Botswana achieves 52% of SDGs

MAUN: Botswana has attained 52% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), according to the latest United Nations( UN) Statistical Index of 2020.

Speaking during training aimed at advancing knowledge and understanding of the SDGs amongst the media recently, Ministry of Finance Chief Economist, Patrick Seitiso said the outbreak of COVID-19 affected their performance.

“We started well but the pandemic came and shattered almost everything, but we now have to rebuild and get back on track. We have good policies and structures and the best model,” he said.

On September 25, 2015, 193 countries of the UN General Assembly including Botswana adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. The global agenda has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 associated targets and 232 indicators. The 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but are much broader in scope as they include the social, economic and environmental dimensions as compared to the MDGs whose focus was mainly on the social and economic dimensions.

To obtain baseline data for the Botswana Domesticated SDGs Indicator Framework indicators, Statistics Botswana commissioned a consultancy that was conducted from May to July 2018.

The consultancy was funded and supported by the United Nations Population Fund. In addition to obtaining the baseline data, the scope of work for the consultancy included other works such as outlining the National

Indicator Framework and working out the interlinkages between the global Agenda 2030 Indicators, the continental Agenda 2063 Indicators and the national Vision 2036 indicators.

The SDGs indicator framework is the key tool for measuring success or lack thereof of progress towards achieving the SDGs. Botswana, as represented by Statistics Botswana, is a member of the 28-member country United Nations Statistical Commission Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals Indicators which developed the SDGs Indicator Framework.