Dodoma. Representatives from the government, private sector, and civil societies gathered here on June 8, 2023, to validate Tanzania’s 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Implementation Report, also known as Voluntary National Reviews (VNR), which will be presented to the United Nations later this year.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) accepted Tanzania to report to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum, the central United Nations platform, to follow up and review the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals in July 2023.
Organised by the Ministry of Finance, the multi-sectorial meeting is part of a nationwide process that oversees the implementation, monitoring, tracking, and reporting of SDGs in Tanzania.
Officiating the meeting on Thursday, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Jenifa Omolo, said the government wanted to invite stakeholders so that they can see what the government intends to present to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in July.
“So, If there are any concerns about the report’s content, this is the right time to say and suggest improvements,” said Omolo. “But it also helps to know what important things have not been included.”
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The UN adopted the SDGs in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. VNR provides important SDG updates regarding Agenda 2030 implementation in Tanzania.
The 2023 Tanzania VNR report, which is in its final stages before being submitted to the United Nations, will be the second report since Tanzania produced a similar report in 2019.
Dr Mursali Milanzi, the Commissioner for Planning at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, said the docket is responsible for coordinating the process of preparing the VNR since Tanzania is a member state of the UN and has endorsed the implementation of SDGs.
“Each country is required to prepare a report on the implementation of these goals to assess their progress and identify challenges and necessary steps in achieving them,” he said.
Dr Milanzi explained that after the adoption of SDGs, Tanzania did not need to establish new goals to localise them since it already had plans that could achieve the same objectives.
“Whenever we are forming a five-year plan, we ensure that the sustainable development goals are well incorporated,” said Milanzi. “By implementing these plans, we can achieve SDGs progress.”
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UNA Tanzania Executive Director Reynald Maeda, whose organisation is a co-convener of the Tanzania Sustainable Development Platform, said since February 2023, the organisation had reached about 2,720 CSOs included in the process of making the 2023 VNR report.
Maeda said CSOs have planned to launch an alternative report (CSOs VNR report 2023), different from the government, that will also be presented to the United Nations in July 2023.
He said the 2023 Tanzania CSOs VNR report 2023 will be validated on June 15, 2023, and the launching will occur on June 17, 2023, in Dar es Salaam.
“We are very grateful to the government for providing an opportunity for CSOs to convey their message,” said Maeda. “The CSO VNR report is not a shadow report but a complement of what the government will present HLPF.”
The 2023 United Nations HLPF theme is Accelerating the Recovery from the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the Full Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels.
The forum will focus more on reviewing SDGs six, seven, nine, eleven, and seventeen, which are about clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; industry, innovation and infrastructure; sustainable cities and communities; and partnerships for the goals.
