SDGs ADVISORY UNIT ANNUAL REPORT 2019

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTSDGs Advisory UnitPresidential Villa, State House, Accra-GhanaTel.: (+233) 547 216 908

ANNUALREPORT2019

SDGs ADVISORY UNIT

SDGs Advisory UnitAnnual Report 2019 1

Contents

Foreword 3

1. Introduction 5

The Sustainable Development Goals in Perspective 5

The Eminent Group of Advocates at Work - Championing implementation of the Goals

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The SDGs Advisory Unit – Supporting the President’s role as co-Chair of the Eminent Group

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The Decade of Action – A Call to Action 9

2. The SDGs in Ghana 11

Institutional Actors driving implementation 11

Status of Implementation 14

Unfinished Business 16

3. Key SDGs Results – 3 Ps 17

Popularisation and Education Efforts 17

Policy and Outreach Efforts 22

Partnerships and Programmes 30

4. Key Results in Other Functions 33

High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy 33

Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS)

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World Economic Forum 34

Global Green Growth Institute 35

Global Citizens 35

5. Looking Ahead 36

6. Appendix 38

SDGs Advisory UnitAnnual Report 20192


Foreword

Our world is at a crossroads. The co-rona virus pandemic is changing the way we live, interact, socialise and

indeed the way we work. The pandemic is destroying lives and decimating livelihoods, and it has exposed the fundamental weak-nesses in our global system, exacerbating existing problems and creating new ones. And unfortunately, this is happening when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in September 2015 as a blueprint for global development were gaining good traction and a number of countries were making good progress in their implementa-tion.

Here in Ghana, the Voluntary National Review process, undertaken in 2019 gave us a very good picture of progress being made towards achievement of the Goals, and the challenges ahead. With the launch of the Decade of Action in January 2020, which marked the beginning of the count down to the final decade in the implementation of the SDGs, as a country, we were poised to accelerate implementation to bolster our prospects for achieving all the Goals. Inauspiciously, the consequences of the pandemic are forcing us to re-define our growth and investment ambitions, amid significant downside risks in the global economy.

At the crossroads where our world is presently, countries are having to make tough choices, balancing economic imperatives against life-saving interventions, and expanding social protection measures to its citizens to cushion the impact of the pandemic and mitigate human suffering.

While the pandemic risks eroding some of the gains made towards achieving the SDGs, we must turn the current challenges into an opportunity by fast-tracking actions towards the Goals. Crucially, our response to the pandemic should not be delinked from actions on the SDGs. Indeed, amid the pandemic the SDGs are even more relevant today than ever before. Achieving the SDGs will put our world on a more solid foundation to better deal with global health risks, future


pandemics and to help build more resilient economies.

Notably, the pandemic has shown clearly how interlinked the seventeen SDGs are. The negative effect of the pandemic on poverty eradication efforts, food security, quality education, inequalities, decent work and economic growth, and climate change, to name a few, is manifestly clear. The World Bank estimates that the number of global poor is set to go up for the first time since 1998; and according to the International Labour Organisation, some 25 million people are estimated to lose their jobs, with workers across the globe projected to lose up to US$3.4 trillion in income.

The Decade of Action must be a wake-up call for all people across the world to double their efforts towards accelerating progress on the Goals. The Eminent Group of SDGs Advocates will continue to play a crucial role in this Decade of Action. Enormous though the task may be, we are encouraged by the evident desire of many global citizens to work towards leaving a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable world for generations yet unborn. We owe this as a sacred duty, and we must do everything within our power to ensure that the SDGs are fully achieved. Failure cannot be option.

Dr. Eugene OwusuSherpa/Special Advisor to the President on the SDGs

Head of the SDGs Advisory Unit Office of the President, Ghana


Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Perspective

2019 marked four years in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by world leaders in September 2015, as a framework to end poverty and hunger, to protect people and the planet, and to ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. The seventeen (17) SDGs are a successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and they address issues in the three pillars of sustainability namely, economic, social and environmental. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth while at the same time tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

The Goals

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The 17 Goals and their symbolic representation are shown below:

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The overarching aim of the Goals is to build the “World We Want” by the year 2030, with a commitment to “Leave No One Behind.” They represent a shared vision of humanity and, crucially, are considered as a social contract between world leaders and global citizens to achieve a better and a more sustainable future for all of humankind.

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The Eminent Group of Advocates at Work – Championing implementation of the Goals

In order to raise awareness for accelerated implementation of the SDGs, the then United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon,

established the Eminent Group of SDGs Advocates in January 2016. The Advocates consist of a group of seventeen (17) influential persons drawn from diverse areas of life, to support the Secretary-General in his efforts to generate momentum and commitment to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Specifically, the Advocates work

1. to promote the universal character of the SDGs, including the commitment to “leave no one behind”;

2. to promote the engagement of new stakeholders in the implementation and financing of the SDGs;

3. to encourage partnerships with governments, civil society and the private sector to share knowledge and resources;

4. to raise awareness for the integrated nature of the SDGs.

The Advocates leverage their high standing in society and utilise unique global platforms to engender greater commitment and raise ambition around the SDGs.

In April 2017, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as co-Chair of the Eminent Group of Advocates. He co-Chairs the Group with the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The mandate of the co-chairs has since been renewed by the UN Secretary-General for an additional two years expiring on 31st December, 2020.

The current group of Advocates are depicted be-low: For more information about the activities of the Advocates please visit https://www.unsdgad-vocates.org/

President Nana Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo of Ghana

Prime Minister Erna Solbergof Norway

Her Majesty Queen Mathilde ofthe Belgians

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bintNasser of Qatar

His Highness Muhammad Sanusi II - The Emir of Kano

Richard Curtis

Hindou Ibrahim

Nadia Murad

Jack Ma

Paul Polman

Graça Machel

Jeffrey Sachs

Dia Mirza

Marta Vieira da Silva

Dr. Alaa Murabit

Forest Whitaker

Edward Ndopu


The SDGs Advisory Unit – Supporting the President’s role as co-Chair of the Eminent Group of Advocates

The SDGs Advisory Unit was established in August 2017 to provide technical, policy and strategic support to the

President in his global role as co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Eminent Group of Advocates. This the Unit does through its 3 Ps, namely Popularisation and educational activities on the SDGs, Policy, analytics and outreach, and Partnership building and programming for accelerated implementation of the Goals. In carrying out its functions, the Unit focuses on four key streams of work:

• Providing strategic advice to the Presi-dent on developments in the intergov-

ernmental arena on implementation of the SDGs to enable the President con-tribute substantively to global debates on SDGs implementation. This stream of work includes support to the President in building greater awareness and pop-ularisation of the SDGs, as well as ensur-ing cohesive and consistent advocacy both in the context of the SDGs and the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063.

• Facilitating the President’s strategic engagement and outreach with bilateral entities, intergovernmental organisations, the private sector and key civil society actors to support the


implementation of the SDGs inspired by national development plans.

• Supporting the President to promote innovative, cutting edge and smart solutions on implementing the SDGs, including identifying analytical and operational best practices to guide implementation of the SDGs, and to champion innovative tracking of SDGs commitments and results.

• Leveraging the President’s global role to accelerate awareness and implementa-tion of the SDGs in Ghana.

The Unit serves as the Secretariat of the High-Level Ministerial Committee on the SDGs established in 2017 to provide leadership

and strategic oversight to implementation of the Goals.

