ACHEST at the “SDGs Implementation reflection in Africa conference, Kigali-Rwanda

The African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST) was represented at the conference on “SDGs Implementation in Africa – Reflection on a Three-Year Journey” by Dr. Patrick Kadama, the Director of Health Policy and Strategy at ACHEST who is also a Think Tank on SDGs in Kigali-Rwanda from 12-14 June 2019.
The conference had in attendance African leaders, policy makers, representatives of the UN system, civil society, the private sector, bilateral institutions, researchers and academicians, innovators and experts to debate the progress made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. The conference also saw the launch of both the Africa 2030: Sustainable Development Goals Three-Year Reality Check report and the 2019 Africa Index and Dashboard report.
The SDGs, which were adopted by the 193 countries in the United Nations in 2015, are a global guiding agenda for sustainable development to be achieved by 2030. At their adoption, Africa’s starting point was lower than that of all other regions and emerging evidence over the last three years of tracking SDGs implementation indicates that complex challenges still prevail for the continent.
The pace of development progress in Africa over recent years is assessed as insufficient for the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Accelerating SDGs implementation, successful matching of development goals to finance the role of different stakeholders, leadership, participation and ownership of the agenda by governments and the need for strong monitoring and evaluation mechanism are some of the challenges addressed during the conference. Achieving the SDGs and accelerating their implementation needs universal participation and collective action.
The Think Tanks at the meeting resolved to convene an inclusive policy dialogue with a broader set of stakeholders on a strategy to setup an Africa funding for financing the components of supplying water to households, health and education an idea birthed at the conference to fast track the SDG implementation in Africa.
Six heads of State attended the conference and pledged to present the recommendations at the African Union Summit.