THE Catholic Church has been impressed upon to take centre stage in helping the government to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
It has also been tasked to use its platform to sensitise and educate Ghanaians on the SDGs.
The SGDs are a successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which is required to advance global development agenda beyond 2015.
It was developed by the United Nations (UN) which began a process of open, inclusive consultations to solicit inputs on priorities and feedback on means of implementation to help define the future global development goals.
At a second country forum of Catholic Development Organisations in Ghana last Friday, the National Director of the Caritas Nigeria, Rev Fr Evaristus Bassey, said there was the need for the church to collaborate and network with relevant stakeholders in order to achieve the SDGs.
This year’s forum was organised by the Department of Human Development of the National Catholic Secretariat, the Marshallan Relief and Development Services (MAREDES) and the Catholic Relief Services in Ghana and attended by 20 diocesan development officers of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Catholic Development Partners from Germany, England and the United States of America (USA).
The two-day forum was meant to increase awareness and participation of Catholic Development Agencies towards achieving the SDGs.
It was also used to create a platform for government to give an update on its participation in the post 2015 development agenda to influence national development planning.
Collaboration and networking
Rev Fr Bassey, who is also the National Director of the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of Nigeria and the Post 2015 Caritas International Working Group, said such collaborations between the church organisations should also be extended to the government, adding “the church should know that government is not an enemy as far as development is concerned.
“The church should also develop capacity to engage the government on issues of national concern,” he stressed.
H added that the involvement of churches in the socio-economic and political interventions of the country could not be overlooked.
Quoting Pope Francis, Rev Fr Bassey said “No church community should feel comfortable going its way without creative concern and effective cooperation in helping the poor to live in dignity.”
He further indicated that there were a number of the SDGs which were ambiguous and needed to be negotiated to reach an understanding for every citizen, “which makes the church’s role critical in this regard.”
NDPC and stakeholders
In a presentation made on his behalf, the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Nii Moi Thompson, said the commission was ready to partner stakeholders including civil society organisations (CSOs) in order to fully achieve the SDGs.
He said the NDPC had developed various strategies to fully realise the SDGs.
He mentioned communications strategies, the use of celebrities to educate Ghanaians on the full implementation of the post 2015 development agenda as some of the measures the commission had put in place.
Dr Thompson explained that the SDGs were being matched to the current policy objectives and strategies in the Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda (GSGDA) II 2014-2017, as an initial process of mainstreaming the post-2015 development agenda into our development planning process.
