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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

AFRICAN countries, Zimbabwe included, should develop domestic resource mobilisation strategies including Diaspora remittances to be able to implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

During a high-level panel discussion focusing on ‘acceleration to deliver a transformed and prosperous Africa through the 2030 agenda’, participants said Africa has potential to speed up implementation of SDGs if countries mobilise their own resources.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, who was the moderator of the session, said Africa can mobilise $5 billion domestic finances per year.

He called for public-private partnerships including pension funds and capital markets.

“When we talk of SDGs, there are four pillars we should focus on. We need to strengthen financing architecture which speaks to domestic resource mobilisation, aligning implementation, strengthening monitoring and evaluation and improving communication and advocacy.

“Africa collects $5 billion from domestic mobilisation and we could do better with tax base expansion. We have made a lot of progress already in terms of taxation but more still needs to be done. Fundraising domestically is key and infrastructure bonds, pension funds will go a long way in financing projects especially energy because the service generates funding for itself,”  Prof Ncube said.

He said Zimbabwe has come up with the policy of devolution whose concept is similar to what was done in Kenya and Nigeria where the two African countries devolved power to provinces to empower citizens in their localities.

Prof Ncube said besides the devolution policy, Government was crafting a 5-year plan which is aligned to delivery of SDGs in the country through capacitating local authorities.

The Minister called for strong monitoring and evaluation of programmes so as to facilitate implementation of SDGs.

“Tapping into Diaspora remittances is key because Africa gets more from the Diaspora than from foreign aid. Let’s make every effort to develop data and one way to do that is to have consistent budget reviews focusing on keys areas,” said Prof Ncube.

He said Zimbabwe is committed to implementing SDGs and the country requires support in all its endeavours.

Director of National Development Planning in Zambia, who was also a panelist, Mr Lee Chileshe, concurred, saying Africa needs to invest in homegrown solutions if the continent is to achieve implementation of the SDGs.

He bemoaned existence of disaggregated data in many countries, a development he said leaves a lot of gaps in terms of implementation. – @ncubeleon.