‘Malawi lacked harmony in implementing MDGs’
After the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired last year, Malawi, as part of the global community, has adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide its development planning in years to come. But how can Malawi, with lessons from MDGs, domesticate SDGs in its fold? EPHRAIM NYONDO talks to Stephanos International social and development researcher CHIMWEMWE HARA to share his views on the topic.
Can you explain the difference between MGDs and SDGs?
The SDGs have a greater emphasis on environmental, economic, and social sustainability than the MDGs. Many of the topics are indeed the same, which is to be expected since the major world problems have not changed much in 15 years, but the process of prioritising and assessing the MDGs has been different. In re-framing them for use in the coming decades, the focus has been shifted towards self-sustaining interventions. For example, there is a new emphasis on working through the private sector in addition to the public and civil sectors, with hope that if someone can make a profit from an intervention, it is likely to reach more people for a longer time.
It is also important to remember that in any consultative process such as the development of the SDGs, what gets left out is as valuable to the process as what gets retained. The working groups take input from many stakeholders and categorise, prioritise, and refine it until it becomes more usefully succinct than any individual effort could be.
How best can we understand SDGs as a development tool in Malawi?
SDGs are giving an opportunity to show that Malawi can develop quickly with a focus on environmental sustainability. For example, SDG I and II can be addressed with renewable energy (solar irrigation) in the advent of climate change.
What is key in SDGs, is it the issue of governance?
We know there are problems, but Malawi still has an excellent Constitution, a strong democracy where governments change unlike in South Sudan, Burundi and Mali, for example. The problems of poverty are still there, but solutions are in green technology. The SDGs highlight key areas that need to be taken into account if a nation is to achieve development in today’s world. They act as a frame of reference. As such, countries like Malawi can use them as a guide.
What key policy document does Malawi need to put in place to localise SDGs?
As a country we were supposed to put in place a national development document before adopting SDGs. This could have helped domesticate SDGs. Unfortunately; we have the Vision 2020, as a long-term development tool which MDGs use and no short term development tool with the expiring of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS II). I think we need to regularise these documents. However, for all these to be achieved, there is need for political will. We are always told we have political will, but we need it to translate on the ground.
What lessons from MDGs experience can Malawi learn in implementing SDGs?
As a nation, I think we just wholesomely adopted these international instruments without analysing and solving structural issues that have always stood in the way of our development. We have Vision 2020 which is still our national development guiding tool. And we know that the first quarter of implementing the Vision 2020 relied on the MDGS I. What affected MDGs implementation is that there weren’t much synergies among these documents. It was like administering various injections on a patient whose disease was yet diagnosed.
Besides, despite all these documents, we still saw government and other development partners investing many resources in development projects that, to some extent, were poorly designed and had nothing with all these development planning tool. The key thing is that we lacked harmony in implementing MDGs. The international document was not talking to local documents.
As such, what we need right now is that we should calm down and refresh. We need to develop the MGDS II with key focus on the philosophy being articulated in SGDs. If all these critical issues nicely to each other, I am sure, as a country, we will find something worthy to gain from SDGs.
What would be your advice to policy-makers and implementers on how best they can implement SDGs?
So many things appear to be going not so well in our country. However, I strongly believe all is not lost. What our policy makers need to do—especially politicians—is to take a deep breath and calm down. There is just too much advice, both from within and outside, about what needs to be done. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of this flood of advice.
Here is what I think our policy makers should do. They should take some time to imagine what Malawi could be in 15 years. We need a society that is open, less inequality, more resilient to climate change, more gender equal and less reliant on fossil fuels. If you have a realistic and optimistic vision then international partners will be drawn to it.
Any last word?
I think not all is lost for Malawi. We are peaceful and we still have vast and virgin arable land which needs to be converted into wealth. Our natural resources and heritages are enormous to boost tourism. Malawians are hardworking and they just need to be encouraged by rewards. These are the assets Malawi has that need to be exploited and utilised to lift our country from poverty. SDGs are providing us the opportunity for long-term development planning. Let us sober up and seize this opportunity. n
