Mozambique Mainstreaming SDGs in National Plans

February 22, 2019

The project will support Mozambique in fighting poverty and steer the country towards its sustainable development path to provide a better life for all its citizens.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will support the Mozambique Government in its efforts to fight poverty and steer the country in its development path, through the alignment and integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into National Planning and Budgeting processes.

Technical and organizational support will be provided to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) through a project that aims to strengthen capacities for whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to manage complex interventions and to enhance inclusiveness.

The Project was launched at a formalization meeting held in Maputo on February 21, attended by representatives of different sectors of the Government including MEF Officials, Civil Society Organization (NGOs), the United Nations, and chaired by MEF’s National Deputy Director of Planning and Budgeting, Ms. Cristina Matusse, and UNDP Acting Resident Representative (RR), Martim Faria e Maya.

“Mozambique has already embarked on the long journey of implementing the Agenda 2030. In this context, MEF has the responsibility, at the national level, of mainstreaming this Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals into the national development instruments and integrating them in plans and budgets,” said Ms. Matusse at the 

Further, the Deputy Director explained that the internalization process has already begun with studies on the alignment between Agenda 2030 and National Development Plans, with the establishment of the SDGs National Reference Group, and with the identification of SDGs “accelerators, noting, however, that much remains to be done particularly in the SDGs prioritization and resource mobilization. “This project will provide the required support for these areas”, she affirmed.

Martim Maya said that the Agenda 2030 is the most ambitious agenda ever adopted. “Firstly, it is an extremely complex agenda by recognizing the interdependence and inter-sector-nature of all SDGs and the three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental). This recognition demands that governments think in a radically different way, that is, in a transversal way, considering all interdependencies. Secondly, the high levels of funding needed to achieve the goals of this agenda compel Member States to rethink their resource mobilization models, with particular attention to the distinction between public and private, internal and external resources.”

UNDP Acting RR added that aligning the national development agenda with Agenda 2030 is not just about aligning the indicators. He expounded: “Rather, this alignment will require planning and budgeting models to adopt an integrated approach to development. In order to overcome these challenges, MEF will have to develop information, studies and simulation mechanisms to enable informed decision-making on programs and policies with a greater impact on the various SDGs, considering their economic, social and environmental returns and the identification of risks and how to minimize their impact.”

The project is envisaged to last 36 months, from March 2019 until February 2022. The three-year time frame is perceived as optimal to adequately support complex and multifaceted SDG rollout process in Mozambique.  The overall cost of the project is estimated at $2.360.000 of which $900,000 will be provided by UNDP. A resource mobilization process will be carried out together with the United Nations and other development partners.

Besides providing policy advice to support the prioritization of SDGs with higher impact and the alignment with the planning and budgeting processes, the project will also assist MEF in preparing a National and Integrated Financing Framework and improve the interest and engagement of relevant stakeholders with the SDGs.