Opinion | South Sudan’s SGD underperforms on 2030 Agenda

On July 6, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution 70/1 proposed 17 world sustainable development goals and 169 specific targets to promote “peace and prosperity for all mankind and the planet.”

These goals include ending poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), climate action (SDG 13), life below water (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15), peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

Driven by the mission statement of “developing a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet now and into the future”, many UN member states, including the Republic of South Sudan, approved the resolution on the SDGs in the same year. Therefore, in July 2024, the Government of South Sudan sent a delegation to New York to present the first “Voluntary National Review Report” at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) to assess the country’s progress on the SDGs. For ordinary citizens of South Sudan like me, this visit raised questions such as: Which goals are indicators to measure the country’s progress on the SDGs? How committed is the Government of South Sudan to achieving key aspects of the SDGs by the end of 2030? These questions are crucial when assessing South Sudan’s progress on the SDGs.

Years go by, and reports released by international agencies such as the United Nations specialized agencies show that South Sudan has made little progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The main goals (SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 3, SDG 4 and SDG 13) are still at a critical stage. For example, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the food insecurity situation in South Sudan is worrying. The IPC report estimates that 7.76 million people (63% of the total population) are expected to face severe food insecurity this year, and many are at crisis levels (IPC Phase 3), especially in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states. The World Bank Group said that poverty in South Sudan is deeply rooted and is expected to further increase by 2025, with 73% of the population falling into poverty. Worse, this situation is unlikely to improve under the current macroeconomic outlook.

In terms of health and education, severe and moderate malnutrition continues to affect 1.65 million children in South Sudan. UNICEF’s 2023/2024 annual report is titled: Update on the background and situation of children” It warned that 480,000 children would face severe acute malnutrition by the end of 2024. Child mortality remains high at 98 per 1,000, with South Sudan ranking seventh.^day The highest in the world. In addition, general education enrolment rates have declined, with more than 2.8 million children out of school. 53% of these children are girls, resulting in a gender parity index of 0.95 for pre-primary education, 0.89 for primary education and 0.77 for secondary education.

Despite these alarming indicators, budget allocations for health and education have been significantly reduced. This decrease amounts to 61%, from 27.9% of the budget for the 2022/2023 fiscal year to 10.8% of the budget for the 2023/204 fiscal year. This is well below international standards. For example, health spending has dropped from 9.6% to 2.1%. While education spending has dropped from 14% to 8.3% over the same period.

Given the bleak prospects of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in our country, we realize even more clearly that we urgently need to work together to change the status quo. status quoA radical change in policy direction is needed. For example, the South Sudanese government needs to shift its main priority from traditional security to human security. The Sustainable Development Goals consider human security as indivisible, making human security a goal of the UN 2030 Agenda.

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is widely understood to “prioritize the security of people,” specifically their safety and well-being, over that of states. Poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental collapse, population displacement, and social exclusion all have a direct impact on people. As such, they have become life-threatening forces in the 21st century.^{English Stone} To this end, the United Nations Commission on Human Security defines the Sustainable Development Goals as “no child dies, no disease spreads, no job is eliminated, no ethnic tensions explode into violence, no dissident is suppressed.”

From this perspective, the South Sudanese government should also expand its concept of security by paying close attention to human security. Human security includes human rights, good governance, access to education and healthcare. Therefore, the establishment of political, social, environmental, economic and cultural systems will pave the way for the survival, livelihood and dignity of ordinary citizens of South Sudan. Every South Sudanese needs to have the opportunity to realize their potential. They must build on their aspirations and strengths. They must be free from poverty, hunger, disease, receive fair and quality education, and live in an environment without carbon emissions. Being free from poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy and living in clean air is a human right and it is what the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is all about. The SDGs emphasize the connection between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. “Sustainability is at the heart of the SDGs”.

The author is a master’s student in political science at the School of Social and Economic Studies, University of Juba, South Sudan, with a research focus on international relations and diplomacy.amajuayani@gmail.com）

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