With time, the work of the Unit has been expanded to include other intergovernmental engagements that bear on the SDGs. Notably, the Unit also provides technical backstopping to the President in his role as Chairperson of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), as well as in the President’s capacity as a member of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Further, the Unit serves as the technical anchor in the Office of the President in the country’s partnership with the World Economic Forum, the Global Citizens movement and the Global Green Growth Institute.

The Decade of Action – A Call to Action

The first High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the General Assembly

(SDGs Summit) was held in September 2019. World leaders, at the end of the Summit adopted a Political Declaration which called for a Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030 (A copy of the Political Declaration is annexed to this Report).

In line with this, the United Nations Secretary-General in January 2020 launched the Decade of Action on the SDGs to begin the countdown of the last ten (10) years to achieving the 2030 Agenda. All over the world, some progress has been made towards achieving the Goals. Yet, the progress is not ambitious enough to build the “World We Want.” The Decade P r e s i d e n t N a n a A d d o D a n k w a A k u f o - A d d o

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of Action is essentially a Call to Action to world leaders, civil society organisations, businesses, youth groups, amongst others, to ramp up and accelerate actions towards the achievement of the Goals.

The Call to Action enjoins all sectors of society to mobilise for action at three levels:

• Global action to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter solutions for the SDGs;

• Local action embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and

• People action, including by youth, civ-il society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakehold-ers, to generate an unstoppable move-

ment pushing for the required transfor-mations.

The UN Secretary-General also called for investment in “the eradication of poverty, social protection, in health and fighting pandemics, in education, energy, water and sanitation, in sustainable transport and infrastructure and in internet access.” We are also called to put a special focus on women and girls, to build economies for the future and ensure decent work for all and to improve governance, tackle illicit financial flows and stamp out corruption.

In this Decade of Action, the SDGs Advocates will play a key role in mobilizing the global community around the Goals, raise collective ambition in their advocacy role and encourage new ways of accelerating action and solutions.

P r e s i d e n t N a n a A d d o D a n k w a A k u f o - A d d o a d d r e s s i n g t h e U N G e n e r a l A s s e m b ly


The SDGs in Ghana

Institutional Actors driving implementation

Ghana adopts the “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach in the implementation of the

2030 Agenda. A central plank of this approach is mobilising stakeholder collaboration and institutionalizing partnerships with business leaders, traditional authorities, academia, youth groups and civil society.

Notably, the implementation of the SDGs in the country is undertaken primarily through the decentralized system with planning functions assigned to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). All the MMDAs and MDAs are required to ensure that their plans and policies align with the 2030 Agenda.

Two key Ministries play a vital role in the implementation of the SDGs - the Ministries of Planning and Finance. The Ministry of Planning provides policy direction and oversight in the implementation of the Goals. The Ministry of Finance ensures that allocation of funds align with priority areas in the implementation of the SDGs, and requires that budgets of all MMDAs and MDAs align with the Goals. Importantly, the last two national budgets have been done through the lens of the SDGs, with resource allocation fully aligned behind SDGs priorities. This is being heralded globally as a best practice in the implementation of the SDGs.

To ensure a collaborative approach towards implementation, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the constitutional body established under Article 86 of the Constitution to advise the President on development planning, policy and strategy, coordinates overall implementation of the Goals with support from the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs). The NDPC also leads the integration of the Goals into local development plans and the monitoring and reporting on the Goals. In doing so, the NDPC partners with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to collect, analyse and process data for reporting on the SDGs.

In addition to these front-line institutions on the SDGs and the SDGs Advisory Unit, the Government has established a three-tier SDGs specific architecture to coordinate, track and monitor progress on the Goals. These are the High-Level Ministerial Committee (HLMC), the SDGs Implementation Coordination Committee (ICC) and the SDGs Technical Committee (TC).

The High-Level Ministerial Committee provides political leadership and strategic oversight to the implementation of the Goals. The Committee is made up of fifteen crucial ministries under the chairmanship of the Minister for Planning, with the SDGs Advisory Unit serving as the Secretariat to the Committee.

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The SDGs Implementation Coordinating Committee (SDGs-ICC) consists of repre-sentatives from ten Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Civil Society Organ-isations (CSOs), the Private Sector and the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (NAPRM-GC). The SDGs-ICC works under the technical leadership of the NDPC. Its core function is to streamline and strengthen cross-sectoral coordination and multi-stakeholder partnerships in the implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the SDGs. The ICC has spear-headed the integration of the SDGs into the planning and budgeting processes, man-aged stakeholder engagements, ensured follow-ups, overseen progress reviews, monitored and reported on implementation and related requirements of coordination.

The SDGs-ICC, under the auspices of the NPDC, led the preparation and publication of the 2019 Voluntary National Review.

The National Technical Committee is made up of the SDGs focal persons of the various MDAs and representatives of civil society organizations, private sector, academia and other stakeholders. Members of the committee are responsible for ensuring integration of SDGs into development plans, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting on the SDGs in the various sectors. The Technical Committee also provides support to local authorities and other stakeholders in implementation, results-tracking, advocacy, awareness creation and public education. Crucially, it also has responsibility for ensuring the provision of accurate and timely data for tracking progress on the SDGs.

T h e H i g h - L e v e l M i n i s t e r i a l C o m m i t t e e w i t h t h e P r e s i d e n t o f t h e U N G e n e r a l A s s e m b ly

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PICTURES OF ICC REGIONAL CONSULTATIONS


Status of Implementation

Since their adoption, Ghana has taken up the challenge of the SDGs, and is working assiduously towards their

successful implementation. The Goals have been integrated into the overarching national development framework – the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies – and SDGs-based national budgets have become the norm. In the country’s unflinching commitment to “Leave No One Behind”, the Government has ensured that its flagship programmes – the Free Senior High School education policy; the “One District, One Factory” initiative; the programme for “Planting for Food and Jobs”; the “One Village, One Dam” initiative; amongst others – have fundamentally been informed by the SDGs, and importantly they are about achieving the SDGs.

The evidence coming out of the Voluntary National Review process shows that good progress has been registered in the social sector goals. Extreme poverty, malnutrition, maternal mortality, and under-5 mortality have all declined. Access to health services and school enrolment have all seen an increase, with gender parity attained at the basic level.

On the economic front, at year-end 2019, the macroeconomic aggregates were positive, backed by robust growth, single-digit inflation, a downward trend in interest rates and declining fiscal deficits. A major downside, however, was the increase in unemployment, particularly among the youth and the urban population.

Whilst illegal mining or galamsey continued to wreck havoc on the environment, the proportion of the population with access to basic water services and sanitation, and ambient water quality had all improved. There are however challenges with air pollution, open defecation, and the number of people affected by disasters.

On the governance indicators, the number of remand prisoners and the proportion of persons who reported paying bribes both declined. Further on the upside, the Right to Information (RTI) law to improve access to public information and enhance accountability in democratic governance and political administration have been passed and so is the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to aid the fight against corruption.


Examples of synergistic relationships between selectedGovernment flagship programmes and the SDGs

Digitising Ghana

Free SHS

Planting for Food & Jobs

One-District-One Factory

IPEP

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2

3

4

5

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

8.06.04.02.00.0

2,0001,5001,000500_

GDP Growth and Per Capita GDP,2014-2018

Per Capita GDP (US$)GDP Growth rate at constant 2013 prices (%)

The growth of Ghanaian economy remains robust, accelerating to 8.1% in 2017, making it the second fastest growing economy in Africa.

