As the world prepares to review the Sustainable Development Goals at the High-Level Political Forum in New York next month, SI’s UN Representative in Bangkok, Theresa Devasahayam, reflects on the findings of the 3rd South-East Asia Forum on Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals held last October at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.
“We need to continue to take the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seriously. The extent to which we have achieved the SDGs since 2000 in the Southeast Asian Region was the main theme of the Forum. Examining the entire spectrum of SDGs, the Southeast Asian region has demonstrated that it is not on track to achieve all the goals. Surveying the current rate of progress of the region, it was found that not one goal among the 17 SDGs, as of now, has been met. While by and large there has been considerable achievement made in reducing poverty in the region, much more work is needed to accelerate the attainment of all the SDGs.
The implementation of SDG 5, as in all of the other SDGs, requires comprehensive actions at the global, regional and sub-regional levels; and the meeting provided for a rich discussion of the actions, challenges and systemic barriers faced in achieving the 2030 Agenda; as well as what can be done to reverse the negative trends related to the attainment of the SDGs. In this regard, the SDG roadmap is crucial as a monitoring process as well as the Voluntary National Reviews or VNRs. In this blog, I specifically focus on the goals that have the greatest effect on women and girls and the actions Soroptimist International could focus on in the region.
The dashboard of anticipated progress for Goals 5.1 (Discrimination against women & girls) and 5.5 (Women in leadership) shows very little progress made. In fact, it has been reported that efforts to accelerate progress to achieve these targets need to be stepped up. As for the other targets: Violence against women and girls (5.2); Early marriage (5.3); Unpaid work (5.4), Reproductive health and rights (5.6), Equal economic rights (5.a), Use of technology (5.b) and Gender equality policies (5.c); data is lacking to enable any firm conclusion on the progress being made thus far to be drawn.
However, on maternal mortality (3.3.1), this is one of the few indicators that have been on track; together with births attended by skilled health personnel (3.1.2). In some areas such as gender parity in the youth labour force, a reverse trend has been recorded.
On education, Southeast Asia appears to be ahead of all the other subregions in the Asia Pacific. But we must be cautious and not be too optimistic. In the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), women are still lagging behind their male counterparts. This does not bode well as the employment sectors related to STEM often pay much higher salaries than those sectors women tend to dominate, which translates into an ever-widening wage gap between the sexes. Moreover, retention continues to be a nagging barrier to equal gender representation in the STEM sector.
In an era where climate change is of pressing concern, there has been some progress made in the area of clean energy; but in terms of renewal energy, Southeast Asia is far from being on track to meet the SDG targets. In fact, in terms of renewable energy, the subregion has been eclipsed by China and India. Instead, the subregion of Southeast Asia was found to be moving in the opposite direction, which signifies a dire lack of progress of this indicator.
In regards to disaster risk and climate change, as SI UN Representative, I had the opportunity to speak about the success we had with Project Makmur in Indonesia. I shared how Soroptimist International worked with the provincial government of Lombok by raising funds to provide medical equipment and tents, as well as provide technical assistance on water conservation and harvesting in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2018. It was at that session that I also had a chance to share with those present about the work of SI at the international level as most present had little, if not no knowledge about the organisation.
Disaster Risk and Climate Change breakout session in which SI Representative Dr Theresa W. Devasahayam introduced SI’s project work in Indonesia.
While the acceleration of the SDGs is partially derailed by the lack of data, data was available for some targets; and it was concluded that these targets should be prioritised. However, by and large, the absence of data proved to be a significant barrier, making it difficult to track the SDGs achieved by countries. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of a tracking mechanism for framing the SDGs in all countries. The point was raised that in some countries, the lack of a tracking mechanism is compounded by the failure to address the systemic barriers to achieving the SDGs.
On a positive note, it was emphasised that investments in the SDGs are within reach for many countries in the region; however, stronger partnerships are needed, especially in the less developing countries (LDCs). Particularly countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion face greater challenges because these countries fall within a lower stage of development. Aside from that, it was highlighted that there are countries in the region that have a long way to go in mainstreaming SDG considerations into economic policymaking. Thus for the region to achieve the 2030 Agenda, there continues to be a need to invest in its people; most of all, taking into account the interests, needs and concerns of those most vulnerable, including women and girls.
Beyond the political commitment of states, there was an acknowledgment that the role of the various stakeholders such as academia, the private sector, and civil society organisations (CSOs) are paramount in realising the SDGs. It is for the reason that Soroptimist International’s work is critical to every woman and girl child because the organisation has been able to work with various levels of government in the respective countries in which the organisation has set up clubs. Moreover, since it has the added advantage of being politically neutral and having developed cordial ties with governments, our efforts are even more integral in getting the implementation of the SDGs right in the respective countries in which we have a presence.”
Recommended Reading:
Click HERE to read more about SI’s projects in Indonesia.
Click HERE to read the ‘2019 Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report’ from UNESCAP.