Minister urges youth to help attain 2030 SDGs
Mr Isaac Kwame Asiamah, Minister for Youth and Sports (MoY&S), has called on the youth to help in the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developing Goals (SDGs).
He said the SDGs shares similitude of action towards transforming the African Continent from the clutches of poverty, by largely coming out of amorphous economic structural factors and the travesty of an incoherent political system to an integrated prosperous and peaceful Africa envisioned in the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063.
Mr Asiamah said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Emmanuel Sin-nyet Asigri, Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), at the Africa Youth SDGs Summit in Accra on Wednesday.
The two-day summit, which is being held under the theme: “Youth as Drivers of Sustainable Development”, brought together youth participants from many African countries.
He urged the participants of the summit to play effective roles as drivers of the SDGs.
Mr Asiamah said the Ministry responsible for youth development through the NYA is evolving its focus in the attainment of the SDGs within the ambit of continent youth development agenda and “harnessing the demographic dividend through investment in the youth”.
The Minister said no amount of vociferous advocacy can yield a desirable effect and there is the need for the youth to do more as advocates in their various roles.
Ms Christin Evans-Klock, the UN Resident Coordinator, said 2015 marked the adoption of the historic agenda for Africa at both the continental and global levels.
She said at the continental level, Africa countries adopted agenda 2063, the 50-year transformative agenda for Africa hence the initial first ten-year implementation plan.
Ms Evans-Klock said at the global level- the UN General Assembly, nearly 200 countries adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and its 17 SDGs and that both framework seeks to achieve inclusive growth, sustainable development and peace and security for the continent.
She said the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, like the AU agenda 2063, was the people’s agenda and that it was the result of years of grassroots consultations across the globe.
Ms Evans-Klock, who is also the United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, said in Ghana, national consultations on ‘’The Ghana We Want ‘’ as part of this global process, put emphasis in reducing inequality and on creating more good jobs for more young people.
She said what came out of all this global consultation among the various governments and with the civil society was the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development which was a road map for ending extreme poverty in all its forms.
The Resident Coordinator said it was easy to remember the five components of Agenda 2030, namely, SDGs are about people, to promote prosperity for all, to promote the planet, and to ensure peace, and to accomplish all this through partnerships- public and private sector, all segments of society, across generations, at all levels of government, and between countries.
The 17 SDGs translate the core value and principles underlying the agenda into concrete and measurable results to end extreme poverty in all its forms, decrease inequality and improve gender equality, boost economic growth and job growth, improve infrastructure and cities and speed up industrialisation.
“It is also to transform agriculture and end hunger and ensure that everyone has access to good quality health and education services and to promote peace and to sure access to justice for all.”
Source: GNA