On 25th April, over 50 CSO representatives under the hospice of NGO-Forum participated in a preparatory meeting for the upcoming High Level Political Forum on SGDs in New York, 2017. This Forum will be convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council from 10th to 19th July. The theme for this year’s Forum will be “Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world”.
The set of goals to be reviewed in depth will be the following; Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. And Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development – that will be reviewed each year.
The National Reference Group on SDGs committed itself to develop an Annual SDG Review report. This report is envisaged to be a standalone report and also an input into the National Development Review Report to be produced annually. In order for civil society to ensure that there is ongoing attention to the SDGs, this report will be released as part of the country level focus at the High Level Political Forum. The Report will therefore feed into discussions at the national level as well as the global level that focus on the High Level Political Forum. While Uganda was voluntarily reviewed in 2016 as one of the first countries to offer itself, civil society believes that to continue to produce annual analytical reviews on the goals under review each year is important.
This meeting thus enabled participants to collectively share, learn and reflect on how they can meaningfully engage and influence this process at the national. Six Technical Working Groups were constituted, each with a group leader to drive the development of a 3 paged analysis of their specific goals. This report will also show the key actions that need to be urgently taken by the government and stakeholders to ensure that we achieve the relevant targets under review. Food Rights Alliance with The Hunger Project Uganda were chosen as heads of the TWG on SDG2. We call upon other organizations to join this process.
Regina Kayoyo
Food Rights Alliance