SDGs IMPLEMENTATION: Tanzania on right track-Samia

TANZANIA has gained momentum in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and all that is needed is support to make the journey to prosperity safer and smooth.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan made this statement on Friday in Dar es Salaam at the pre-summit of the 2023 Africa Heads of State Human Capital Summit. The actual conference will take place in Tanzania on July 25 and 26.

“I am here to affirm that we have already taken action, we have taken several steps to implement the SDGs, and the process of implementing them is now gaining momentum. For our journey to prosperity to be safer and smooth, all we need is support,” said Dr Samia.

She added: “We are going to give detailed information during the summit in July.”

The Head of State further said that in Tanzania, human capital development has been a priority in all development plans, and the situation on the ground is not as bad as explained in various reports.

“We have done a tremendous job, and we are continuing; we need support for us to go smoothly and gently,” said Dr Samia.

President Samia said African leaders are called up to take immediate measures to address the potential population challenges by immensely investing in their people’s health, including water and sanitation, and quality education with proper and necessary skills for human capital development.

African leaders, she said, should continue to invest in African people, focusing on youths and women. Also, policies should dwell around improving the quality and ability of people, with a special focus on human capital development.

The event was attended by diplomats, leaders of political parties, representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the private sector, government officials, and World Bank staff.

The summit comes in response to engagements with government focal points on the need to draw attention to the role of human capital in economic growth and elevate the discussion on the importance of investing in people.

It will foster technical deliberation, share the latest knowledge on human capital, and conclude with concrete commitments and next steps from the participating Heads of State.

The two-day summit will bring bottom-up demand to human capital prioritisation and investments (via technical workshops in all Sub-Saharan countries) by discussing challenges and bottlenecks to human capital accumulation along with the identification of priorities and drivers of growth.

These workshops will be led by country human capital focal points. The outcomes of country-level workshops will be used to inform high-level Heads of State Summit interventions.

Nathan Belete, World Bank Country Director for Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, said the summit comes at a critical time in Africa as the countries recover from the impact of Covid-19 while at the same time facing the impact of the multiple crises confronting the region.

He said for that reason, investing in Africa’s human capital, who mostly are young and ambitious, will be key to facing the challenges of the future.

“Many African countries have implemented policies aimed at promoting job creation and entrepreneurship among young people, the AU agenda 2063 includes the goal of creating 100,000,000 jobs for young people by 2025, let us all thrive to turn this aspiration into reality,” he noted.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Stergomena Tax, said Agenda 2063 seeks to transform Africa into a global powerhouse of the future.

“The momentum aspiration requires deliberate investment in skills and capacities so as to take advantage of socio-economic opportunities in our respective countries and the continent at large,” said Dr Tax.

“Human capital development is therefore a key to successful  implementation of agenda 2063, and requires massive and coordinated efforts by all African countries,” she added.

According to her, the forthcoming summit will be a crucial step in amplifying the human capital agenda in the continent.