Need new governing mechanism for SDGs: Gowher Rizvi

The government agencies need to change the mechanism of their way of working in ‘silos’ to achieve SDGs, Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi has said.

“Unless we do that we are not going to be successful,” he warned on Tuesday at an event in Dhaka.

The 17 goals of the new Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs which are to be reached by 2030 stress development leaving no one behind.

Rizvi said every goal and even every target within those goals is dependent on the ability of the government agencies to work “collaboratively”, which, he said is “something alien to government”.

“We are very comfortable working in silos,” he said. “We really need to work out a mechanism how we can reconceptualise the way we administer and the way we govern.”

The adviser spoke at the inauguration of the ‘interpreting SDGs for South Asia: in search of regional framework’

The Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the meeting with UNESCAP - South and South-West Asia Wing, New Delhi, and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Bangladesh Office.

Representatives of different thinktanks from the regional countries such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar are attending the meeting which is looking into the possibilities of creating a regional platform for SDGs.

The prime minister’s adviser said regional approach would also be helpful to achieve the goals of SDGs.

“But regional approach I would not say is popular in the region. We are still working to popularise it,” he said, citing the present condition of South Asia cooperation which he said has been in “doldrums” for long.

“By doing things together, we will benefit tremendously,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is giving regional as well as sub-regional cooperation a top priority.

He said the prime minister is focusing on “single idea” of poverty elimination and “unless we work together we cannot eliminate poverty”.

CPD Distinguished Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said thinktanks have a role to play by providing knowledge-inputs for conceptualising, clarifying and consolidating SDGs and also setting up mechanism to review and follow-up the state of implementation of SDGs in South Asia.