Summary
of the Google Hangout Tue 1st March 2016 on the topic ‘Implementation
of the Sustainable Development Goals in Rural Africa’ , presented by Paul Shaw,
NAYD steering group leader in discussion with the #NAYDSDGs team from Cameroon
and Francis Maberi of African Monitor/Voice Africa’s Future. Supplementary information to the hangout is
shown in italics.
The introduction to the hangout is to the left, the live hangout can be seen here
What are your
experiences with the SDGs so far?
Knowledge of the SDGs is very low in rural communities,
partly because the SDG documents are only in French and English yet there are
lots of different dialects in Cameroon and largely by the absence of
communication tools. Therefore, majority of community members cannot access
this information . There is no system in learning institutions for teaching the
SDGs, yet the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said the youth are central to success
in the implementation of the SDGs. Should the schools consider embedding the
SDGs as a core part of the curriculum? It
is imperative for the network to illustrate the necessity for the inclusion of
the SDGs in school curriculum especially in Primary and Secondary schools. There
are already existing gaps in schools that such embedding will address such as
peace education, sexual reproductive health rights education, entrepreneurship
etc. On-going development activities conducted either by civil society
organizations or rural communities themselves continue and all are relevant to the
SDGs but there are no indicators/systems to measure them against. Cameroon has
over 12 priorities but poverty, hunger, access to drinking water, good health
and well-being, and climate change action are key, (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 13). We experience constrains
on farming especially in the North that prompts famine. Other SDGs (at most 12
out of the 17) are relevant to the rest of different Cameroonian rural
communities.
What efforts have you
made at the community level?
As part of Tanda’s organisation (EPDA Cameroon) efforts to
empower rural communities include our plan to print and distribute T-shirts
with the SDGs inscribed on them, translate the SDGs into local languages to raise
awareness and create visibility, align SDGs with rural community priorities, support
access to safe drinking water by local communities through building community
water supply schemes, training on governance and protecting vital water supply
landscapes (tree planting around watersheds and catchments). Promotion of peace
will be mainstreamed, not just in terms of war but also inner mind, to engender
a culture of non-violence. Land tenure issues and gender inequalities are major
problems that create conflicts. Efforts will be optimized and use the celebration
of the International Day of Peace, 21st September, to showcase some of our best
practices. The SDGs will hardly be successful unless peace is a priority in local,
national and international agenda. We
will also embark on youth entrepreneurship in rural areas focusing on value
chain development especially poultry, aquaculture, beekeeping, maize
cultivation. Seminars and conferences on mainstreaming youths in the SDGs have
been and will be organised to disseminate information on the SDGs and the means
to implement them.
How do you align on-going
key community activities and National Development Plans with the SDGs?
The Cameroon team has a representative from the Ministry of
Town Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT) on their team to help. For instance HIV
programs can be aligned to SDG 3 - Health. We
plan to organize a national forum on sustainable development goals to get
responses from government representatives, private sector and civil society
activists regarding the implementation of SDGs as upheld by NAYD to foster accountability
in African governments. The Cameroonian team is an asset already and we believe
that the network on SDGs will make continental voices louder and stronger for
advocating for the implementation of the SDGs and support to youth-led
initiatives. Therefore country teams would better engage in facilitation of
development initiatives in the rural communities which will give them practical
possibilities to measure the impacts based on agreed indicators and SDGs parameters.
Also in-country resource mobilization is central to this work and support by
the continental network (NAYD) would be far reaching.
What challenges have
you experienced while trying to implement the SDGs?
Political environment, corruption and poor rural
mobile/internet coverage are all hindrances to development. Uganda had social
media turned off for 2 weeks and development activists had their movement and activities
monitored. All the fast rush for modern technologies is
relegating traditional/community communication and networking tools (drums,
gongs, town criers, traditional meeting houses, etc) to the background and
making exchange of information challenging for most rural villages. The
existence of many ethnic groups with many different dialects is also a big
hindrance. Also, the difficult to access road networks make it difficult for
development facilitators to access rural communities to implement and/or
measure development outcomes. The near absence of CBOs in most of the rural
communities is a problem and worse is the fact that governance challenges in
the CBOs that exist make them almost ineffective in functioning and operation.
The fact that many CSOs and NGOs involved
in development are not interested to collaborate with others makes things a little difficult as the work will
either be partially done or done repeatedly in certain areas with little or no
results. In some communities here, it would be a bit difficult as the young
people have little or no time to spare for extra knowledge out of school. They
prefer social activities that yield no direct fruits in community development.
Many are discouraged by the present economic situation and have concluded that
learning has no place in their lives, so
when called for trainings like this, they will come if promises of food and
drinks are made. At the level of schools, most private schools are reluctant in
involving CSOs/NGOs aimed at educating the youths on the SDGs either out of
ignorance or negligence.
Sensitization is key to getting rural youths engaged in
development. People have to commit themselves. Poverty Hearing Sessions where
community meetings or village Hall dialogues are held is also an important
approach. Leadership skills are key - can
encourage mushroom cultivation, maize cultivation, bee keeping, aquaculture
(SDG 8). Money doesn’t have to be a priority for many development activities though
obviously essential for infrastructure projects (SDG 9).
What are the advantages
of youth networks?
Makes the voice of the youth louder, international and can help
to push governments through lobbying and collective advocacy as well as strengthening
national teams by providing support. The idea of national and continental teams
is good for the youth. It can also encourage other youth-led networks to be
part of the team and identify associations working in rural areas. The #NAYDSDG
teams will need capacity building as well. Identified tailored capacity
building modules for country teams will facilitate their involvement at all
levels. Youth networks help in the fact
that it is a give and take one shares one’s experiences and learns from others.
United strength also yields better results than individual work.
The hangout can be seen here
Google Hangout team
