Voluntary National Review report on SDGs to be presented to Parliament

Professor George Gyan-Baffour, the Planning Minister on Thursday announced that Ghana’s Voluntary National Review (VNR) process on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would be presented to Parliament for review.

He said the input of Parliament would enable Ghana come out with a consolidated report, which will tell the true Ghanaian story before it is presented to the UN in July.

He said Ghana was among other 50 countries given the opportunity to present their VNR reports at the UN in New York.

SDGs, otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

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

The VNR report was put together by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) in collaboration with the Planning Ministry and other stakeholders.

Speaking at a validation workshop on the Ghana’s VNR report, Prof Gyan-Baffour said sharing of the report marked an important part of the national development agenda towards the attainment of the 17 SDGs.

He said the universal call to end poverty and achieve other goals recorded in the SDGs had influenced the compilation of the report to share with the world what was working well in Ghana and areas where assistance was needed to work better.

“This is also to serve as a blue print to aid in the implementation of all 17 SDGs analysis and key actions, key experiences and illustrate how government hopes to attain these goals,” he said.

Madam Anne Claire Dufay, UNICEF Country Representative in Ghana, lauded Ghana’s decision to commit to the VNR process, which seeks to review the level of progress in the implementation of the SDGs.

Dr Grace Bediako, the Director-General, NDPC, noted that by Ghana’s decision to subject itself to the VNR, it had conformed to the commitment it made in September 2015 with other UN member states to adopt the SDGs as an integral part of their national development agenda.

She said the VNR was a useful mechanism for countries to share their experiences and get feedback from counterparts on how well they had done.

Dr Felix Addo-Yobo, Acting Director, Development Policy Division, NDPC in his presentation noted that in the implementation of the SDGs, Ghana was committed to “Leave No One Behind”, which consisted of ending extreme poverty in all its forms, reducing inequalities and addressing discriminatory behaviour.

He said young people, who were torchbearers of the nation had a crucial role to play towards attaining the 2030 Agenda.

Mr George Osei Bimpeh a representative of civil society organisations (CSOs) Platform on SDGs said since the beginning of the implementation of the SDGs, CSOs had always collaborated with the government, which they have done with the conviction that the development of this country do not rest only in the hands of the government.