The proportion of Ghanaians living below the international poverty line continues to decline.

Economic Sector Progress so far...

#GhanaVNR19 • Presented @HLPF/New York/17 July 2019

There has been a general improvement in access to education especially at the SHS level.

Completion rate has improved at JHS (75.2% in 2017 to 78.8% in 2018) and SHS level (48% in 2017 to 52% in 2018)

Gender parity has been achieved at basic school level.

Gross Enrolment Rate, 2013-2018

Social Sector Education

P R I M A R Y J H S S H S

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

◊2015/2016 ◊2016/2017 ◊2017/2018

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Unfinished Business

Although significant progress has been made in the implementation of the Goals, on balance, the rate

of progress falls short of what is required to achieve the ambitious targets enshrined in the SDGs. Cognizant of this, and in the context of the Decade of Action on the SDGs launched by the UN Secretary General, the government has committed to scaling up critical actions necessary to enhance prospects for achieving the Goals. Crucial to this is enhanced social mobilisation through increased popularisation of the Goals, greater investments in building the capacities of key actors in the implementation process, especially at the local level, and stepping up the mobilisation of innovative financing to support priority and high impact SDGs initiatives.

The implementation of Government flagship programmes contributing to SDGs attainments must be sustained and accelerated, whilst investing in new initiatives, which have potential and high prospects to support the goal of “Leaving No One Behind.” The on-going strategic partnerships with the private sector, in particular, must be broadened and deepened to help unlock increased private sector financing for the Goals.

One of the greatest challenges faced in the implementation process is the paucity of data. Greater investments need to be made in strengthening the capacity of state institutions in the collection and utilisation of administrative data to inform policies and strategic actions.


3Key SDGs Results in the Review Year

The review period saw an intensification in the activities of the Unit in the three broad areas of SDGs popularisation, policy and outreach, and partnerships building and programmatic interventions. The ensuing section highlights key results achieved in these streams of work in the year under review.

Popularisation and Education Efforts

Popularisation and educational initiatives, aimed at awareness raising and public sensitization on the SDGs,

is a major aspect of the President’s role as an SDGs Advocate. 2019 saw extensive and high impact activities organised across the country to bring the SDGs closer to the population, to empower them with the knowledge and understanding of the Goals, so necessary to drive accelerated implementation at all levels.

SDGs Day Out

The SDGs Community Day Out initiative was out-doored by the Unit in August 2019, to take education and sensitization on the SDGs to the doorsteps of communities. Importantly, this grassroots initiative was instituted to help demystify the SDGs, break them down to the understanding of the ordinary Ghanaian, and particularly taking it from the academic and policy space to local engagement with communities.

The SDGs Community Day Out had also been designed with the objective to help strengthen ownership of the Goals at the sub-national and community levels, so key for the sustainability of SDGs action. It is also meant to leave tangible SDGs legacies like tree planting projects within localized communities.

S D G s H e a lt h W a l k i n K o f o r i d u a


The maiden event was held in Koforidua, in partnership with the New Juaben South Municipal Assembly. The two-week long series of activities, co-created with the leadership of the Municipality included SDGs quizzes and debates in the secondary and tertiary institutions, clean up exercises, tree planting, health walk, football gala amongst the communities with an SDGs theme, and SDGs seminars. The climax of the two-week programme was a Grand Durbar, which included messaging on the SDGs and the finals of the SDGs football competition. This maiden event was a phenomenal success, the intention is to replicate the initiative in the other regions over the course of the year 2020.

Junior Graphic Essay Competition

The National Junior Graphic Essay Compe-tition was instituted by the Graphic Com-munications Group Limited (GCGL) in 2017 for pupils in the Upper Primary and Junior High Schools to help improve their reading and writing skills. The SDGs Advisory Unit partnered with GCGL in organising the 2019 National Junior Graphic Essay Competition with the SDGs as the theme. A paramount objective of the 2019 version of the Essay competition was to sensitize the Primary and High School students on the SDGs and to connect creativity to the Goals.

In excess of 1,000 students from all the 16 regions of the country participated in the Essay competition. At the preliminary stages, the students were given three SDGs topics from which they could select one to write on. In the finals of the competition, each finalist was asked to write a letter to the President of the Republic, on how SDGs Five (5) on Gender Equality could be achieved in Ghana

or to write an article on the causes, effects and solutions to population explosion.

The top ten essays were awarded certificates and other prizes at an event organised in January 2020, which was hosted by the President of the Republic at Jubilee House, the seat of government. The President encouraged the students to be great ambassadors of the SDGs in their schools and their communities, and expressed the hope that the visibility garnered around the event will inspire a large number of students in the country to contribute to SDGs action in their schools and communities.

P r e s i d e n t A k u f o - A d d o r e c e i v i n g a c i t a t i o n f r o m M a r i a m A n i w a , t h e w i n n e r o f t h e J u n i o r G r a p h i c

E s s ay C o m p e t i t i o n


SDGs Car RaffleAs part of efforts to mass educate the general public on the subject of the SDGs, the SDGs Advisory Unit organized a nationwide raffle on the Goals, dubbed “Yes to the SDGs” from May to July 2019. Leveraging technology, the raffle involved the general public answering questions on the SDGs via text messages on both SMS and USSD platforms. The raffle was complemented by a major campaign on the SDGs that occurred at the country’s public universities, market places, shopping malls, supermarkets, bus terminals, amongst others places. Central to the campaign was a ten minute SDGs Moment that was aired on 3FM radio on weekdays which focused solely on the SDGs.

The ultimate prize of the Raffle was a brand new Mahindra KUV Car donated by Svani Group Limited, which was awarded on the side-lines of the Global SDGs Youth Summit, held in November 2019 at the University of Ghana.

P r e s i d e n t A k u f o - A d d o w i t h w i n n e r s o f t h e J u n i o r G r a p h i c E s s ay C o m p e t i t i o n

M r . R i c h a r d K L u , r a f f l e w i n n e r

D r . E u g e n e O w u s u w i t h M r . R i c h a r d K l u

M r . A s h o k B o s e o f S v a n i G h a n a


Newsletter

The production of the weekly SDGs Advisory Unit Newsletter, which is circulated widely within the SDGs space, continued unabated during the review period. The newsletter continued to keep our partners abreast with global news and developments on the SDGs. Anecdotal evidence seem to suggest that for many of our partners, the newsletter remained an important source of information for them, bringing them up to date on the Global Agenda and assisting them in making decisions that impact on the SDGs.

Publications

The SDGs Advisory Unit continued the publications of opinion editorials (Op-eds) in major newspapers and journals, to bring the voice of the President to bear on the SDGs. The last one published in the year 2019 was the op-ed on “Unleashing Entrepreneurship and Innovation to Achieve the SDGs.” This op-ed, published jointly by the President and his co-Advocate, Jack Ma of the Jack Ma Foundation, was published in the December 2019 edition of the African Business Journal. The Unit will continue to ensure that the President’s voice is brought to bear on all SDGs issues locally and globally.

