Swaziland

Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Swaziland
to the United Nations
Statement by
HRH Prince Hlangusemphi D lamini
Minister for Economic Planning and Development
At the
General Debate of the
2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
convened under the auspices of the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
18 July 2017
New York
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Madam Chair
Excellences
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the outset, my delegation commends you in the manner you have been
directing the proceedings of this important session of the High-Level
Forum. Let me also take this opportunity to appreciate and thank the
Secretary-General for his report as well as my colleagues for the tuition
in sharing country experiences in the course of implementation of the
SDGs.
My delegation aligns itself with the statement delivered by the
Representative of the Republic of Ecuador on behalf of the G 77 and
China.
Chair,
The Kingdom of Swaziland embraces and renews it commitment to the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in working towards
attainment of the SDGs. In this view, the country has taken great strides
in dovetailing domestic policies with essential elements required for the
smooth and successful implementation of the SDGs.
The Kingdom is aware that all the goals are important and need to be
implemented in order to achieve sustainable development, however, it is
important to underscore that that the country has prioritized and aligned
its development path with the goals that leverage the concept of leaving
no one behind. Further, we are more concerned with impact the goals have
on the wellbeing of the general populace particularly at the grassroots
level and the marginalized groups.
In doing so, the Kingdom has prioritized ensuring that the population is
not only aware of the goals but they comprehend what they mean to their
everyday lives. The ultimate aim is to instill ownership of the SDGs so
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that the population actively participate and contribute to the
implementation. Nonetheless, this has remained work in progress
therefore, the Government strongly believes that as we progress towards
2030, the mindset of the population will be transformed and everyone will
eventually actively participate in the implementation process.
Chair,
Swaziland as a small, vulnerable and developing landlocked country, the
implementation of the goals continues to be a learning curve particularly
in view of resources required in this regard. Allow me to articulate some
progress on the goals under review in this session.
On Goal 1, the country has put in place several initiatives by prioritizing
the less privileged and marginalized groups. Social security progrmmes
are under implementation covering the orphaned and vulnerable children;
children living with disabilities; and the elderly, among others. Further,
the country has ensured that every school-going child is afforded an
opportunity attend school being aware that they are the future generation
to see implementation of the goals through in 2030 when many of us
would have called it a day.
Specific programmes currently undertaken in this regard include catering
for education needs for the orphaned and vulnerable children that have
either lost one or both of their parents; providing free primary education
to all school-going children; establishing and/or restructuring of school
facilities to cater for the needs of children living with disabilities in order
to ease their movement between and within classrooms; and providing
grants for the elderly above the age of 60 years.
Challenges: The overarching challenge is sustenance of the initiatives in
view of fiscal difficulties facing the country as well as the difficult of
proper identification and targeting of beneficiaries.
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On Goal 2 that talks about ending hunger, achieve food security and
improving nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, the country has
developed a programme that supports farmers to acquire inputs at an
affordable price to ensure that they maximize production especially in
high yield areas. Further, the Government has ensured that all farmers
receive such support in view that agriculture has continued to be the
backbone of the economy, particularly rural development. Farmers are
also encouraged to produce and consume nutritional food.
Challenges: Due to severe drought that has affected the country during
the past three years, the programme has experienced some delays.
Sustenance of the programme is also a major challenge because of
inadequacy of resources.
Chair,
The health of a nation is a basis for achieving the 1 7 SDGs as well need
to be healthy in order to perform.
To this end, on Goal 3 that refers to ensuring healthy lives and promoting
well-being for all at all ages, the Kingdom has put in place a number of
programmes to scale up progress in the implementation of the goal.
Among these, the country has ventured on the construction of hospitals
and clinics to ensure that the population has access to health care services
within a radius of at least 8 km; scaling up of the Prevention of Mother to
Child Transmission (PMTCT) of the HIV virus thus resulting to an
increase in the number of healthy babies born to HIV infected mothers;
and the establishment of waiting rooms for pregnant women at delivery
centres in a bid to offer free pre- and post-natal care thus addressing
maternal and under-five mortality complications on time, among others.
The Government has also taken over the full financing of the ... (ART) in
order to ensure sustainability of the programme and eliminate reliance on
donor support .
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Challenges: The Government is still working towards ensuring that all
places are covered by the programmes.
Chair,
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is one of
the goals that the Kingdom has taken great strides in ensuring that it is not
only talked about but is prioritized and implemented at all costs.
Therefore, in facilitating progress of implementation of Goal 5, a gender
policy has been approved and a Bill against the abuse of women and girls
has been tabled in Parliament.
The Government has also prioritized integration of gender issues in
policies, programmes and in the country's development framework.
Further, a number of laws have been amended to align them with the
objectives of the Gender Act and Policy that ensures that the
disadvantaged groups and in particular women, are afforded equal
economic opportunities and are protected against domestic violence.
Challenges: The broad challenge is the full comprehension, acceptance
and enforcement of relevant laws meant for effective implementation of
the programmes as well as a change in mindset to grasp the importance of
the Goal.
On Goal 9, that points at building resilient infrastructure, promoting
inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation
industry, the country has put in place various infrastructure that are of
acceptable environmental standards. These are aimed at facilitating trade,
access to services, fast-track industrial development as well as boosting
economic performance of the country.
Included among these is the construction of the new international airport;
new roads and dams; construction and/or upgrading of national hospitals;
construction of schools to cater for the increase in enrolment as a result of
the introduction of free primary education; introduction of rural water
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supply and electrification programmes; as well as computerization of
constituency offices to ensure decentralization of services.
Challenges: The main challenge is improving the road network system,
particularly in in rural areas where most of the roads are not yet tarred and
therefore, are occasionally in bad shape during rainy seasons thus
rendering some places inaccessible. Further, the communication network
system needs to be upgraded in order to ensure effective internet
connection and improved service delivery.
On Goal 14, aiming at conservation and sustainably utilization of oceans,
seas and marine resources for sustainable development, I must point out
that as much as the Kingdom is a landlocked country, it has suffered the
ripple effects of the vulnerable nature of oceans and marine resources
especially because they play a prominent part in climate change
mitigation. In this regard, to abate the challenges relating to drought, the
Government has invested in earth dams to ensure adequate supply of
water resources for domestic purposes as well as for enhancing
agricultural production.
Challenges: The inconsistency in the availability of adequate water
required for domestic, industrial and agricultural use remains a challenge.
Further, pollution of water resources emanating from industrial
production also exacerbates these challenges.
In closing, let me extend my delegation's gratitude to some of our
development partners that have assisted with funding to progress the
implementation process.
I thank you Chair for this opportunity to share my delegation's thoughts
on the implementation of the SDGs.
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