MDGs - Uganda Multimedia News & Information

Kadaga asks world legislators to embrace Sustainable Development Goals

Isaac Senabulya — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:19:20 +0000

Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has challenged Members of Parliament to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) following the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals.

“It is our responsibility not only to understand but to be able to appreciate the fundamentals in order to facilitate the implementation of the SDGs.”

Kadaga was addressing the plenary session of the 132nd Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly currently taking place in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The global body is meeting under the theme: “The Sustainable Development Goals: Turning words into action” from 28th of March – 1st April 2015.

The Ugandan Speaker decried the way MDGs were implemented citing that as Parliamentarians, they did not have an opportunity to participate in the discussions, the designs and the final output of the MDGs, and yet they were expected to facilitate their implementation.

Evaluating the performance of Uganda in attaining the MDGs, Kadaga noted that notwithstanding our various successes, the country had faltered in sectors of the economy as well as in the control of maternal and infant mortality

With regard to the tools required to implement the SDGs, Kadaga had some pertinent questions for the assembly; “Is it not time that we moved away from only auditing expenditure but also the other sectors like social, environmental, gender, equity and climate change?”

“We shall need to establish common minimum standards which will require new focus and capacity building,” she added.

Kadaga proposed that the SDG’s be incorporated into the activities of specific parliamentary committees “because the 17 proposed goals are multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional.”

“We should not leave the implementation of the SDGs to chance. We may need to design an action plan within Parliament,” Kadaga said, “We need to introduce into our processes the requirement for an annual report from the government on the status of the SDGs.

Speaker Kadaga said for that to be achieved, there was need for national parliaments to develop targets, norms, benchmarks and indicators to be used to assess the performance of government. She said it would also require continuous capacity building within the parliaments, both for the MPs and the staff so as to stay on course.

Kadaga also endorsed the strategy the IPU had taken to establish an SDG unit, which would assist Parliaments in building not only technical capacity, but a resource of useful information in best practices.

Charting the way forward, the Speaker said that her delegation shall convene a special sitting in Parliament in May 2015 to discuss the 17 proposed goals so that it can inform the final decisions in September 2015.

“In that way we shall begin to turn words into action,” she said.

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Beyond Zero Campaign

Emma Laura N. Kisa — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 16:00:38 +0000

In a noble cause rarely seen on the African continent, the First Lady of Kenya, Margaret Gakuo Kenyatta, started the Beyond Zero campaign. This is a campaign that aims at improving access to maternal and child health outreach services throughout the country combining the fourth, fifth and sixth Millennium Development Goals. With the 2015 deadline for the MDGs upon us, the campaign is accelerating the government implementation of the national plan.

Beyond Zero was launched on 24^th January 2014 and has since drummed up enthusiasts and well-wishers. Alot has been done in this campaign and next is the First Lady’s Half Marathon to be held in Nairobi on March 8^th 2015. More than 15,000 participants are expected to take part in this run which is an anchor event for the Beyond Zero Campaign. The aim is to raise 600 million Kenya shillings.

The run is not the only event covered in the campaign; a number of mobile clinics have since been handed over with the plan being that each of the 47 counties, beginning with the most vulnerable, will have one. These would provide routine immunization along with other services. To date 20 mobile clinics have been handed over with the latest going to Uasin Gishu County on 26^th February 2015. Recipients include Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Tharaka/ Nithi, Kisii, Marsabit, Nyeri, Wajir counties among others.

Many organisations, businessmen as well as international agencies have come in to fund the campaign. Many women and children’s lives will be changed by this cause. Generations will be saved.

In the First Lady’s words: “Ending preventable maternal and new-born deaths in our country is not a choice, it is a necessity.”

Beyond Zero in Pictures

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Number 5

Emma Laura N. Kisa — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:16:29 +0000

On May 15th 1989 my mother, Resty Nakanwagi, passed from this life, leaving me and my older siblings motherless. A sadder detail is that she left a new born baby because she died in child birth. In my native toungue, Luganda, giving birth is refered to as a woman’s fight. How true that is! Fast forward 24 years later – 2013: September, 23 year old Florence Nakamya lost her life in child birth while in labour in Mukono, a municipality of Uganda; August, 21-year-old Janet Aloyo lost her baby and died in Gulu Regional Referral Hospital corridors. Sylvia Nalubowa (Mityana), Jennifer Anguko (Arua) … One would think so many years down the road the story would be different – hopeful, changed.

Millenium Development Goal number 5 is to improve Maternal health being the one would think it would be better. With 2015 closing in, the deadline for these goals, the report is not a good one. According to the UNDP, maternal mortality has declined by nearly half since 1990, but falls far short of the MDG target. The progress reports note that Despite good progress, Africa still has the greatest burden of child and maternal deaths.

In Uganda some petitioners have sued the government for allegedly failing to prevent maternal deaths and this case is yet to be heard. One can only ask what is the hope for all these women? Can these unnecessary deaths be avoided? If so where is the solution. If not? Where does the problem lie?

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