CSOs start campaign for post-2015 agenda
Left to Right: Mr Richard Ssewakiryanga, the NGO Forum executive director, Uganda National Association of the Deaf executive director Ambrose Murangira and Mr James Kintu, the associate director Advocacy World Vision Uganda address journalists at the launch of the campaign in Kampala yesterday. photo by Alex Esagala
KAMPALA. A group of civil society organisations yesterday launched a campaign to localise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and collect views of Ugandans about the United Nations-led global development agenda.
On September 25, 2005, representatives from the 193 UN member states including Uganda adopted the SDGs, with a wide range of targets, including economic growth, poverty alleviation, and environmental objectives at the UN General Assembly.
In January, the SDGs, building upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), consequently replaced the MDGs as the main international mechanism for guiding development in all UN member states until 2030.
The campaign
Dubbed Tondeka Mabega - Leave No One Behind Citizen Dialogues, the campaign aims at “building momentum for all citizens across Uganda to participate in the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all levels using local, national and global resources.”
Mr Richard Sewakiryanga, the executive director of the National NGO Forum which is spearheading the campaign said they will gather views of people who are not always heard especially from remote communities across the country to inform discussions by world leaders at the September 2016 UN summit.
“The pledge to leave no one behind at the heart of the SDG agenda should be meaningful to all. It means the SDG targets should be met for everyone, with a particular focus on the poorest, most vulnerable and furthest behind,” Mr Sewakiryanga said.
As one of the ways of achieving the goals, Mr John Charles Orach, the chairperson of the National Network for Older Persons in Uganda (NNOPU) challenged government to roll out the Senior Citizens Grant to benefit the elderly across the country without discrimination.
According to Mr Sewakiryanga: “In the implementation of the grant, government actually discriminates against its own citizens. The grant was very successfully piloted in 15 districts, it should actually by now have covered the whole country without exception.”
Government has been implementing a phased roll out of the programme which so far covers about 40 out of the 116 districts in the country.
