LAHORE: A meeting was held on Tuesday on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where politicians and civil society activists analysed issues and challenges faced in the implementation of these goals.

A presentation showcased Punjab’s agenda for year 2030 regarding SDGs. In all, there are 169 targets defined by 244 indicators that have been signed and adopted by 193 countries, including Pakistan.

The Punjab government has set up an SDG unit and has initiated a project where the existing policies are to be mainstreamed. A parliamentarian task force has also been set up.

PML-N MPA Azma Bukhari said parliamentarians were always ready to help out on such issues. “We faced a lot of criticism on the Women’s Protection Bill but we stayed adamant and we had a fixed prerogative across the party line,” she said. She added that the problem with the millennium development goals was that people thought it was a foreign agenda. “We are still explaining to everyone that the SDGs are not a foreign agenda, that if our girls don’t go to school it is no one else’s problem but our own.”Azma added that she had suggested a checks and balance system for government reports.

Economic policy analyst Asad Ejaz Butt, representing the Punjab government, said that the they wanted localisation of SDGs. He said MDGs failed mainly because of this factor. This time the government had realised this aspect and was creating ownership of the goals among various people.

He said that the government had divided the goals into four clusters: economic, environmental, social and governance. “We have also made a data gap analasis sheet, and once we develop a baseline, we will set targets and lastly go for prioritisation,” he said. Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf MPA Dr Naushin Hamid said the government’s level of SDGs implementation was weak.

“Take, for instance, the Free and Compulsory Education Act,” she said. “It has not implemented despite the passage of years. The budgets should be monitored closely and it should be seen if any changes are made in budgets. Is the money being used for what was planned or was the budget reallocated for any unplanned schemes?”

She said the standing committee concerned which was meant to be mini parliament, did not have enough powers to take any action on any SDG related problem.

The meeting was organised by Homenet Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2018