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Bongani Ndlovu, [email protected]

THE Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are vital to be achieved worldwide, and Zimbabwe has a part to play as a country with local stakeholders voicing their commitment and outlining their contributions towards achieving them by 2030.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) team was in Bulawayo for the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and went around the venue to ask people what they knew about the SDGs, as part of an awareness campaign.

Scores of people from all walks of life from business, Government, the youth and children visited the United Nations stand at the ZITF where the UNDP was situated.

The team did a walkabout at the ZITF conducting interviews to find out what people knew about the SDGs and interacted with a cross section of visitors.

Although the SDGs are a global catch phrase locally, Zimbabweans must know what they are and how they affect them and how they can affect change.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

At its heart are the 17 SDGs, which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests.

It is important that the SDG targets are localized and understood by Zimbabweans as a global blueprint for a better future.

In separate interviews around the ZITF, many have an idea of what the SDGs entail, like education, which is a key area of focus.

High school students seem to have a grasp of what the SDGs are, like Tanatswa Chivizhe, who had a basic knowledge of what they are.

 

“These goals are goals set by… I don’t know, is it the SADC or the United Nations, I don’t know. That we are to attain by 2030 if I’m not mistaken for us to have a society and an environment where everyone has basic needs like food, education security, and a lot of things like that,” said Chivizhe.

A high school student, Tanatswa Nyandoro, emphasized its importance, particularly for rural communities.

“I would give children in rural areas opportunities to come to town for better education,” she said. “This way, they can return to their communities and become leaders, shining stars who don’t feel limited by their background.”

Another high school student, Chantelle Magara, highlighted another crucial element: a skilled workforce.

“As we work together to achieve the SDGs,” she said, “I urge our government, education sector, and private sector partners to commit to building a highly skilled, valued, and empowered workforce.”

Financial literacy is another important piece of the puzzle as Mbonisi Khabo believes that “Many people live in poverty because they lack financial awareness. By becoming financially literate, people can make better financial decisions and alleviate poverty.”

Miles Mudzviti, who visited the United Nations stand at the ZITF, said it was important to have food security at a household level.

“A world with zero hunger is possible,” he said. “But it requires promoting meaningful connections and impactful partnerships. Climate shocks and changing weather patterns threaten food security, especially for rural smallholder farmers. This highlights the need for more innovative partnerships around climate financing to build resilience and support household food security.”

The UNDP Zimbabwe Resident Representative, Mr Ayodele Odusola, said the reason they were at the ZITF was to advocate and educate people on the SDGs.

“The reason we are here at the ZITF is to provide an opportunity for us to really advocate for a lot of things that we have been yearning for, in terms of achieving, particularly ensuring that development interventions benefit the people that are left behind,” said Mr Odusola.

“So the objective is for us to ensure that we advocate what the Sustainable Development Goals and what the Agenda 2030 stand for and also really to profile some of the things we have been doing thay some of the people are not aware of. So that they know what UNDP is doing across the provinces and districts of the country.”

Mr Odusola said as UNDP they are working with the Government to reach the SDG targets.

“We want to forge new partnerships with different stakeholders, in Government, in the private sector, civil society organisations, and also development partners. On the milestone that UNDP wants to point out in terms of partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe, there are so many milestones that we have achieved and it is really worked and I want to state that the Solar Health initiative which is a strong partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe as well as UNDP,” he said.

“We have succeeded in facilitating the process of generating 12.5MW of electricity to the national stride which is quite huge because this even more than what has been generated in B communities in some countries, so this is really a huge achievement and we strongly believe that we want to take it forward.”

 

Mr Odusula highlighted that on Wednesday UNDP handed over US$82 000 worth of goats, agricultural, and laboratory equipment to Esigodini Agricultural College to enhance the institution’s programs. Esigodini Agricultural College is one of the five platforms driving Zimbabwe’s innovation in agriculture.

This project falls under the UNDP’s programme on building climate resilience of vulnerable agricultural livelihoods in southern Zimbabwe and is part of a broader partnership that brings together the organisation, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Development, and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Government has a role to play and healthcare is another SDG as Major General (retired) Dr. Gerald Gwinji, Commissioner in the Health Services Commission, explains their collaboration with the UNDP.

“We work closely, directly and indirectly with the UNDP in trying to address SDG 3. You know that the Health Services Commission is an entity that looks at the human resources for health that are primarily operative in the Ministry of Health and Childcare. Our role basically is to make sure that we produce enough of these resources we train them and we give them conditions of service that are appropriate as well as equipping them,” said Major General (retired) Dr. Gwinji. He said with the UNDP the Health Services Commission has through the human resources department, a good component of that grant (given to the Commission by UNDP through the Global Fund) goes to human resources for health, training, personal support.

Commissioner Angelbert Mbengwa also from the Health Services Commission said because of the partnership with UNDP they were now seeing an improvement in maternal health, one of the SDGs.

“That collaboration has seen our retention rates improving. We are keeping more of our staff through this program and more of our staff have over the years become resilient and chosen to remain within the public sector because of the support that has been rendered by UNDP or by the global fund,” said Commissioner Mbengwa.

Dr Jo Abbot, the British Embassy Development Director, weighed in saying the SDGs are important not only for the British people but also for Zimbabweans.

She said the work the British Government has done with the UNDP is in the areas such as energy, environment, climate, and agriculture.

Dr Abbot said agriculture is the backbone of the economy in Zimbabwe and it was important that agriculture is able to evolve as the climate changes.

“So we have had a long-term partnership as the UK together with Government of Zimbabwe and UNDP looking at how we can build what we call resilience. How can we build innovation into the work of smallholder farmers so that they can grow crops that are more adaptive for a climate that is changing.

And also look at how they can trade those crops as well,” said Dr Abbot.

“We also have been doing work on green energy, that is also one of the Sustainable Development Goals.

That’s a new area of work we have been doing with UNDP. “We need a partnership between people, prosperity, and other sectors so that we build sustainability”

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