The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) spanning a decade and a half (2015-2030) were designed to bring about fundamental changes in the way our societies produce and consume goods and services.

Such a transformation posed unprecedented challenges and was to be addressed by “revitalised global partnerships... with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all peoples.”

But it was made clear that the primary responsibility for implementing the SDGs agenda and meeting annual targets rested with individual UN member states. For this purpose, they were required to encourage and facilitate public-private partnership and participation of all stakeholders in the society and “build on the experience and resourcing strategies and partnerships to realise their collective ambitions.”

The SDGs are treated as an inseparable part of the political economy and the progress on annual targets by individual countries are overseen and reviewed by the High-Level UN Political Forum every year.

Surging inequality between the poor and rich is one of the major problems intended to be tackled by the SDGs agenda. “Inequality is a choice and not inevitable,” says Joseph Stiglitz. Elaborating his point of view he observes: “the standard macroeconomic models don’t even recognise that distribution of income matters.”

National awareness for successful implementation is missing — none of the political parties included SDG targets in their election manifestos

It is in this background that Pakistan’s performance in meeting the annual SDGs targets has to be assessed. The federal government has prioritised eight of the 17 SDGs that encompass peace, justice, inclusivity, no hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, gender equality, decent work and economic growth. It expects positive fallout of these efforts on the rest of the SDGs.

The SDG framework has been approved by the Parliament. Special administrative units have been set up at federal and provincial levels to initiate programmes and monitor progress. However, successive cash-strapped governments have so far failed to meet most of the set targets. That also applies to last year’s performance by the incumbent government.

The real progress has been hamstrung by limited government resources, weak organisational capacity, lack of strong political will and robust partnerships of governments with business and civil society. Nor has the expected support from developed states been forthcoming.

National awareness for the successful implementation of the agenda is missing. None of the political parties have included SDGs targets in their election manifestos.

The SDGs targets have been made more challenging for the current debt-trapped government preoccupied with a stability programme. Aware of such conditions as that of financially distressed Pakistan, relevant experts recommended the following approach: empower the government to break free from all shackles of aid and propel nation states towards greater stride on trade, jobs and safeguarding the dignity of individuals, communities and nations.

The PTI-led government is trying to boost tax revenues to reduce dependence on debts but ‘breaking free from all shackles of aid’ any time in the near future is a remote possibility. The tax revenue collected in July by the Federal Board of Revenue stood at Rs278 billion, 10.8 per cent higher than last year’s comparative revenue of Rs251bn. It is a humble beginning when compared to a targeted 45pc increase in collection for this fiscal year.

The SDGs primarily fall in the domain of the provinces. The two major federating units, Punjab and Sindh, account for 77pc of the country’s population and 85pc of GDP. However, “the infrastructure and social services needs of the two provinces outpace the provincial fiscal space available for new infrastructure projects and social services,” says a recent Asia Development Bank (ADB) study.

In its report the ADB, which has helped develop public-private partnership (PPP) policies, notes that both Sindh and Punjab (to a lesser degree) have a weak capacity to develop and implement infrastructure projects. Sindh also suffers from inherent bias/risk aversion in the selection of projects.

Many experts also consider the PPP mode essential for sustained agricultural development and food security. Wherever adopted, the PPP model provides partners with a shared mechanism for input, resources, marketing, risks, technology and benefits.

Punjab has taken an initiative for promoting PPP in farm contracts but its outcome has not been made public. India has succeeded in evolving the PPP model for agriculture development and has reduced unemployment through higher growth.

Pakistan’s officially recorded employment rate at 5.79pc for 2017-18 is much higher compared to that of India (2.6pc), Bangladesh (4.3pc) and Sri Lanka (4.4pc). According to the latest Economic Survey, the total employment level in the formal sector during the 2015-2018 period rose marginally from 27.4pc to 28pc.

The informal sector, that contributed 72pc of the employment, is currently under severe pressure because of current taxation and documentation policy. Close to 55 million people in the country are stated to be living below the poverty line, and more are likely to be hit by rising unemployment and double-digit inflation recorded at 10.3pc in July.

To spur growth and jobs, both the federal and provincial governments need to ‘’build effective, accountable, inclusive institutions at all levels” as stipulated in the UN agenda.

The UN sees community development playing a vital role in achieving SDGs. The UN defines community development as a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems.

That encompasses “participatory democracy, sustainable development, right, equity, economic opportunity and social justice through organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether they be of locality, identity, and interests in both urban and rural settings.”

To quote a renowned economist, “the success of any economy should be judged on the standard of living of its people.” The objective should be to build a middle-class economy.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 19th, 2019