The Ghana Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Platform on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has made key recommendations to strengthen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) budgeting for Ghana’s sustainable development initiatives.
It said: “Having analysed the 2019 SDG Budget Report and the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policies, we hereby recommend the following to strengthen SDG budgeting for Ghana and Ghana’s sustainable development initiatives as a whole.”
Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDCEs) should be mandated to show the SDG Goals and targets under each budget programme; the capacity of Statistical Services and Departments should be strengthened to collect, compile and disseminate reliable official statistics for monitoring and reporting on the SDGs; and ensure Strict Fiscal Discipline in Budgetary Allocations.
The CSOs Platform made the recommendation in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday.
It commended the government for its leadership and commitment to implement the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
It said the government had ensured that the 2019 and 2020 budgets were aligned to the SDGs, and had produced annually SDG Budget Report, to allow for the tracking of budget allocations across MDAs.
It further said the government had produced its first Voluntary National Review (VNR) Report, which presents the state of progress on the implementation of all the 17 Goals, adding that the preparation of the VNR report involved an inclusive process that ensured the participation of various stakeholders representing different segments of society.”
The statement said the CSOs Platform had noted government’s commitment to establish SDGs Resource Centre in Ghana through the Ministry of Planning in 2020.
It said: “While we commend Government for this continued leadership on the SDGs, we observe that consistent and systematic efforts are needed to ensure that the country is on track to attaining the SDGs by 2030. Research has shown that at the current pace of progress on the goal, no country will achieve the SDGs by 2030.”