Visit of Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway

At the invitation of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister of Norway and co-Chair of the UN

Secretary-General’s Eminent Group of SDGs Advocates, Ms. Erna Solberg paid a two-day official visit to Ghana during the review period. This was a historic visit in that she was the first sitting Prime Minister of Norway to visit Ghana. But importantly, the visit was inspired by the strong partnership and the demonstrable leadership of the President and the Prime Minister on the SDGs agenda globally.

The SDGs Advisory Unit played a key role in supporting the visit, and leveraged on the visit to organise SDGs related activities aimed at popularising and educating the general public about the Goals. These included visits to Tema and Jamestown where the Prime Minister interacted with fisher-folks on sustainable management of fisheries resources, the Studios of Serge Attukwei Clotey, a young man who has adopted an innovative way of using plastics to make arts, as a way of contributing to the fight against plastic pollution, and an SDGs Juvenile Soccer Match held in honour of the Prime Minister at Jamestown. Prime Minister Solberg’s visit, which was widely broadcasted in Norway, Ghana and indeed globally strongly amplified the utmost imperative of achieving the SDGs.

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P r i m e M i n i s t e r E r n a S o l b e r g o f N o r w ay o n h e r v i s i t t o

J a m e s t o w n i n A c c r a


Policy and Outreach Efforts

Our policy and outreach programmes create a platform through confer-ences, summits and workshops for

people to interact and share ideas on the collaborative efforts and the policy impera-tives necessary to accelerate the implemen-tation of the Agenda.

SDGs Moment at the AU Summit

On the side-lines of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU Summit) held in Addis Ababa in February 2019, the SDGs Advisory Unit hosted an SDGs Moment under the auspices of the co-Chairs of the UN Secretary General’s Eminent Group of Advocates for the SDGs. The event was attended by all the fifty-five (55) Heads of State and Government of the

African Union, their Foreign Ministers and Permanent Representatives to the AU, the leadership of the AU Commission, the UN and other pan-African institutions. The objective of this historic SDGs Moment was to rally the support of the African constituency, and strengthen their commitment to scaling up implementation of the Goals.

The co-Chairs of the Eminent Group of SDGs Advocates made a Call to Action to the whole continent to commit to accelerating implementation of the Goals. The event emphasised the strong degree of convergence between the SDGs and AU’s Agenda 2063.


SDGs Investment Fair

To augment government’s efforts in achieving the SDGs by leveraging private sector capital and innovative financing opportunities, the Unit partnered with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and the Ghana Investment Promotions Centre (GIPC) to organize the second edition of the Accra SDGs Investment Fair. The Accra SDGs Investment Fair series aim to help bridge the SDGs financing gap by creating a platform that facilitates financing for bankable SDGs initiatives. Essentially the Fair creates a marketplace for impact investment, by matching potential investors with sustainable business opportunities. The 2019 edition of the Fair was held under the theme “Sustainable Development Financing: Building Mutually Beneficial Partnerships”.

The 2019 Fair brought together all key stake-holders including investors, entrepreneurs, politicians, traditional leaders, civil society organizations, intergovernmental organiza-tions among others. The President of the Republic gave the keynote address, stress-ing the need for public private partnerships

for the implementation of the Goals. Other themes explored at the Fair were: Blend-ed Financing for Sustainable Development; the role of traditional leaders in building sustainable communities, towns and cities; financing economic solutions to environ-mental problems; and financing sustainable development as an investment.

The investor community was accorded an exciting opportunity to take a Cocoa Experience Excursion to the Eastern Region to present them with business opportunities in the areas of agribusiness, renewable energy, smart medicine, eco schools and eco-tourism. Businesses and organizations were also given the opportunity to exhibit their products and services to stakeholders and the general public.

Global SDGs Youth Summit

One of the priority areas of the President, in his global role as co-Chair of the Eminent Group of SDGs Advocates is harnessing the energies and creativities of the youth in support of accelerated implementation of the Goals. Engaging the youth on the SDGs

N o e l l a W i ya a l a , G h a n a i a n A f r o - p o p s i n g e r p e r f o r m i n g a t t h e A U S u m m i t D J S w i t c h p e r f o r m i n g a t A U S u m m i t


is thus an important stream of work for the Unit.

In the fourth quarter of the review year, the Unit partnered with Reset Global, a not-for-profit youth organisation to organise a first of a kind Global SDGs Youth Summit at the University of Ghana campus. The Summit focused on empowering young leaders and change makers across the globe to directly contribute to, and champion initiatives targeting the attainment of the SDGs.

The three-day Summit brought together over six hundred youth from across the world to deliberate on how the youth can drive change for the “World We Want”. Among the issues discussed were the role of the youth in poverty eradication; technology for youth development and sustainability; quality education for the SDGs; women empowerment, and the rights of women and gender-based violence.

The Summit, which was graced by the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, included such activities as a Hackathon, Young Women Innovators Pitch, Clean-up exercise, health walk and a Climate Action Campaign.

Africa Netpreneur Summit and Heroes Show

The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) is a 10-year philanthropic enterprise by SDGs Advocate Jack Ma, to identify and put a spotlight on young African entrepreneurs who are changing communities and positively impacting lives. The primary goal of ANPI is to identify and support 100 African “business heroes” who are building a more sustainable and inclusive future to

help lead development in Africa. A cardinal goal is to use the stories of these ‘heroes’ to inspire the continent and beyond. The Jack Ma Foundation is supporting the ANPI with a US$10 million fund over the next ten years.

The SDGs Advisory Unit supported the Jack Ma Foundation in organising the Grand Fi-nale of the maiden edition of ANPI in Accra in November 2019. The one-day programme consisted of an Africa Netpreneur Confer-ence and the Africa Business Heroes Show.

The Conference was held under the theme “The Rise of Africa’s Entrepreneur Heroes”, and provided a platform for a pan-African dialogue on the state of entrepreneurship in Africa. Distinguished speakers included the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the founder of the Alibaba Group and UN SDGs Advocate, Jack Ma and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

The Africa Business Heroes show was a pitch competition by the top ten finalist in the ANPI for a share of the US$ 1 million that was at stake. The Business Hero for 2019 (the overall winner), was 34-year old Temi Giwa-Tuboson, Founder and CEO of LifeBank, an enterprise that employs drones to provide health workers with critical medical products, showing how technology is being leveraged to achieve the SDGs.

25

P r e s i d e n t A k u f o - A d d o w i t h F o r m e r U N s e c r e t a r y G e n e r a l B a n K i - M o o n

P r e s i d e n t A k u f o - A d d o , M r . J a c k M a , M s U r s u l a O w u s u , D r . E u g e n e O w u s u , J e t L i

A f r i c a I n n o v a t e s f o r S D G s A w a r d w i n n e r s


Intergenerational Dialogue

In May, the SDGs Advisory Unit, in partnership with the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), hosted the inaugural Global Peace Intergenerational Dialogue in Accra. This was the first in the series of one hundred Dialogues to be organised in hundred cities across the world. The Global Peace Intergenerational Dialogue is part of the Global Peace Agenda to create a platform for young people to interact with leaders, to take stock of the outcome of development initiatives, to bring the views of the youth to bear on the developmental discourse and to help advance prospects for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The hosting of the first of the hundred dialogues in Accra was in fulfilment of the commitment made by President Akufo-Addo at the 2018 Global Citizens’ Festival in Johannesburg, to champion the agenda on the inter-connectedness between peace and development.

