By Zayamu Hassan
The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, Amina Mohammed, has attributed the COVID pandemic to “a reversal of SDG progress in some areas, and delayed action on many of the major transitions required to meet our 2030 goals.”
This is coming barely after few days of deliberations at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
According to her, the pandemic has had, what she described as, a “deeply negative impact” on health and well-being; employment, businesses, incomes, education; and human rights, with “a particularly damaging effect on women and girls”.
Ms. Mohammed gave the examples of digital learning, which could help to transform education more broadly, along with building on critical fiscal support many countries had provided to their economy, jobs and people.
“Governments should now consider whether some of these measures can be integrated into comprehensive social protection systems”, said the UN official.
On recovery efforts, Ms. Mohammed said that stimulus packages and Special Drawing Rights for foreign exchange reserves, can be leveraged to advance gender equality, boost investment in education, health and social protection. They could also be used to accelerate climate change mitigation and generate decent jobs.
But there can be no pandemic recovery without “international solidarity and cooperation”, including through climate finance and financing for development, she added.
For many developing nations, “the pandemic is still raging, people are still dying at unacceptably high levels and economies are in dire straits.
“We must support these countries in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and in recovering better to accelerate SDG implementation,” she underscored.
