BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – As part of the preparations for the United Nations Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be held on September 18-19 2023, Eswatini is preparing a recovery and acceleration plan that prioritises job creation.
At a high-level meeting for heads of missions and development agencies, heads of UN agencies and principal secretaries held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mbabane, Minister of Economic Planning and Development, Dr Thambo Gina, shared highlights of the draft Eswatini SDG Recovery and Acceleration Plan 2023-2030.
The slogan of the draft plan is: Creating decent jobs, driven by digitalisation.
The draft plan has been produced following regional consultations led by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development and the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development, conducted in July 2023.
The consultations were done with the multisectoral regional development teams in all four regions of the country. The draft plan, which is expected to be presented by His Majesty King Mswati III, is composed of a set of priority interventions that will help to fast-track implementation and maximise progress across all the 17 SDGs.
The draft plan has been produced with support from the United Nations in Eswatini, under the technical leadership of UNDP.
Acting UN Resident Coordinator, Deepak Shah, who is the Head of Office for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Eswatini, noted that job creation, which is under SDG 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth, was an anchor expected to drive progress across the other SDGs.
“It is pleasing to note that the analysis and consultations to-date are pointing to job creation as the anchor and focus of Eswatini’s rescue plan, not because it is easy, but because it is the right thing to do,” he said.
“Due to the interconnectedness of the SDGs, focussing on job creation will not only achieve progress in other SDGs, but will also drive investments in other areas. It will, for example, drive investments in energy, education, sanitation, and in women empowerment among others,” he said in addition.
Worth mentioning is that globally, the achievement of the SDGs has been negatively affected by recent multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change.
These shocks have exacerbated poverty, unemployment, food and energy crises. Eswatini has not been spared from these crises.
Ahead of the Summit, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has noted that only 12 percent of the SDGs targets are on track and progress on 50 percent is weak and insufficient.
He stated that countries have stalled and regressed on over 30 percent of the SDGs. Guterres has warned that unless there is collective and deliberate action to accelerate implementation, achieving the SDGs will become a mirage.
The Eswatini recovery and acceleration plan will mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs and provide political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions needed to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
Stakeholders noted that there is a need to raise more awareness of the SDGs among the general population of Eswatini and the importance of achieving them for the country’s development.