The Dialogue also explored ways of fighting cyber-crime to achieve peace in the cyber-space. So far, 25 Intergenerational Dialogues have been held in various cities in the world. The outcome of the 100 Dialogues will be collated into a Global Peace Charter which will be delivered to the United Nations as a declaration of the hopes and ambitions of young people from around the world.

P r e s i d e n t A k u f o - A d d o , G r a ç a M a c h e l ( C e n t r e t w o ) w i t h d i g n i t r i e s a t t h e i n a u g u r a l G l o b a l P e a c e I n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l D i a l o g u e i n A c c r a

G r a ç a M a c h e l w i t h s o m e a t t e n d i n g s t u d e n t s a t t h e I n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l D i a l o g u e


Voluntary National Review and the High Level Political Forum on the SDGs

The Unit played a key role in the preparation of the first National Voluntary Review (VNR) Report on the SDGs and its presentation at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York. The VNR is part of the follow-up and review mechanisms adopted by the 2030 Agenda to review progress on the Goals. The HLPF and the associated VNR reports facilitate the sharing of country experiences, best practices and lessons learnt in the implementation of the SDGs.

Ghana’s VNR Report was presented at the High-Level Political Forum in July 2019. The key messages highlighted in the Report include the strong national ownership of the SDGs, the establishment of a robust institutional architecture to support implementation, the inclusive multi-stakeholder approach adopted for implementation, initiatives being undertaken to “Leave No One Behind”, the importance of leveraging synergies across the Goals and the status in implementation on each of the Goals. The Report is available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/23420Ghanas_VNR_report_Final.pdf.


Launch of ACBF Report

Capacity deficits continue to be a major challenge in the implementation of the SDGs. In 2019, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) published a report on “Capacity Imperatives for the SDGs”, which analysed key capacity challenges that need to be addressed to ensure successful implementation of the SDGs in Africa within the context of the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063. This subject matter, and the imperative to address capacity challenges, was one of the key recommendations of the

High-Level Africa Roundtable on Mobilising Support and Accelerating Implementation of the SDGs organised by the Unit in 2017.

The SDGs Advisory Unit partnered with the ACBF to launch this seminal report and disseminate its findings widely. The launch provided an important platform for discourse among government, academia, research institutions, civil society organisations, students and the private sector on priority strategic capacities that must be mobilised and put in place to underpin implementation of the Goals.

I n v i t e d g u e s t s a t t h e L a u n c h o f A C B F R e p o r t


Visit of Otumfuo to the United Nations

As part of activities to mark the 20th anniversary of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace by the United Nations, the President of the UN General Assembly convened a high level forum in September 2019 under the theme “The Culture of Peace: Empowering and Transforming Humanity.” His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene was the Keynote Speaker at this historic event. The Unit partnered with the Manhyia Palace, the Office of the Asantehene, in facilitating and in substantively supporting the mission to the Otumfuo’s visit to the UN. The choice of Otumfuo as the Special Guest and Keynote Speaker was inspired by the Royal Dialogue on the SDGs which the Unit organised in 2018 at Manhyia Palace under the patronage of the His Majesty

the King, and which adopted the Kumasi Declaration on the SDGs, acknowledging the interlinkages between the Culture of Peace and the 2030 Agenda.

The King used the occasion to emphasise the crucial role traditional leaders play in fostering a Culture of Peace and in sustaina-ble development. He underscored the need for partnership between governments, tra-ditional authorities and civil society to make the world a better place for all of human-kind.

The King and his entourage also paid a courtesy call and interacted with the UN Secretary-General and the President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly and participated in a high-level working luncheon on a culture of peace and the SDGs.

H i s M a j e s t y O t u m f u o O s e i T u t u I I o n h i s v i s i t t o t h e U N G e n e r a l A s s e m b ly


Partnerships and Programmes

As underscored by SDGs Goal 17, partnerships is core to the achievement of the SDGs. Indeed, in

the absence of a robust partnership among government, the private sector, civil society, the youth among others, the quest to achieve the SDGs will be a pipe dream. This fundamental recognition is central to the business model of the Unit. Thus, since its establishment, the Unit invested in building substantive and strategic partnerships with a broad range of institutions and actors in both the public and private sector to underpin the delivery of its mandate.

CEOs Breakfast Meetings

The CEOs Breakfast Meeting initiated in 2018 has proven to be powerful in fostering a strong partnership between the government and the private sector in support of implementation of the SDGs in the country. The series of Breakfast meetings continued to bring select Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from the private sector and the senior political leadership of the country, under the auspices of the President, to dialogue on scaling up the private sector’s role and support in implementation of the national SDGs action and programmes.

The Unit continued its strong engagement with the CEO’s Advisory Group on the SDGs, the group of eight CEOs that is the direct interface between the private sector and the Office of the President on the SDGs. One crucial outcome of the Breakfast meetings has been the urgency and the imperative to develop innovative financing solutions in support of the SDGs

implementation. In the dialogues, the CEOs Advisory Group sustained its advocacy towards strengthening the enablers and incentives regime needed to help unleash strategic capacities and resources needed to drive accelerated implementation of the national SDGs actions.

In a bid to better focus and streamline the private sector’s support, the Advisory Group has settled six core Goals as the domain for their support, and these are: S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0



06


S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0

Quality EducationS D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0



06


S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0

Clean Water and Sanitation

S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0



06


S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0

Clean and Affordable Energy

S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0



06


S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0

Decent Work and Economic Growth

S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0



06


S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0

Innovation, IndustryAND Infrastructure

S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0



06


S D G s G H A N A

A G E N D A 2 0 3 0

Responsible Consumptionand Production

31

2nd CEOs breakfast meeting


Establishment of the SDGs Delivery Fund and Green Fund

To give effect to their commitment to support government’s efforts in implementing the SDGs, the CEOs Advisory Group launched two key initiatives in 2019 with the support of the Unit. These are the SDGs Delivery Fund and the Green Fund. The two Funds seek to mobilise domestic private resources to support bankable projects and initiatives in the aforementioned six SDGs areas.

The SDGs Delivery Fund will be resourced from a proportion of the corporate social responsibility resources within corporate Ghana, and will be augmented by resources mobilised from philanthropists, the development finance institutions, multilateral institutions and bilateral partners. This Fund will be used to finance impact projects in the six domains identified by the Advisory Group.

The Green Fund aligns with SDGs Goal 7 and aims to mobilise both public and private capital to support the country’s transition towards renewable energy. A key objective will also be supporting innovation and Green Economy enterprises. Societè Generale is leading this initiative in partnership with the SDGs Advisory Unit. The Green Fund will be operationalised by the end of the year 2020.

M s . G l a d y s A m o a hC E O - U n i l e v e r

M r . E d w a r d E f f a hB o a r d C h a i r , F i d e l i t y B a n k

M r . A l h a s s a n A n d a n i , C E OS t a n b i c B a n k - C o n v e n e r

M R . J o e M e n s a hC E O - K o s m o s E n e r g y

M s . M a n s a N e t t e y, C E O -S t a n d a r d C h a r t e r e d B a n k

M r . T h o m a s S w a n i k e rC E O - S v a n i M o t o r s

M s . K a t e Q u a r t e y - P a p a f i oC E O - R e r o y C a b l e

M r . C h a r l e s L a r b i - O d A mS e n i o r P a r t n e r - D e l l o i t t e

CEO’s Advisory Groupon the SDGs


4Key Results in Other Functions

In addition to the core undertakings of the Unit and the outcomes listed in the preceding sections, over the review period, the Unit continued to provide technical backstopping to the President on new partnership initiatives in the intergovernmental arena that had a direct bearing on the SDGs. A summary of these undertakings is presented below.

