The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) this week convened a three-day sensitisation workshop for stakeholders, focusing on the Voluntary National Review (VNR) 2025 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 17 SDGs, also known as global goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call for action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure by 2030 all the people enjoy peace and prosperity.
The workshop was aimed at preparing a comprehensive report to be presented at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) under the theme: ”Advancing sustainable, inclusive science and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for the SDGs and leaving no one behind”.
Lesotho is committed to the achievement of SDGs and values transparent reporting and inclusive dialogue as essential tools for monitoring the country’s progress. There are only five years remaining before the end of 2030 agendas implementations, therefore undertaking the VNR 2025 will leverage and provide platform to assess both progress and challenges related to SDGs.
In his remarks, the chief economic planner of department of monitoring and evaluation in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Thabiso Kompi, highlighted the importance of this initiative, saying the review will concentrate on five critical SDGs, Goal three, five, eight, 14, and 17.
“The five selected SDGs which are under the review for the 2025 VNR includes: Goal three (Good health and well-being), Goal five (Gender equality), Goal eight (Decent work and economic growth), Goal 14 (Life below water), Goal 17 (Partnerships for the goals), which are vital for achieving sustainable development.
“Lesotho has already undertaken three VNRs of SDG in 2019, 2022 and now the 2025 VNR which has already began. Today’s meeting is aimed at sensitising our stakeholders being government ministries, private sector, non-government organisations, civil society organisations, academia and many others, about our intention as a country to undertake 2025 VNR of the five selected SDGs,” Kompi said.
He noted that the holistic approach to sustainable development implies an integrated achievement of economic, environmental and social goals of development.
For instance, improving health outcomes is essential for empowering women and ensuring gender equality while economic growth must be inclusive to support environmental sustainability.
“From the sensitisation workshop we hope to engage a consultant who is going to help us write the report. From January-May next year the process will be more of data collection and report writing. After the report has been written, we will be able to validate the report and finalize it.
“In July next year we can submit our report as country and present it at HLP in Newyork,” Kompi added.
For her part, giving an overview of the five selected goals, senior economic planner at MFDP, ‘Mamotṧeoa Makhetha, highlighted that goal eight which focuses on decent work and economic growth aims to promote sustainable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men by 2030.
Key focus areas are economic growth, job creation, labour rights and safe working environments. The SDG also promote higher levels of productivity and technological innovation.
The goal targets sustained per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and in particular, at least seven percent gross domestic production growth per annum in least developed countries.
“In goal eight we chose four targets, we are looking at target 8.1 being sustainable economic growth, and target 8.2 which is diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity as well as promote policies to support job creations and growing enterprises. The last target is to promote employment.
“Looking at the progress made by indicator 8.1.1 which is annual growth of real GDP per capita. In 2016 the baseline was 2.4 percent. The progress of GDP growth was 1.7 percent in 2021, according to the World Bank and Central Bank of Lesotho.
“Indicator 8.2.1 annual growth of real GDP per employed person, the baseline in 2016 was 0.00235 percent and the progress in 2021 was 0.5 percent.
“Lastly, the indicator showed that proportion of informed employment in in non-agriculture employment by region in 2016 baseline was 30.04 percent, currently in 2023 we have 72 percent,” Makhetha said.
However, she indicated that the proportion of youth aged 15-24 not in education or either employed or training in 2016 showed there was no baseline, and currently it stands on 47 percent.
In conclusion, Makhetha said the five SDGs underscore the interconnectedness of health, gender equality, economic development, environmental sustainability and collaborative efforts.
Their successful implementation is crucial not only for individual nations but also for global progress towards a more equitable and sustainable world.
“VNRs serves as a vital tool in this process, enabling countries to assess their progress, share best practices and identify challenges in archiving these goals.
“By fostering inclusive dialogue and partnership at levels, we can ensure that no one is left behind in our pursuit of the SDGs,” she pointed out.
