MIDRAND, South Africa – The leader of Uganda’s five-member delegation to the Pan African Parliament (PAP), Hon. Jacquilline Amongin, has unanimously been elected chairperson of the Alliance for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the PAP.
This was during an extraordinary meeting of MPs who subscribe to the alliance from different permanent committees on Wednesday 16, 2019, at the sidelines of the 3rd Ordinary Session of the 5th Parliament ongoing in South Africa.
The other members of the executive are Hon. Alhagie Mbow (The Gambia) who took the position of vice chairperson and Hon. Maxas B. Ng’onga (Zambia) as rapporteur.
With the formalisation of the leadership, the alliance can now engage the PAP and development partners to support the promotion of their activities designed around the 2030 Agenda. Hon. Amongin and Hon. Mbow have been interim caretakers of the alliance since its inception early this year.
“The alliance will be working with all the permanent committees of the PAP because SDGs cut across all of them,” Amongin said, and thanked the members for entrusting her with the responsibility.
The 2030 Agenda on SDGs was adopted by UN member states in September 2015 and consists of altogether 17 Goals, 169 targets and 231 indicators.
According to the International Research Forum (IRF), Africa is undergoing rapid socio-economic change and increasing environmental risk, particularly from climate change. If the SDGs are to make a difference for Africa, they need to offer solutions to the persistent problems of sustaining economic and social progress, in a highly dynamic context.
“The SDGs offer a universal agenda that is relevant for all countries and that recognises the intricate relationship between the economic, social, environmental and political dimensions of development,” says the IFR in their report titled, “Africa’s Agenda 2030: channeling the SDGs towards inclusive, resilient and accountable development.”
