Bring implementation to local govt level: experts

To achieve sustainable development goals (SDG), the implementation process needs to be brought to the local government level as they know the problems and how to resolve them, according to analysts.

The SDGs are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by 2030.

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Prof Shamsul Alam, state minister for planning, said the government can make a strategy to achieve SDGs from the central level, but its implementation should be from the root level.

"The localisation of SDG implementation can be from the upazila level, where the union level can act as its sub-unit," he said while he speaking as chief guest at a discussion on "Localizing the SDGs in Bangladesh: Ways to Accelerate".

The event, organised by The Hunger Project, was held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka yesterday.

Some people question the government's accountability in implementing the SDGs and its spending in this regard.

"But accountability is being ensured through election," he said, adding that politics is a way to improve peoples' wellbeing if accountability is present.

The state minister for planning went on to say that the problem lies in the political system, where accountability is lacking.

"However, there is no exception to political power for the betterment of peoples' lives. So, accountability needs to be ensured through a transformation within politics," he said.

Alam then urged the United Nations Development Programme to play more proactive roles in helping Bangladesh achieve the SDGs.

"Many NGOs are working to return dropout students to their studies, ensuring education for the people and stopping early marriage, which is contributing to achieving the SDGs, said Rasheda K Chowdhury, a former adviser to the caretaker government. "Now, these efforts should be scaled up," she added.

Bangladesh has all the opportunities and enough NGOs, but resources are limited and data availability is a big problem, Rasheda said, adding that the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics should work on this issue.

She then said that if there is clear data, then problems can be figured out more easily and people can be set to work exclusively on them.

"Data collection needs to be strengthened to get more contributions from local governments in implementing the SDGs, but here the political will is necessary," added Chowdhury, also executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education.

Localisation is necessary to achieve the SDGs, but how accountability will be ensured in the process is a big question, said Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

"A public-private partnership can work well to achieve the SDGs but accountability is also necessary to ensure proper contribution from the public sector," he added while pointing out how accountability is not the government's review process.

Local governments can be an institutional framework to implement the SDGs but the system should be reinvented as it is still weak. "Over politicisation in local governments has weakened the system more, especially through the election system that uses political symbols," Bhattacharya said.

To enable the environment of localising the SDGs, effective and accountable local government bodies are necessary through effective decentralisation and allocation of technical and financial resources at the upazila level, said Badiul Alam Majumdar, global vice president and country director of The Hunger Project.

At present, there are five challenges in achieving SDGs, namely climate change, local and global conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war, Covid-19, corruption and centralisation, he said while presenting a paper.

Community participation can bring a big change in achieving the SDGs as it can boost female contribution, said Fakrul Ahsan, chief technical advisor of the SC4SDG Project of UNDP Bangladesh.

Sheree S Stomberg, chairman of the board of directors of The Hunger Project, Aroma Datta, MP, executive director of PRIP Trust, Tofail Ahmed, local government specialist, and Abul Kalam Azad, former principal coordinator of SDG Affairs, also spoke at the event.