Achieving 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development By Amarakoon Bandara Global Expert Meeting on Agriculture and Agro-industries Development towards Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems Victoria Falls 24-26 April 2017

SDGs: 17 Goals, 169 targets and 232 Indicators

Comprehensive, complex and significant challenges SDGs are comprehensive, they are interlinked-one leading to another and complex. On top of these are the policy failures and the resulting wide development deficits. This means challenges of achieving SDGs are monumental. Yet the opportunities to overcome these obstacles are also readily available and countries need to foster multi-stakeholder engagement to create stronger and more coherent policies. As such, the need to have a holistic approach to achieve SDGs, including through getting policies right, and a better understanding of the role of State

Focus: Three key issues 1. Alignment of national development strategies and plans to achieve SDGs 2. Effective implementation of such strategies and plans 3. Financing policy implementation

1. Alignment of national development strategies and plans to achieve SDGs National development plans may confine to achieve short term national development objectives They could be politically driven rather than by rational objectives with limited inclusiveness. The latter could potentially leave many behind in the development process. Thus getting policies right is critical. Being predominantly rural, agriculture based economies, priority could be given to develop agriculture. Moving beyond primary commodities to agro-industrial development through value addition have the largest benefits in terms of poverty reduction and achieving zero hunger.

Alignment of national development plans to achieve SDGs cont: The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)- Africa’s policy framework for agricultural transformation, ASEAN’s initiative on food security, SAARC regional initiative on agricultural mechanization, Latin America’s Programme for development of rural agroindustry (PRODAR) All point to the importance of incorporating them in national development strategies and linking them to the budgetary process for greater outcomes. Aligning them to SDGs and the budgetary process could help achieve long term objectives

2. Effective implementation of such strategies and plans Many countries have very comprehensive national development plans, yet their implementation is weak with limited gains Resource constrain is a major bottleneck, but they go beyond financial resources Institutional failures and human resource capacity constraints are significant challenges Local and regional governments are essential for promoting inclusive sustainable development within their territories. By creating broad-based ownership, commitment and accountability, they are vital partners to the implementation of SDGs.

3. Financing Policy Implementation SDGs Focus on 3 key financing modalities Domestic Public Financing; Private sector financing; Official Development Assistance (ODA);

Domestic Public Financing

Solutions to Strengthen Public Financing Invest more to improve tax administration, Simplify and rationalize tax policy and increase tax base, Increases in tax base result in more socially acceptable increase in revenue than an increase in the rate. Tap eligible informal sector entities The continent’s large informal sector holds considerable financial resources that are not deposited in savings accounts or pass through other formal financial channels, Stem the tide of illicit financial out flows, wastage and corruption Prudent macroeconomic and expenditure management

Private Financing

Solutions to Strengthen Private Financing Strengthen financial inclusion, including increasing access to insurance products, and the use of insurance to de-risk investments Develop financial and capital markets (including long-term bond and insurance markets) Reduce transaction costs for remittance transfers, Diversify FDI in terms of destinations and sectors, and strengthen insurance and investment guarantees to increase FDI flows Maintain low interest rate regime (with positive real return)

Official Development Assistance ODA steadily increased by 63% in real terms over the past decade and remains an important source of development finance A shift from grants to loans: non-concessional flows, both official and private, play an increasingly important role in developing countries However, ODA’s relative importance as a source of finance has diminished as new and growing sources of finance have emerged or become more prominent: from foreign, portfolio and institutional investors; migrant workers’ remittances; philanthropic institutions; to emerging and re-emerging donors Effective Utilization of ODA for development results through reduced wastage, timely disbursement, earmarking for prioritized sectors and reducing duplication through the use of government mechanisms to deliver

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