Statement on the successful Sustainable Development Goals Dialogue convened on the 12 September 2023

On Tuesday 12 September 2023, the Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), Ms. Maropene Ramokgopa, and the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in South Africa, Mr. Nelson Muffuh convened the multi-stakeholders Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Dialogue in Pretoria, South Africa. The theme of the dialogue was; "Strategies for Accelerating Sustainable Development Goals Achievement in South Africa".

The multi-stakeholder dialogue attracted a diverse range of experts and panelists from different sectors including government departments and institutions, the South African business sector, members of the diplomatic corps, civil society organizations and activists, development partners, and research institutions. At the core of the discussions was to find strategies to strengthen partnership and collaboration at a national, regional, and international level to accelerate the achievement of SDGs and meet the domestic imperatives of the country as envisioned in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 more broadly.

The dialogue asserted that in order to build sustainable and impactful collaborations across sectors, critical reflections are needed to address the barriers to implementation, maximize on the opportunities for acceleration, and explore potential partnerships. Underscoring these reflections must be the commitment across all sectors, particularly the private sector to contribute to financing developmental projects in South Africa.

The contributions from the participants also included urgent action to advocate for a paradigm shift in the understanding of development. They further asserted that if it is not sustainable, it is not developmental in nature. This paradigm shift is urgent in the context where there is marginal improvement in the SDGs. According to Mr. Muffuh, “Just 12% of the 140 SDG targets (for which we have data) are on track. Progress on more than 50% of the targets is weak and insufficient. 30% have stalled or gone into reverse. These include fundamental targets on alleviating poverty, hunger, and the devastating impacts of climate change. And there is a global blind spot on 29 targets for which we lack the data to judge progress.”

In his presentation, Mr. Risenga Maluleke, the Statistician-General of South Africa emphasized the importance of reflecting on South Africa’s progress in the implementation of the SDGs within the context of the lived realities of the people. In maintaining the need for greater participation from all sectors, Mr. Ayodele Odusola, the Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa explained how each SDG presents an opportunity to develop a business plan that is implementable, measurable, and impactful in nature. He further emphasized the necessity of institutional, political, social, and financial support to drive these SDGs forward.

The dialogue was convened on the eve of the SDGs Summit scheduled to take place from 18-19 September 2023 at the UN Headquarters in New York. Minister Ramokgopa will lead the South African delegation that will present a diagnostic report on the progress made on SDGs in the context of South Africa. The report represents the voices of millions of people represented by different sectors consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data.

During her opening remarks, Minister Ramokgopa emphasized that; “SDGs have the potential to accelerate the implementation of the NDP by encouraging more policy coherence and minimizing duplication and inefficiencies. Equally, both SDGs and the NDP are strongly aligned on the critical role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in accomplishing the country’s development goals.”

The Minister further explained, “Beyond the Summit, it is imperative that we develop monitoring and evaluation systems that will assist South Africa in making clear linkages between the SGDs, the AU Agenda 2063, our own lodestar the NDP, the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), and the Integrated Development Planning (IDPs) at a local government level to ensure there is synchronization in planning, interventions and financing of these frameworks”.

Over the past decade, South Africa has reasserted its position in the global arena as a critical influencer in the global development discourse. Most importantly, South Africa must continue to leverage its power to advance developmental priorities that will ensure we build a capable, ethical developmental state, and contribute to the shared prosperity of the African people. The outcomes of the SDG Summit will be communicated in a media briefing. The details of the briefing will be communicated in due course.

For media inquiries, kindly contact Keitumetse Fatimata Moutloatse at 073 532 6161 or email at Keitumetse@dpme.gov.za and Eunice Namugwe, UN Information Centre (UNIC) at 071 6828 310 or Email: namugwe@un.org

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