For the first time in the country, a group of parliamentarians is assessing themselves on their preparedness to engage with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are undergoing a four-day workshop in Paro for this purpose.
The parliamentarians are assessing themselves through a self-assessment toolkit developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
The toolkit consists of eight questions covering topics from mainstreaming the Global Goals within the parliamentary mechanisms to making supportive laws to financing them.
“We would understand the progress of the SDGs. From this toolkit, we would be able to discuss and review the goals and identify our roles and responsibilities. This would fast track the achievement of the SDGs,” said Haa’s Member of Parliament Ugyen Namgay.
“This would enable us to understand our capacities as parliamentarians to do our duty, while going through or reviewing government’s SDG implementation so far, especially from the perspective of 12th five-year plan the National Key Result Areas (NKRAs). In the 12th five-year plan SDGs and NKRAs are aligned and linked. So we would benefit us in keeping track of how it is progressing and the implementation of SDGs,” added Dil Maya Rai, Member of Parliament from Tashichhoeling, Samtse.
An action plan will be developed at the end of the workshop. This will enable the parliamentarians to identify good practices, gaps and opportunities in supporting the implementation of the SDGs more effectively.
“I think there is the power to self-reflection and therefore I am grateful that honourable members have taken time out of their busy schedule. Their presence in such a programme is testimony to reflect that they are really committed to SDG implementation,” said UNDP’s Resident Representative Azusa Kubota.
The United Nations General Assembly set 17 interlinked SDGs in 2015 and are intended to be achieved by 2030. Bhutan is among the many countries that formally signed the goals.
“It is over seven years since we began to implement the SDGs. This year we have started to review the progress of the SDGs. We have presented the draft to parliamentarians for feedback and reviews,” said Phurba, a senior planning officer with the Gross National Happiness Commission.
Besides the parliamentarians, the secretaries of the Parliament’s nine standing committees are taking part in the workshop which ends on Friday.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
