Uganda readies to present report on SDGs implementation progress to UN
Uganda is set to report to the United Nations in July about its progress towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This was revealed by Richard Baguma, the secretary-general of the United Nations Association of Uganda (UNAU).
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He was speaking at the youth Voluntary National Review (VNR) report youth consultation meeting held on Wednesday at Kyambogo University.
Organised by UNAU and partners, the meeting aimed at engaging Ugandan youths regarding the VNR report which tracks Uganda’s progress towards the implementation of the SDGs.
In his remarks, Baguma observed that UNAU, alongside other partners have been actively involved in the work of reviewing and reporting about Uganda's steps towards attaining the SDGs, and that they are in the final stages of the process.
He said the engagement provided a platform to the youths from different institutions and parts of of the country to share their perspectives about Uganda’s journey towards achieving the SDGs.
“We wanted them to come here and tell us from their own perspectives, from their own experiences, how has Uganda done towards implementing the Global Development agenda, which is aligned to our National Development Plan, and that is the SDGs,” Baguma said.
Baguma explained that the views from the engagement will be taken into the national report, together with the Office of the Prime Minister and the UN, and reported in New York in July.
Aminah Nassali, the president for the Uganda Youth Coalition for SDGs highlighted that the VNR will help the country in identifying the challenges Uganda is facing in implementing the SDGs.
“The VNR aims at understanding what are the success stories a country is meant to produce at a certain time, and to understand what are the challenges that a country is facing while implementing the SDGs,” Nassali said.
“So as the youth of Uganda, it is important to understand that when we get involved in these processes, we are meant to achieve these goals. The organs and the fact that Uganda's population is majorly youth-led, so we can not leave the youth behind.”
Rehema Nakato, from Open Space Center underscored the importance of young people's participation and engagement in the country's development processes, particularly when it comes to influencing national and global development agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We are aware of their role that young people play in creating this awareness for their communities right from the school level through either debates and dialogues with their community leaders, with their youth leaders, but also policy makers. So as to build supportive frameworks that can empower them to be able to localize us as the Sustainable Development Goals.” Nakato said.
On her part, Jemercy Melody a UN Youth Fellow under UNAU called for scaling up of awareness about SDGs, saying this will increase youth participation in the implementation process.
“There is still an opportunity to educate people about the SDGs and make them aware that it is not just a conversation for the UN and government. It affects every individual, and everyone can contribute to achieving the SDGs across various sectors such as health, business, entrepreneurship, climate, and more.” she said.
