Another set of goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 2000 by all the member countries of the UN. A 15-year timeline was decided upon during which governments across the globe were going to try and end poverty, hunger and disease. Progress has been patchy and Pakistan is amongst the many countries which failed to achieve the goals. On February 19, the National Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030 and called upon both the private and public sectors to work towards their achievement. The SDGs are aspirational, even more so than their predecessors. They aim towards sustainable and inclusive growth, an end to inequality, gender-based discrimination and poverty for all citizens of the earth regardless of whether they live in developed or developing countries.

According to the National Assembly, this is what Pakistan hopes to achieve by 2030 or at least make efforts for there to be significant positive changes. However, there is little in the way of policies and actual groundwork to achieve any of these goals. The resolution has been adopted but the commitment is missing, as it was for the MDGs. Our approach to dealing with problems still heavily relies on waiting until they become too big to ignore and then hastily fixing whatever is easily fixable. Yes, terrorism has slowed us down and cost us precious resources which could have been better employed elsewhere but poor governance and lack of resolve has been plaguing our development agenda for far longer.

The SDGs focus on sustainable and inclusive development. That is something we in Pakistan have failed at spectacularly and for a long time. The division of resources has historically been unequal and other provinces lag far behind Punjab. It remains to be seen whether the policies for achievement of this new set of goals will focus on a more equitable division of resources or follow the previous pattern. The adoption of aspirational resolutions is an important first step in bringing about long-term positive change. Also required is a commitment to inclusivity and that is where Pakistan consistently falls behind.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd,  2016.

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