High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy

The High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy consists of fourteen Heads of State and Government representing countries across the world’s ocean basins. The President of the Republic is one of three African Heads of State on this Panel, which is co-chaired by Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway and the President of Palau, Tommy Remengesau Jr. The work of the Panel focuses on increasing international understanding of how the sustainable use of the ocean, and the ocean economy could play a key role in meeting the world’s most vital needs, and doing so in the context of achieving the SDGs. Central to the Panel’s work is a Call to Action for a new contract between humanity and the ocean that protects the ocean and its resources and optimizes their value to humankind.

The work of this High-Level Panel is timely for Ghana, as the country seeks to address the challenges posed by ocean plastics, overfishing and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

As part of its work, in September 2019, on the side-lines of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York, the Panel launched a Call to Ocean-Based Climate Action, calling on the world to accelerate progress on ocean-based climate actions to support the achievement of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Call to Action is attached to this Report as an appendix. With the disruption created by the coronavirus epidemic, the final report of the Panel will now be released in the first half of 2021.


Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS)

The Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) was established in 1994 as an inter-governmental organisation with the objective to act as a global forum for developing countries for their sustainable socio-economic development through the use of science and technology. Made up of 27 countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eurasia, the Commission ensures that science and technology are integrated into and play a central role in the implementation of national and regional development plans. Notably, the Commission promotes South-South cooperation for socio-economic development through the application of science and technology. The President of

the Republic has been the chairperson of the Commission since 2017.

In the review period, the Unit worked closely with the COMSATS Secretariat to prepare for the fourth General Meeting of the Commission, and in organising an Accra Forum on science and technology for sustainable development, which are now due to take place in the latter half of this year as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic. The planned Forum is set to inspire commitments to science, technology and innovation as tools for sustainable development, as well as create a platform for discourse, collaboration and partnerships for the advancement of science and technology in the South.

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Since its establishment some four decades ago, the Forum engages foremost political, business, cultural, academic and other leaders of society to shape global agendas.

In August, 2019, the Forum invited Ghana to join the Country Financing Roadmap Initiative and the Sustainable Markets

Initiatives. The Country Financing Roadmap aims to provide countries with actionable next steps, tools and networks to unlock capital at the scale and speed needed to meet the SDGs.

The SDGs Advisory Unit serves as the technical anchor for these two initiatives and acts as the liaison between the Office of the President and the WEF.


Global Green Growth Institute

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-gov-ernmental organization dedicated to sup-porting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. The In-stitute’s work focuses on sustainable ener-gy, green cities, sustainable landscapes, and water and sanitation. It aims at strengthen-ing national, sub-national and local green growth planning, financing and institution-al frameworks; increasing green invest-ment flows; and improving multi-directional knowledge sharing and learning between South–South and triangular countries.

In 2019, the Institute, through its President and Council Chair, who is former UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon extended an invitation to the President of the Republic for Ghana to join the Institute. The President accepted the invitation and designated the SDGs Advisory Unit as the focal office to work with the Institute to advance its vision of a low-carbon resilient world of strong, inclusive and sustainable growth.

With this, Ghana joins the over fifty members of the Institute across all regions of the world. In the coming years, the Unit will work with the Institute to implement programmes and policies that contribute to the attainment of the commitments enshrined in both the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.

Global Citizens

Global Citizen is a community of engaged citizens who are taking action on the world’s biggest challenges and using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030. Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards for their actions — as part of a global community committed to lasting change. Each year, the organisation hosts a series of Global Citizens Festivals, which brings together

hundreds of thousands of people to pledge their commitment to ending poverty. The President of the Republic, has, since 2017, been a Global Citizen.

The SDGs Advisory Unit provides technical support to the President in this role. The Unit also engages with the senior leadership of Global Citizens on practical actions towards achieving its objective of ending extreme poverty, in the context of the SDGs.


5T

he year 2019 was an eventful one for the SDGs Advisory Unit, in terms of both the quality of its programmatic

and outreach activities, and the extent of strategic partnerships brokered. The Unit substantially built on the partnerships started in the preceding year, brokered new ones, and explored new opportunities for enhancing awareness and fostering greater ownership of the SDGs, particularly at the sub-national level. Importantly, the Unit deepened its substantive support to the President in his engagement with global leaders and key stakeholders on accelerating implementation of the Goals.

We are in the fifth year of implementation, and with ten years to the end-date of 2030, the United Nations has declared this decade as a Decade of Action for the Goals. This is essentially a Call to Action to garner increased commitment, and sustain momentum towards accelerated

implementation over the course of this decade to give the world a fighting chance of achieving the Goals. The Decade of Action Declaration imposes on all countries a higher duty to work assiduously towards the realisation of the Goals.

For Ghana, the privileged role that our President has as co-Chair of the Eminent Group of Advocates imposes on the country a much higher duty to be a shining example in the implementation of the SDGs. Fortuitously, the SDGs also present us with a great opportunity to transform our country and to realise the vision of a “Ghana Beyond Aid.”

The ongoing deadly coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world, destroying lives and decimating livelihoods of millions of people, make it even more imperative that countries, including our own, must scale up our efforts in their implementation of

Looking Ahead


the SDGs. Inauspiciously, the pandemic has eroded some of the gains made on the SDGs and exposed the weaknesses in our global systems. But the reality is that achieving the SDGs will put the world on a more solid foundation and a firmer path to dealing with future global health risks and emerging infectious diseases.

Against this backdrop and in spite of the persisting challenges brought about by the pandemic, the SDGs Advisory Unit will, in the year ahead markedly scale up its engagement with stakeholders to create greater awareness of the 2030 Agenda and leverage that for accelerated implementation of the Goals. The ongoing initiatives at popularising the Goals through direct community engagements, SDGs Day Out, strategic partnerships with identified groups such as the youth, and messaging through publications and newsletters will be intensified. The Unit will aggressively seek to build new partnerships with educational institutions, traditional leaders, sporting organisations, and deepen its partnership with civil society organisations to expand its outreach.

At the international level, spurred by the Decade of Action Declaration, the Unit will bolster its support to the President in his global advocacy of the Goals.

In the other streams of work, the Unit will step up its engagement with the Secretariat of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and work with the Sherpas of the Panel members to finalise the Panel’s flagship report on Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

With regards to COMSATS, the Unit will continue preparations for the Annual General Meeting and the Accra Forum on Science and Technology. Furthermore, the Unit will engage COMSATS’ Centres of Excellence to define practical initiatives that would support young and enterprising social innovators. Working in partnership with the World Economic Forum, KPMG and the UN Development Programme, the SDGs Advisory Unit will oversee the finalisation of the Country Financing Roadmap, which is deemed key to unlocking innovative financing to support implementation of the SDGs. The Unit will also continue its engagements with the Global Green Growth Institute and Global Citizens in pursuit of our common objective towards sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs.


