The ManicaPost
Liberty Dube Post Correspondent
ZIMBABWE should align the Sustainable Development Goals to local policies such as the economic blueprint, Zim-Asset for the country to achieve the goals by 2030, Director of Pathology Services in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Maxwell Hove, has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Justice, Law and Order Sector second quarter meeting held at a local hotel on Wednesday, Dr Hove said it was critical for the country to augment its commendable efforts in implementing the SDGs with the adoption of local policies that ensure poverty reduction and employment creation. “Zimbabwe has made great strides in implementing SDGs. By 2030, the country will be one of the best countries to have made tremendous strides in poverty reduction and employment creation. We should align the SDGs to local policies such as Zim-Asset. If we implement such policies we will have addressed a lot of SDGs,” said Dr Hove.
In 2015, countries adopted goals with specific targets to be achieved by 2030 such as, among other things, eradicate poverty and ensure prosperity. The two-day workshop which was expected to end yesterday (Thursday) was attended by JLOS technical committee members and SDG 16 focal persons from various ministries among other stakeholders.
In her keynote address, chairperson of the Justice, Law and Order Sector, Mrs Mabel Msika, said the meeting was meant to conduct capacity development on SDGs for the JLOS members jointly as a sector and create an action plan to prioritise indicators and targets for Zimbabwe for SDG 16.
“The need to capacitate members on the SDGs stems from the fact that the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs along with the Ministry of Home Affairs are charged with leading the prioritisation of SDG 16 while at the same time the majority of institutions who track SDG 16 are JLOS members. The overarching goal of this meeting is therefore to conduct capacity development on SDGs for the JLOS members jointly as a sector and create common understanding on how the sector will jointly implement and monitor this SDG,” said Mrs Msika, who is also the director Policy and Legal Research department in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Justice, Law and Order Sector is a mechanism for dialogue on justice delivery in Zimbabwe.
