By CATHERINE NYIRENDA –
ZAMBIA’S Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Mwaba Kasese-Bota has said the global community has agreed to repackage programmes of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) following failure by the member States to attain the goals by 2015.
Dr Kasese-Bota said the member States had since decided to move forward with the unfinished business of MDGs and package them into the Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA) or Post-2015 Agenda.
“Following the failure by most member States to attain the MDGs by 2015, we are not going to throw them away at the end of the post-2015, as members acknowledged that the goals have been a good platform for attainment of development,” she said.
She said this when she appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on National Security chaired by MMD Kembe Member of Parliament (MP) Ronnie Shikapwasha in Lusaka yesterday to provide an update of UN programmes.
She said the member countries would build on the successes of the MDGs and make a comprehensive SDA which would guide the UN members from 2015 to about 2030.
Dr Kasese-Bota attributed the failure by most member States to achieve the goals to priority means of implementation, lack of information and technology by some member States, and lack of finances to implement the goals.
She said in the SDA arrangement, member States had prioritised means of implementation as cardinal for the attainment of the objectives.
She noted that as a means of proper implementation, member countries had requested for technological transfer to be shared between “the haves and have nots”.
“In this programme we are going to have technology shared with developing countries so that all the member States are able to move in tandem to the Post-2015 Agenda aspiration.
“So we need to enhance our human development index. There is need for Zambia to improve on the literacy level of our people, and there is also need to enhance innovation which goes with capacity building with enhanced science and technology,” she said.