Lesotho’s renewed commitment to fast-track achievement of Agenda 2030

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will be convened under the auspices of the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, 18-19 September 2023. Only seven years remain until 2030 and this year is the halfway mark in the race towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Progress is indeed off-track, as the world grapples with reversing development progress due to climate change, conflicts, the direct health effects and indirect social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The SDG Summit, therefore comes at an opportune time to reflect and review progress made thus far, with the imminent reality that the promise of achieving Agenda 2030 is at stake.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Member states to put forward national commitments speaking to SDG Acceleration at the Summit, as well as concrete actions to ensure an enabling environment for developing countries to participate in activities in the global economy and benefit from green and digital technologies, and the identification of transformative high impact initiatives.

In preparation of the SDG Summit, together with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and the UN in Lesotho, from 27-28 July 2023, held stakeholder consultations bringing together civil society, academia, private sector, government, youth and women groups, people with disabilities to gather public opinion on what Lesotho needs to do to fast-track the implementation of the SDGs, to validate the data presented in the Lesotho SDG insight report to better understand the interlinkages of the different priority SDG targets, the identification of high impact initiatives that can lead to tangible change, and to discuss key commitment issues which Lesotho can present at the Summit.

“Since the adoption of the SDGs by the UN General Assembly in September 2015, the Lesotho Government has embarked on many efforts to raise national awareness and ownership of the SDGs. Through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, there is a holistic, nationally-led and sustainable development strategy for SDG implementation through the National Strategic Development Plan II”, remarked the Deputy Principal Secretary, Teboho Mookela opening the consultation session.

The consultations endorsed the following SDGs as national priority goals for the achievement of sustainable development in Lesotho: no poverty (SDG1), gender equality (SDG 5), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16).

Renewable energy, digital Infrastructure, integrated catchment management, irrigated horticulture, social protection including pension and tax system modernization are among the high-impact initiatives identified for SDG investment in Lesotho which are currently operational under national programmes. Participants further reiterated the need to progress from commitment to action by all stakeholders for the success of these initiatives, also concluding that public sector capabilities, coordination, data collection and generation required improvement as national implementation modalities for the achievement of Agenda 2030.

On behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator, Deputy UNICEF Representative, Kimanzi Muthengi reiterated that multi-stakeholder partnerships are crucial to SDG implementation, “Lesotho recognizes that the achievement of SDGs requires effective partnerships, government leaders must also step up their ambition and drive the necessary transformations to reach the SDGs. They must ensure that global systems related to financing, trade, data and technology are designed to work for the benefit of all countries, not just the privileged few.”

The SDG Summit brings hope that together we can turn the tide and build a world where no one is left behind, where dignity and prosperity are accessible to all, and where our planet thrives for generations to come.