability for addressing crushing poverty . MDG contains 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators. MDG ‘s 8 goals were: eradicate extreme Poverty and Hunger, achieve Universal Primary Education, Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women, Reduce Child Mortality, Improve Maternal Health, Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases Ensure Environmental Sustainability and Develop a Global Partnership for Development.
This is only a paradigmatic shift in development jargon. MDG proclaims participatory governance. This is the only efficacious mechanism to go deepest into the village community, its hopes and aspirations, problems and prospect. In recent years sustainable rural development has become the prime concern of the government and Non-government organizations. Only Participatory approach anchored in participatory components of action research can promote consensus building, identify key agents of sustainable development, and organize human potential and capacities. The state is the main actor creating an enabling environment for sustainable rural development through its key institution like Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD). NGO through its participatory methodologies play second fiddle to none so far as MDG is concerned.
Policies and institutional measures for broadening participatory governance and enhance the voice and influence of the poor would involve several actions:
Strengthening the system of good governance, especially, decentralization at the local level
Effective local government bodies at union, upazilla and district level (with adequate financial and administration power)
Local level democracy
Policies and institutions for reducing inequality
Access to land assets/common property
Access to education and higher level of skills for better employment and income
Access to financial assess (micro-credit)
Access to political assets
Caring for environment
Environmental communication would be integrated into national poverty alleviation strategies
The anchorage point for sustainable development (SD) is sustainable development goal (SDG). SDG has been very recently set to fill up the gap in the state of policy intervention for reduction of poverty with the elements of sustainability. Previously global concerns about poverty reduction revolved around Millennium development goals (MDG) containing 8 goals like– tenable up to 2015. Jeffrey D Sachs (2012) happens to strike a scholarly note on programmatic shift from Millennium development goals (MDG) to sustainable development goal (SDG. As he said, ‘MDG a historic and .effective method of global mobilization to achieve a set of important priorities worldwide’ we think the idea of SDG has quickly gained ground for interfacing sustainability with the priorities of poverty reduction. Are we satisfied only with poverty reduction by attaining MDG goals? This is the question posed by the protagonist of SDG. They seek to address the state of gap in MDG through SDG. For, most programmes under MDG stand at the God that failed.
Now-days much has been written about sustainable development. We define sustainable rural development in terms of sustaining livelihoods, reducing poverty, protecting and regenerating environment, intergenerational justice in resource use, conservation of bio-diversity, expansion of green and bio-technologies, institutional viability, resound economic growth, social and political stability. Developing capacities for good governance underpins all participatory elements in sustainable development process. SDG is influenced by the cultural, socio-economic and political characteristics of the community organization. Such characteristics vary at various cultural sets and sub-sets. It to be the function of the society facing environmental crisis. . Here the individuals as policy consumers are both individually and collectively aware about their own problems and predicaments and about human rights and public affairs. SDG by implications involves all promotional activities and services tilting policy intervention to the favour of Sustainable community. Organizationally linked both horizontally and vertically participatory institutions are effective tools for communications, networking and planning and directing all promotional and extension functions at the micro level for sustainable development.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong and Dr Abul Kashem Mozumder, Department of Public Administration, Jahangir Nagar University, and Member PSC, Bangladesh)
