ZIMBABWE lacks political will and finances to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which is affecting its development endeavours, the United Nations (UN) has said.
This comes as Zimbabwe prepares to join the rest of the world at the Summit of the Future set to be held in New York early next week.
The country, since 2019, has no comprehensive budget and financing framework to cater for the execution of the goals leading to recession and stagnation.
In an interview with NewsDay on the sidelines of the Summit’s Consultative Stakeholders Meeting in Harare last week, UN resident co-ordinator Edward Kallon said a comprehensive budget was the starting point for Zimbabwe.
“We want the total budget to implement the SDGs in Zimbabwe, but we need to work with the government to see what that amount is. That is what we need. We need it or else we are not going to be able to make any big impact,” he said.
In 2022, the UN implored Zimbabwean authorities to strengthen implementation and monitoring mechanisms to achieve SDGs during the Decade of Action despite the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change challenges.
The UN called on Zimbabwe to continue strengthening implementation and monitoring mechanisms to achieve the SDGs despite the challenges emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change impacts.
Kallon reiterated that corruption and manipulation are not the cause of the failure of the country to implement the SDGs considering that there are no financing models.
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“Actually, the budget is needed. If you don’t have the money, what do you do? First you get the money, then you talk about manipulation. There’s no money like that, but we need to know how much it costs. In other countries, we have calculated it actually,’ he said.
The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere.
