On July 6, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In a resolution 70/1, UNGA proposed 17 World Sustainable Development Goals (WDGs) and 169 targets to promote “peace and prosperity for all people and the planet”.
The goals include no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), reduced inequality (SDG 10), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), climate action (SDG 13), life below water (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15), peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).
Brought together by the mission statement of “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”, many UN member states, including the Republic of South Sudan, ratified the resolution on SDGs in the same year. As a result, in July 2024, the Government of South Sudan sent a delegation to New York to present its first “Voluntary National Review Report” at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) to assess the progress of the SDGs in the country. To a South Sudanese ordinary citizen like myself, the mission has generated questions such as; which goals are showing indicators of the SDGs’ progress in the country? How committed is the Government of South Sudan to achieving critical aspects of the SDGs by the end of 2030? These questions are fundamentally imperative when evaluating the progress of the SDGs in South Sudan.
As years fly like the F16 fighter jet, international institutions such as the UN specialized agencies have produced reports whose findings indicate that so little has been achieved on the SDGs in South Sudan. Major goals (SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 3, SDG 4, and SDG 13) were still at their critical phases. For example, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), food insecurity in South Sudan is disquieting. The IPC report has estimated that 7.76 million people, which accounts for 63 percent of the population, were projected to experience severe food insecurity this year, with many falling under the Crisis level (IPC Phase 3), particularly in Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile states. The World Bank Group has alleged that poverty is endemically deep-rooted in South Sudan, and it is expected to enlarge its corridors by 2025, with 73 percent of the population expected to be engulfed by this phenomenon. Worse enough, this condition is not likely to improve under the current macroeconomic outlook.
In health and education, severe and moderate malnutrition continue to affect 1.65 million children in South Sudan. UNICEF’s annual report of 2023/2024 titled, ”Update on the Context and Situation of Children” has warned that 480,000 children will face SAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition) by the end of 2024. Child mortality remains at 98 per 1,000, placing South Sudan at the 7th highest in the world. In addition, enrolment in general education was deflating, with over 2.8 million children to remain out of schools. Fifty three percent of these children are girls, making the Gender Parity Index to stand at 0.95 for pre-school, 0.89 for primary, and 0.77 for secondary level.
Despite these shocking indicators, the budget allocations for health and education combined have diminished substantially. This drastic drop is by 61 percent- from 27.9 percent in the Budget of 2022/2023 to 10.8 percent in the Fiscal Year Budget of 2023/204. This is far below the international standard. The health spending, for example, has fallen from 9.6 percent to 2.1 percent. While education expenditure has declined from 14 percent to 8.3 percent at the same interval.
Given this gloomy picture of the UN 2030 Agenda for SDGs in our country, it has become clearer that a concerted effort is urgently needed to change the status quo. There is a need for radical change in the policy direction. The Government of South Sudan, for example, needs to reshuffle its main priority from traditional security to human security. SDGs view a human being as an indivisible security, making human security the very goal line of the UN 2030 Agenda.
The UN 2030 Agenda for SDGs is well understood as “prioritizing the security of people”, particularly their safety and welfare instead of that of the state. Poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental collapse, population displacement and social exclusion all bear direct consequences on people. So, they have become life-threatening forces in the 21st Century. For this reason, the SDGs have been conceptualized by the UN Commission on Human Security as “a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, a job that was not cut, an ethnic tension that did not explode into violence, and a dissident who was not silenced”.
Viewed this way, the Government of South Sudan also ought to inflate its concept of security by paying close attention to human security. Human security encompasses human rights, good governance, access to education, and healthcare. As such, the creation of the political, social, environmental, economic and cultural systems will pave the South Sudanese ordinary citizens’ ways for survival, livelihood and dignity. Individual South Sudanese need to have chances and opportunities to fulfill their potentials. They must build on their aspirations and strengths. They must be free from poverty, hunger, disease and receive equitable and quality education, and live in an environment free from the carbon emission. To be free from poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy and live with clean air is a human right, and this is what the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is all about. The SDGs high spot the networks between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. “Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs”.
The writer is a South Sudanese Master’s student of Political Science at the School of Social and Economic studies, University of Juba. He specializes in International Relations and Diplomacy. (amajuayani@gmail.com)
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