Stakeholders validate Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the SDGs

Eswatini is conducting a Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the country’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

On the 4th May 2022, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, with support from the United Nations, presented the draft report to stakeholders for validation ahead of the country’s participation in the High Level Political Forum on SDGs to be held at the UN Headquarters in New York in July 2022.

Minister of Economic Planning and Development, Dr. Tambo Gina, who was represented by the Principal Secretary, Ms. Thabsile Mlangeni, expressed appreciation to all stakeholders who provided inputs during the national consultative process., including the UN for providing technical and financial assistance.

After the validation workshop, the national SDGs Core team will finalize the report and submit it to the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. The Ministry will review and endorse the report for onward submission to the SDGs Steering Committee of principal secretaries who provide oversight in all SDGs related work. The steering committee will then present the report to Cabinet and Parliament (MEPD Portfolio committee) for review and approval. The final report will be presented to UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

Eswatini will then present the report at the High Level Political Forum on SDGs with 45 other countries.

This is the second report Eswatini will be presenting. The first report was presented in 2019 and prioritized 10 SDGs. The current report covers all 17 SDGs.

The Minister noted that the VNR has come at the right time when the country was also reviewing its long term National Development Strategy (NDS) which comes to an end in 2022. “The expectation is that the outputs from the NDS review will contribute in the development of a successor Vision and long –term development strategy of the country beyond 2022,” stated Dr. Gina.

He added that Eswatini was also reviewing the National Development Plan (NDP) covering the period 2019/20 to 2021/2022) with a view to put in place a new National Development Plan that will guide economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring low-emissions and climate-resilient economic transformation in Eswatini in the medium term.

The validation was attended by senior officials from all government ministries, the private sector, civil society as well as development partners, including the UN.