6Appendix A

Call to Ocean-Based Climate Action

We, the members of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy,1 represent approximately 30 percent of the world’s coastlines, 30 percent of the world’s exclusive economic zones, 20 percent of the world’s ocean catch, and 20 percent of the world’s shipping fleet.

The ocean is the life source of our planet and vital for healthy human societies and a thriving world economy. A healthy ocean is also critical to achieving our global climate change targets. The IPCC2 Special Reports on Global Warming of 1.5C and The Ocean and the Cryosphere in a Changing Climate alert the world to the stark risks that unabated climate change is presenting to ocean health and human wellbeing. The IPBES3 Global Assessment Report stressed the urgency to address both climate change and biodiversity loss and emphasised the importance of the ocean to human wellbeing. We are concerned about the vulnerability of low-lying densely populated coastal communities and cities, particularly in small island developing states and least developed countries and recognize their specific needs and special circumstances.

The health of the ocean, and the livelihoods and economies that depend on it, requires the world to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. A sustainable ocean-based economy can play an essential role in this much needed emissions reduction, while providing jobs, supporting food security, sustaining biological diversity and enhancing resilience.

1 Canada was fully involved in the development of this Call to Action. While joining the other members of the High Level Panel in expressing support for this document, Canada wishes to note that the Canadian Government is currently holding a general election and is not currently in a position to sign the document.2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change3 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services


We, the members of the High Level Panel, urge all actors to join us in accelerating progress on the following key ocean-based climate actions to support the achievement of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

1. Invest in Nature-Based Climate Solutions. Restore, protect and manage coastal and marine ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes, macroalgae and reefs, to enhance their ability to sequester and store carbon, adapt to the effects of climate change, and improve coastal resilience. In doing so, apply effective science and ecosystem-based management tools, including establishment of well managed and climate smart marine protected areas and other area-based management tools, and develop innovative financial instruments.

2. Harness Ocean-Based Renewable Energy. Scale up offshore and ocean-based renewable energy, including wind, wave, tidal, current and solar, to meet future energy demand and become cost-competitive.

3. Decarbonize Ocean Industries. Invest in the solutions needed to support rapid decarbonisation of ocean industries, including shipping and marine transport, port infrastructure and operations, fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.

4. Secure Sustainable Food for the Future. Promote sustainable, safe, equitable, resilient and low-carbon sources of food from the ocean to feed and improve the nutrition of present and future generations, including mitigating food insecurity.

5. Advance the Deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage. Reduce barriers for carbon capture and storage below the seabed through international collaboration, including mapping the storage potential of the sub-seabed geological formations.

6. Expand Ocean Observation and Research. Scale up support for integrated local-to-global observation and research to better inform decision-makers on the observed and projected impacts of climate change, warming and acidification on the ocean, and the role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle. Ensure such data and information is locally relevant and open and accessible to all in accordance with the national laws and regulations which govern its usage.

We recognize the need for cohesive and accelerated ocean action in upcoming global events - including the UN Climate Conference (the Blue COP25), UN Ocean Conference, UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).

The threat that climate change poses to the ocean is a common challenge that requires collective action. This Call to Ocean-Based Climate Action provides a pathway to a low carbon, climate resilient future that secures a healthy ocean and human wellbeing. We urge all actors to join and take action.


Scott Morrison – Prime Minister of Australia

Sebastián Piñera – President of Chile

Frank Bainimarama – Prime Minister of Fiji

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – President of Ghana

Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo – President of Indonesia

Andrew Michael Holness – Prime Minister of Jamaica

Shinzō Abe – Prime Minister of Japan

Uhuru Kenyatta – President of Kenya

Andrés Manuel López Obrador – President of Mexico

Dr. Hage Gottfried Geingob – President of Namibia

Erna Solberg – Prime Minister of Norway

Tommy Remengesau, Jr – President of Palau

António Costa – Prime Minister of Portugal


Appendix B

Political Declaration of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development convened under the auspices of the General AssemblyGearing up for a decade of action and delivery for sustainable development: political declaration of the Sustainable Development Goals Summit

I. Our commitment

1. We, the Heads of State and Government and high representatives, have met at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 24 and 25 September 2019 at the Sustainable Development Goals Summit,4 to review progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.5

2. We stand firm in our determination to implement the 2030 Agenda as a plan of action for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership – a plan to free humanity from the tyranny of poverty and heal and secure our planet for future generations.

3. We emphasize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

4. Today, we are launching an ambitious and accelerated response to reach our common vision by 2030, and pledging to make the coming decade one of action and delivery. We will maintain the integrity of the 2030 Agenda, including by ensuring ambitious and continuous action on the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals with a 2020 timeline.

5. We reaffirm the commitment at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind. We will take more tangible steps to support people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries and to reach the furthest behind first.

4 High-level political forum on sustainable development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly (Sustain-able Development Goals Summit)5 Resolution 70/1


6. We also reaffirm the principles recognized in the 2030 Agenda and recall that it is universal in nature and that its Goals and targets are integrated and indivisible, balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

7. We remain resolved, between now and 2030, to end poverty and hunger everywhere; to combat inequalities within and among countries; to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies; to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls; and to ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources. We also remain resolved to create conditions for sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth, shared prosperity and decent work for all, taking into account different levels of national development and capacities.

8. We resolve to realize our vision of a world with access to inclusive and equitable quality education, universal health coverage and quality health care, food security and improved nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, affordable, reliable and sustainable energy and quality and resilient infrastructure for all.

9. We recognize the special challenges facing the most vulnerable countries and, in particular, African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States and countries in conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as the specific challenges facing middle-income countries, in pursuing sustainable development.

10. We reaffirm that gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress across all the Goals and targets. The achievement of full human potential and sustainable development is not possible if one half of humanity continues to be denied full human rights and opportunities.

11. We also reaffirm that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We express profound alarm that emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise globally, and remain deeply concerned that all countries, particularly developing countries, are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. We emphasize in this regard that mitigation of and adaptation to climate change represent an immediate and urgent priority.

12. We commit to achieving a world in which humanity lives in harmony with nature, to conserving and sustainably using our planet’s marine and terrestrial resources, including through sustainable consumption and production, to reversing the trends of environmental degradation, to promoting resilience, to reducing disaster risk, and to halting ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss.

13. We recognize that greater efforts are needed to direct and align the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda with our Goals, and commit to accelerate the implementation of commitments across the seven action areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development.6

6 Resolution 69/313, annex


14. In this endeavour, we must come together in durable partnerships between governments at all levels, and with all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, academia and youth.

15. The 2030 Agenda is our promise to the children and youth of today so that they may achieve their full human potential and carry the torch of sustainable development to future generations.

II. Our world today

16. We recognize the many efforts at all levels since 2015 to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. We have seen a significant response from national Governments, cities, local authorities, civil society, the private sector, academia, youth and other actors. We acknowledge that the Sustainable Development Goals are increasingly incorporated in national policies, plans, budgets and development cooperation efforts, and we recognize that private sector engagement in sustainable investing is growing. Global, regional and subregional multilateral development and finance institutions have embraced the Sustainable Development Goals and taken significant steps to incorporate them into their operations.

17. We welcome the Secretary-General’s ongoing efforts to reposition the United Nations development system to better support countries in their implementation of the 2030 Agenda and we commit to continuing to support his efforts.

