A new report has shown that Rwanda is among the top 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are on course towards attaining the UN-backed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The SDG Index and Dashboards report by the Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was released on Tuesday in Kigali. The second edition of the SDGs and Dashboards report on Africa, provides a report card for tracking SDG progress and ensuring accountability. The survey that assesses the capacity of 157 economies across the globe ranks Rwanda top in East Africa, seventh in sub-Saharan Africa and 117th globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon ranks first (85th) globally, followed by Mauritius, (103rd) in the world and South Africa is third in Africa and 108th globally. Sweden emerged first in the world followed by Denmark and Finland ranks third. Speaking at the launch, Belay Begashaw, director General of SDGC/A, cited several challenges still faced by sub-Saharan African economies including poverty, hunger and health as major concerns. He observed that developing countries are struggling to meet basic social services and infrastructure access to their populations. There is hope the SDI will help African economies identify gaps that must be closed in order to achieve SDGS by 2030,” he said. There are 17 goals under SDGs and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change by 2030. They also aim to build on the work of the historic Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by the end of 2015. According to the report, many high-income countries perform well in areas such as economic development but still fall short of achieving a good all-round SDG performance. The countries closest to fulfilling the SDGs are not the biggest economies but small developed countries. Poor and developing countries score lowest on the SDG Index as they have little resources at their disposal, according to the index. SDGC/A is an autonomous non-profit international organisation, the policies of which are formulated and carried out by a high level board of directors representing African and global leaders in government, business, academia and civil society. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
