The 2024 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Summit is scheduled to take place next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 2 and 3, 2024 at the Kempinski Hotel, Accra.
The two-day summit will be on the theme: ‘From mid-point to success: recommitting, scaling up, and accelerating action on the SDGs.’ It has been structured as a preparatory meeting for the UN Summit of the Future.
At a press launch on Monday, June 24, 2024 the organisers informed the media that the summit will have a presidential and high-level dialogue.
During the summit, the office of the SDGs Advisory Unit, in partnership with Unicef, will organise a model Children’s Summit of the Future, as a side event of the SDGs Action Summit 2024.
The Special Advisor to the President on the SDGs, Dr. Eugene Owusu, in his welcome address indicated that “the overarching objective is to reignite renewed commitment to the implementation of the SDGs and catalyse bold and innovative actions necessary to put the SDGs on track across the continent.”
He said that the outcome of the summit will represent a collective voice and a call to action at the summit of the future.
SPECIFI OBJECTIVE
The SDG Action Summit 2024 is to examine the pressing policy, governance, and institutional reforms required to underpin the scaling up of SDGs implementation.
The summit is also to rethink investment pathways to turbocharge SDGs implementation and, again, to emphasise the crucial role of the private sector and the incentives required to galvanise the private sector’s leadership on SDGs action.
OUTCOME
Organisers expect that the summit will birth a practical, solutions-driven outcome document that reinforces Africa’s united resolve to amplify and expedite advancements towards the SDGs.
The document, the media was told, is intended to serve as a significant contribution to the pact for the future.
It is expected that the summit will bring about enhanced knowledge sharing by increasing understanding and awareness among participants through the exchange of ideas and experiences, resulting in a richer pool of insights and lessons learned to drive accelerated SDGs implementation.
URGENCY
The Special Advisor to the President on the SDGs, Dr. Eugene Owusu, stressed that the urgency of action on the SDGs could not be overstated.
According to him, the United Nations was at a critical juncture where accelerated efforts were necessary to give it a reasonable chance of meeting the 2030 targets.
“The opportunities to act are abundant, and the cost of failure is too high to ignore. If we fail to achieve the SDGs, the repercussions will be felt across all sectors of our society. Economic stagnation, increased inequality, and environmental degradation are just a few of the dire consequences we could face,” he remarked.
CHALLENGE
Dr. Eugene Owusu stated that the challenge that Africa faces in achieving the SDGs is compounded by a plethora of man-made challenges.
He mentioned climate change, conflict, the residual but consequential effects of COVID 19, policy failures and misgovernance, and a pear-shaped global governance architecture.
SUSTAINABLE FUND
The United Nations Resident Director, Dr. Charles Abani, advocated for a sustainable source of funding for the implementation of the SDGs.
According to him, Ghana had demonstrated appreciable success in the attainment of a number of the SDGs; however, a lot more would have to be done.
Dr. Abani particularly commended President Nana Akufo-Addo for his sterling role in promoting the SDGs over the last eight years and assured that his high integrity would be one to draw on even after his official term as the President of Ghana.
