As part of its continuing efforts towards mainstreaming SDGs into the Government’s planning, budgeting and performance monitoring cycles, the Sustainable Development Council recently conducted a knowledge session for SDG focal point officers appointed by all 24 line ministries on best practices and approaches relating to integrated planning and budgeting towards SDG acceleration. The session focused on supporting ministerial officers in development planning, progress monitoring and SDG coordination.
Delivering the Opening Remarks, the Director General of Sustainable Development Council (SDC), Chamindry Saparamadu, emphasized that Sri Lanka has made mixed progress towards the 2030 SDG targets with only 06 years remaining. While certain goals have seen commendable progress, others remain far from their targets, underscoring the need for sustained and coordinated efforts at all levels. She highlighted the importance of policy coherence for SDG acceleration as well as collaborative approaches and multi-stakeholder engagement in the country’s development process. She further underscored the need to understand the synergies between the government’s flagship programme ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ and the SDGs, as many of the components of the Clean Sri Lanka programme correspond to SDG targets. A clear example of this is in sectors such as waste management (SDG 12.5 – Reduction in waste generation), road safety (SDG 3.6 – Road traffic accidents), and anti-corruption (SDG 16.5 – Corruption and bribery) which are priorities that have both environmental and human benefits under the SDGs.
The Session also included a detailed presentation of the objectives, scope and the key activities of the Clean Sri Lanka Programme by the Additional Secretary to the President – Clean Sri Lanka Programme, Eng S.P.C Sugeeshwara. He highlighted that the Clean Sri Lanka programme aims to achieve a beautiful island with smiling people through positive behavioral changes in Sri Lankan society, enhanced quality of life of the people, integrated efforts towards social, environmental and ethical reawakening and enhanced values and ethics for human relationships. He further emphasized that the Clean Sri Lanka Programme is expected to be implemented through an institutional structure connecting the highest levels down to the lowest tier of Government, the Grama Niladhari divisions through inclusive and participatory approaches.
Delivering a presentation on global/ regional best practices relating to integrated planning, Policy and Programme Specialist / Team Leader of Sustainable Growth Team of UNDP Sri Lanka, Ms. Dulani Sirisena, highlighted that long-term planning horizons, policy coherence and consistency of Plans, strong institutional arrangements, accountability and evaluation, and societal inclusion are good practices established by countries such as Bangladesh and Malaysia to advance the implementation of the SDGs.
The event also featured presentations from line ministries, such as the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, on their current institutional arrangements for SDG-based planning, budgeting and monitoring. The presentations were also complemented by technical guidance from SDC staff Prasadika Basnayake and Nadeeka Amerasnghe, who discussed the technical details of preparing Annual Action Plans, Budget Proposals and Performance Reports aligned with the SDGs.
-The Island