Knowledge & awareness toward achieving SDGs among public low - Minister

The Minister of Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffour has decried the lack of knowledge and understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The minister observed that, knowledge and awareness toward achieving the SDGs among the general public is low and encouraged all citizens especially the media to double our efforts in popularizing the SDGs, as well as Africa’s Agenda 2063.

He was speaking at the launch of the Voluntary National Review Process (VNR) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).

The minister also argued that ‘’the SDGs is everyone’s business. It is about the well-being and welfare of every citizen and organization. Let us all work together to eradicate poverty, promote peace, tackle and the critical environmental challenges and create a better world for ourselves and future generations.’’

He urged the media to lead the campaign and dedicate time for discussions on SDGs.

He said, to support the SGDs, media houses can play a lead role in creating public awareness, providing platforms for public discussions, helping to hold government and other development partners accountable.

The review process will adopt a ‘’whole-of-government’’ and ‘’whole-of-society’’ approach with the active participation of a wide range of stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.



It will assess; The institutional arrangement and enabling environment for implementing the SDGs; The progress of implementation across all 17 SDGs, including innovations and successful initiatives and Cross-cutting themes of ‘leaving no one behind; Youth engagement in the SDGs and synergies across the goals.

As part of the follow-up and review arrangements for the SDGs, United Nations Member States are expected to conduct regular, voluntary and inclusive reviews of the progress of implementation.

Ghana has volunteered to conduct and present its first Voluntary National Review (VNR) report at the high level political forum in July 2019.

The primary objective of the VNR is to facilitate the sharing of experiences and mutual learning among countries, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the SDGs.

The VNR process in Ghana will among others be used to increase public awareness, deepen citizen’s engagement and promote national of the SDGs.