18. We commend the work of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, meeting under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, including its reviews of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The voluntary national reviews presented by 142 countries bear witness to the efforts at the national level to prioritize integration of the Sustainable Development Goals into national plans and policies and to bring together all parts of society in the common endeavour of realizing the 2030 Agenda. We further welcome the efforts at the regional level, including by the United Nations regional commissions and the regional forums on sustainable development as well as the contributions of major groups and all other stakeholders.

19. We take note with appreciation of the Secretary-General’s progress report on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Sustainable Development Report, including the identified entry points for transformation and transformative levers for realizing the 2030 Agenda. We acknowledge the potential of a systemic and holistic approach, taking into account interlinkages between Goals and targets. The reports show that we have achieved progress in some areas, such as in reducing extreme poverty and child and neonatal mortality; improving access to electricity and safe drinking water; and expanding the coverage of terrestrial and marine protected areas.


20. At the same time, we are concerned that progress is slow in many areas. Vulnerabilities are high and deprivations are becoming more entrenched. Assessments show that we are at risk of missing the poverty eradication target. Hunger is on the rise. Progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is too slow. Inequalities in wealth, incomes and opportunities are increasing in and between countries. Biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, discharge of plastic litter into the oceans, climate change and increasing disaster risk continue at rates that bring potentially disastrous consequences for humanity.

21. We recognize that international migration is a multidimensional reality of major relevance for the development of countries of origin, transit and destination.

22. Violent extremism, terrorism, organized crime, corruption, illicit financial flows, global health threats, humanitarian crises and forced displacement of people threaten to reverse much of the development progress made in recent decades.

23. In many parts of the world conflicts and instability have endured or intensified and natural disasters have become more frequent and intense, causing untold human suffering and undermining the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our ability to prevent and resolve conflicts and build resilient, peaceful, just and inclusive societies has often been fragmented and insufficient.

III. Our call to accelerated action

24. We recognize the urgent need to accelerate action on all levels and by all stakeholders, in order to fulfil the vision and Goals of the 2030 Agenda. We also emphasize the need for concerted action across all relevant major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030,7 the New Urban Agenda,8 the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011–2020,9 the Vienna Programme of Action for the Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014–202410 and the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.11 We recognize the synergies between the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.12

25. We welcome the voluntary actions pledged by leaders at the Sustainable Development Goals Summit and throughout this high-level week.

7 Resolution 69/283, annex II8 Resolution 71/256, annex9 Report of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Istanbul, Turkey, 9–13 May 2011 (A/CONF.219/7), chap. II10 Resolution 69/137, annex II11 Resolution 69/15, annex12 See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex


26. We request the Secretary-General, as a follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals Summit and the reports on progress on the Goals, and in the lead-up to the summit to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, to engage Governments, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders in generating solutions and accelerating action to address systemic gaps in implementation, as we embark on a decisive decade for the 2030 Agenda. We also call upon the Secretary-General to organize an annual moment to highlight inspiring action on the Goals, in the context of the general debate of the General Assembly.

27. To demonstrate our determination to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to do more and faster. To this end, we commit to:

(a) Leaving no one behind: we will place a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable in our policies and actions. People who are vulnerable must be empowered. Those whose needs are reflected in the 2030 Agenda include all children, youth, persons with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, older persons, indigenous peoples, refugees and internally displaced persons and migrants. We intend to see the Goals and targets met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. And we will endeavour to reach the furthest behind first. We commit to targeted and accelerated action to remove all legal, social and economic barriers to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and the realization and enjoyment of their human rights;

(b) Mobilizing adequate and well-directed financing: in order to close the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals, Governments, the private sector and other stakeholders need to increase the level of ambition in domestic, public and private resource mobilization, strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable investments and deliver on commitments to international development cooperation. We will ensure that policies and actions reach those furthest behind, aiming at financial inclusion, and supporting the competitiveness of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, including women- and youth-owned enterprises. We will also strive to increase our level of ambition on the non-financial means of implementation, including promoting a universal, rules-based, open, transparent, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system, recognizing that international trade is an engine for development;

(c) Enhancing national implementation: we pledge to lift the level of ambition of our national responses to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, while respecting national processes and ensuring ownership. To this end, we aim to proactively mainstream the 2030 Agenda into our national planning instruments, policies, strategies and financial frameworks;


(d) Strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions: we will proactively develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels and ensure more responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making processes. We will strive to equip domestic institutions to better address interlinkages, synergies and trade-offs between the Goals and targets through a whole-of-government approach that can bring about transformative change in governance and public policy and ensure policy coherence for sustainable development;

(e) Bolstering local action to accelerate implementation: we commit to empower and support cities, local authorities and communities in pursuing the 2030 Agenda. We recognize their critical role in implementing and realizing the Sustainable Development Goals;

(f) Reducing disaster risk and building resilience: we undertake to pursue policy, investment and innovation to reduce disaster risk and build the resilience of countries, economies, communities and individuals to economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters;

(g) Solving challenges through international cooperation and enhancing the global partnership: we recognize that the integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals requires a global response. We renew our commitment to multilateralism, to find new ways of working together and to ensure that multilateral institutions keep pace with the rapid changes taking place. We further commit to finding peaceful and just solutions to disputes and to respecting international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including the right to self-determination of peoples and the need to respect the territorial integrity and political independence of States;

(h) Harnessing science, technology and innovation with a greater focus on digital transformation for sustainable development: we will promote research, capacity-building initiatives, innovation and technologies towards advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and promote the use of scientific evidence from all fields to enable the transformation to sustainable development. We will promote and support quality education and lifelong learning to ensure that all children, youth and adults are empowered with the relevant knowledge and skills to shape more resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies that are able to adapt to rapid technological change. We will foster international cooperation to support developing countries in addressing their constraints in access to technologies and education;


(i) Investing in data and statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals: we commit to strengthen our national statistical capacities to address the gaps in data on the Sustainable Development Goals in order to allow countries to provide high-quality, timely, reliable, disaggregated data and statistics and to fully integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in our monitoring and reporting systems. We encourage international cooperation supporting statistical capacity-building in developing countries, in particular the most vulnerable countries, which face the greatest challenges in collecting, analysing and using reliable data and statistics;

(j) Strengthening the high-level political forum: we pledge to carry out an ambitious and effective review of the format and organizational aspects of the high-level political forum and follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the global level during the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly with a view to better addressing gaps in implementation and linking identified challenges with appropriate responses, including on financing, to further strengthen the effective and participatory character of this intergovernmental forum and encourage the peer-learning character of the voluntary national reviews. We also pledge to advance our efforts in communicating the 2030 Agenda to the global public to raise awareness and inspire accelerated action.

28. We know the world we want. We pledge to accelerate our common efforts, now and in the coming decade to reach this vision by 2030. Rapid change is possible and the Goals remain within reach if we embrace transformation and accelerate implementation.

GHANA

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Anita Erskine HOLDINGS

MANHYIA PALACE

MINISTRY OF PLANNING

Regional Bureau For Africa

Embassy of Norway

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENTSDGs Advisory UnitPresidential Villa, State House, Accra-GhanaTel.: (+233) 547 216 908

ANNUALREPORT2019

SDGs ADVISORY UNIT

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SDGs ADVISORY UNIT ANNUAL REPORT 2019