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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

THE sixth session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (AFRFSD) ended here on a high note with Zimbabwe making history as the first country to host an over-subscribed summit with more than 3 000 delegates.

Victoria Falls made an indelible mark in the six-year history of the forum as the United Nations launched the Decade of Action in what has become known as the Victoria Falls Declaration directing member States to up their game towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 2030 and 2063 Agenda.

There were concerns about the slow pace in implementing the SDGs and the two agendas which saw the forum resolving that implementation strategies be upped and accelerated through partnerships and investment in youth education, aggregated data and monitoring tools.

In her closing remarks that were read by the director of African Centre for Statistics Economic Commission for Africa, Mr Oliver Chinganya, on Thursday, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Ms Vera Songwe, said the 2020 forum broke many records in the history of AFRFSD.

“The 2020 forum has broken records in many ways. The voice of the youths was heard for the first time with over 250 young people attending for the first time ever. One can conclude that youths have taken over judging by the way they articulated their issues.

“The forum set new records in terms of participants. Last year in Morocco we had about 800 and we thought that we had reached the peak until we came here to Victoria Falls. This forum has lived to the true meaning of Mosi-oa-Tunya. It has thundered,” said Ms Songwe.

She said the forum also broke records in terms of partnerships, one of the key themes for the proceedings.

The SDGs are compacted into five themes namely: people, peace, prosperity, planet and partnerships.

“We had a record number of national experts and senior government officials from Zimbabwe which is a demonstration of Government commitment and on this alone we are grateful to the Zimbabwe government,” Ms Songwe said.

The UN Decade of Action is a launch pad for the continent to implement the SDGs between now and 2030 .

For the first time all the 17 SDGs were discussed at one meeting between Monday and Thursday.

Proceedings however, started on Saturday with a youth boot camp and there were numerous side events parallel to the main forum which was officially opened by President Mnangagwa on Tuesday.

“The journey has just begun. We now have the Victoria Falls Declaration on the Decade of Action where we need to integrate our actions. We must act and act collectively. We should combine efforts and ensure our efforts are greater than our challenges since we have agreed that we will implement the SDGs in 10 years,” said Ms Songwe.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima, who chaired the closing session said the Decade of Action should be a period of achievement.

He concurred that the forum had provided a launch pad for action.

“This forum has provided a form of launch pad for acceleration of action. Time for action is now and Africa has to unite to fulfil the vision of our founding fathers particularly Kwame Nkrumah. We are proud to have come up with a document — the Victoria Falls Declaration — and as incoming chair, I wish to commit myself to work with the bureau in mainstreaming SDGs and the two agendas,” Prof Mavima said.

“The Victoria Falls Declaration has very clear recommendations and what is left now is to go full throttle hence now is the time to positively change the narrative and say rise Africa, Shine Africa.”

The regional forum is an intergovernmental platform convened by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank and the United Nations system to review progress, share experiences and lessons learned towards attaining the continent’s Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda.

Zimbabwe assumed chairmanship until the next meeting next year.

The theme for this year was: “2020-2030: A Decade to Deliver a Transformed and Prosperous Africa through the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.”

The recommendations will build to an African position going into the UN summit in July this year. — @ncubeleon