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- Oct 16, 2014
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Prof Sachs introduces RPF Chairman to the audience
Rwanda will host a centre of excellence on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the new 15-year global targets that have been adopted by the United Nations, as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came to an end.
The African centre of excellence for SDGs, which was announced by Prof Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in the US, will be set up in Rwanda because of the record set by Rwanda, under RPF-Inkotanyi Chairman, President Paul Kagame.
Prof Sachs made the announcement on Thursday at an international conference for Sustainable Development held at Columbia University, an event at which he described President Kagame as the MDGs President and defined Rwanda as having made more progress in MDGs than any other country in the last 15 years.
The RPF Chairman has been Co-chair of the MDGs Advocacy Group of the UN.
The conference, which was held under the theme; Implementing the SDGs: Getting Started, brought together various stakeholders to discuss the sustainable development goals.
The Chairman spoke of three factors forming the triangle of development but stressed the importance of involving citizens throughout the process.
"Sustainable development is not about what "we", all of us here, do for them, but about the choices they make each day, over and over."
"Development is what happens when citizens are convinced about the logic and pace of change. When citizens are on board, they do the work themselves, unaffected by the many generalisations made about them out there," President Kagame added.
Sharing the approach chosen by Rwanda to achieve development, President Kagame pointed to citizens as key to any achievement to date:
"For Rwanda, there is nothing casual about the term "lessons learned". We have been changed by real learning from our experiences and circumstances. Therefore we have had to do things differently, earning us different results. At the core of our political mobilisation work, are the principles of inclusiveness, taking responsibility and building consensus."
Less theory
With the upcoming SDGs, President Kagame called on a less theoretical and more citizen centred approach to development:
"The SDGs are the next chapter in global collaboration on development and hopefully, a new opportunity to move away from the business as usual mode.
Let's work to complement the new SDG framework, with a genuine effort, to objectively assess the degree of citizen buy-in and involvement, in decision-making and accountability. It is up to us, to make the most of this new opportunity," he said.
The two day International Conference on Sustainable Development brought together leaders in various fields to identify and share practical, evidence-based solutions that can support the SDGs, which were consented to by the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Prof Sachs, a renowned American economist, has been a key actor in the implementation of the Millennium Villages Project, which were set up in different countries, including Rwanda, to accelerate the realisation of MDGs.
Rwanda to host African centre of excellence for SDGs | FPR - RPF INKOTANYI | Democracy, Unity and Development
