Global goals amid crises
Since December 2019, the prolonged Covid-19 crisis has greatly slowed the global race for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including ending extreme poverty by 2030.
With the pandemic, the World Bank projects that 115 million will be trapped in extreme poverty.
Unfair access to the Covid-19 vaccines has worsened inequalities between rich and poor countries. Thanks to the global solidarity personified by the Covax facility backed by the World Health Organisation, some countries from the global South have received vaccines.
Disruptions in the value chain have left food prices rising, denying some households nutritious bites due to loss of jobs.
Achieving SDG2—ending hunger—will remain a challenge unless global governance institutions and other change agents work together in a coordinated effort.
Covid-19 has affected all aspects of the Agenda 2030. Without radical reforms to tackle the global crisis, it will take time to restore the gains.
In southern Africa, the continent’s worst hit nations, SDG3 (access to Good health for everyone) and well-being as well as SDG 4 (quality of education for all) have been tremendously affected. Many schools were closed and numerous girls got pregnant and married due to poor access to sexual and reproductive health kits. This is a setback to achieving gender equality (SDG 5).
Some African countries such as Malawi, which remarkably reduced the population living below the poverty line, experienced a surge in ultra-poverty during the pandemic.
The World Bank estimates that 70 percent of Malawians now live in poverty. To improve the livelihoods and welfare of the vulnerable citizens, the government allocated K6.2 billion and K17.270 billion for the national Covid-19 response.
Unfortunately, some public servants mismanaged the funds instead of improving health service delivery and education as well as clean water, sanitation and hygiene (SDG 6).
Lest we forget, Covid-19 can be contained by regularly washing hands and sanitising frequently-touched surfaces, which calls for safe water in rural and urban areas.
Given the severe effects of Covid-19, southern African countries need to design and enhance anti-poverty programmes, including social protection targeting the most vulnerable communities to reduce inequalities (SDG10) and poverty (SDG1).
They also need to share technological innovations backed by research and development in health care systems through south-to-south partnerships.
African nations should invest more in strengthening governance institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau to tackle political corruption and prosecute culprits to achieve SDG16—peace, justice and strong institutions.
Leaving no one behind calls for sound strategies for the implementation of policies and programmes that will include the social, economic and environmental goals of the Agenda 2030.
The global governance system needs radical reforms to function well in the 21st Century.
To adapt to the current situation and crises, the United Nations should change the rules agreed in 1945 so it can respond and mitigate problems efficiently and quickly.
The global goals promote localisation of development strategies to suit each country’s social, cultural, economic and environmental traits.
The country should promote and enhance funding modes for domestic resource mobilisation as required by the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Sustainable Development. This requires governments to enact laws and taxation policy reforms to illicit financial flows by multilateral institutions.
Coordination and collaboration of global governance institutions such as the UN, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund is vital in addressing global crises. They must provide sound leadership in debt cancellation so that struggling nations can focus on investing in education, hospitals and roads to achieve the SDGs in this decade.
