How Africa Agenda 2063,SDGs should be domesticated,implemented

Tshould continue and be supported ◆ Our national development targets and indicators have been rationalised to improve the quality of national reporting.

We need to build on the experiences learned from the MDGs process, strengthen and broaden our efforts based on these lessons. To make reference to a few examples, lessons from the MDGs show the following:

Commitment to the goals and the importance of effective policy implementation - The successful implementation of the MDGs was found to be conditional on country commitments to the goals and targets. The choice of policies and how well such policies were implemented determined how much progress could be made on the MDGs.

There should be alignment between the respective national initiative, the continental initiative and the global initiative.

HE goals and targets covered by the SDGs and Africa 2063 show a significant amount of overlap and therefore the focus should be on coordination within countries and among continental development institutions.

The national development plans and policies of developing countries should shape the nature of the domestication of the Africa Agenda 2063 and SDGs. To deliver on the SDGs, Agenda 2063, and our respective national priorities and other global and continental obligations, some of the principles and things to do are, to mention a few: ◆ We need to coordinate and collaborate; establish and strengthen partnerships that blend the strengths of governments, private sector, non-profit organisations; the scientific community, academia, philanthropy and foundations, parliaments, local authorities, volunteers and other stakeholders ◆ We need to mobilise and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to complement the efforts of governments ◆ We need to as much as we possibly can, work within the current institutions and not establish new ones ◆ Each country should decide for itself what its reform priorities are - some issues are more priorities for SA, but may not be priority for other African countries and vice versa ◆ Initiatives that have started in support of implementation of the various plans and strategies within countries

Citizens’ engagement in policy development

- The successful implementation of the MDGs hinged on development strategies that were locally developed, based on a broad national consensus, achieved through consultation and meaningful participation by non-government stakeholders, including vulnerable groups.

- Representative political structures, accountable institutions and adequately incentivised public servants have been the backbone of effective implementation of the MDGs.

State capacity Horizontal, inter-sectoral coordination

- The MDGs disregarded the close correlations that exist between the different goals. UNDP’s 2010 report ‘What Will It Take to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals? - An International Assessment’ finds that there are important synergies among the MDGs - acceleration in one goal often speeds up progress in others. For example, in households where women are illiterate, child mortality is higher, implying the links between education, the empowerment of women and the health of children.

Given these synergistic and multiplier effects, all the goals need to be given equal attention and achieved simultaneously.

This requires multi-sectoral approaches and coordination among various implementing agencies.’ The importance of coordination among line ministries, planning and implementing agencies at different levels (national and subnational) must be stressed also for the SDGs.

Equality and disaggregated data

- The MDGs’ exclusive focus on national averages implied a complete neglect of inequality. The use of the MDG framework was making it difficult to understand whether progress in any one goal or target had been achieved through improvements of the situation of the poor, or through additional improvements of the situation of the wealthy and privileged.

Access to data, disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, age group, geographic location and other, will enable to monitor progress towards the SDGs at the last mile, to ensure that ‘no one is left behind.’ More attention to equalizing policies and to strengthening the capacity to deliver services and promote the economy at the local level are crucial for countries to attain the SDGs.

When we say there is alignment between the various initiatives and Agendas, we must be careful not to be complacent and relax. More work is needed to support and guide implementation.

More emphasis should be put on the quality of services measures, than access and quantity. Alongside that is the challenge to define quality indicators.

In addition, as the continent, we have had a number of discussions about achievement of the different Agendas. For example, the outcomes of the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda outline the concrete policies and actions that could be taken.

These include: “strengthening public policies, dealing with regulatory frameworks and finance at all levels, unlocking the transformative potential of people and the private sector, and incentivising changes in financing as well as consumption and production patterns to support sustainable development.” - African Executive.