Although Barbados has made significant progress on the road to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are still some ways to go and there is no room for complacency.
Minister in Economic Affairs and Investment, Senator Chad Blackman, emphasised this point yesterday during the opening ceremony for the National Identification of Priority Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Indicators for Barbados at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
The two-day forum is being held in conjunction with the Ministry’s Economic Affairs and Investment Division and the United Nations Population Fund.
Senator Blackman stated that Barbados constantly had to “re-evaluate where we are” and use the successes as stepping stones for the advancement of the [2030 agenda].
Citing statistics that showed world hunger on the rise, economic losses on account of the climate crisis, and other extreme events, the Minister implored stakeholders to move with haste.
“Similarly, in this exercise of achieving the SDGs and the 2030 agenda, bearing in mind that whilst we have achieved a significant set of those goals and targets, we are just six years away. Therefore, we now have to redouble and perhaps, triple our efforts at ensuring that we can perhaps treat to this.
“Therefore, complacency among stakeholders has to stop and I mean this at the global level and of course at the local level and using the figures that I have outlined so far, as the motivation and the roadmap in order for us to treat to how we close that gap,” Senator Blackman said.
Meanwhile, Project Coordinator SDG Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office, Khrystal Yearwood, in her presentation of the main findings from the Voluntary National Report, stated that Barbados had made significant progress in meeting the United Nations SDGs, with 45.3 per cent of targets either met or on track for 2030.
She further revealed that 92 per cent of the country’s policy documents were aligned with the SDGs, placing Barbados among the top performers in the region.
“Barbados has done good work. We are doing good work, and it is seen in our programmes, policies, and initiatives. Key programmes such as Roof to Reefs and the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) have been instrumental in this progress, aligning with 10 and 12 SDGs respectively,” Ms. Yearwood said.
The SDG Project Coordinator also stressed the importance of continued stakeholder engagement and lobbying for reform of the international financial architecture to secure necessary funding for education, social care, and other essential areas.
She added: “The SDGs require all of us. We cannot do it without you. We cannot do it in silos. We cannot do it alone.”
The two-day national consultation ended today.