South Sudan Inaugural SDG Report

South Sudan is today embarking on a mission to achieve Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global and universal goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

The country is starting this process from a very low base in a context of an active conflict and humanitarian emergency. This report aims to examine the state of affairs in each SDG area, but also offer ideas and guidance on achieving the SDGs in this challenging environment. At the time of writing, the scale of the multiple crises affecting the country is immense. Armed conflict is affecting nearly all parts of the country, four million people have been displaced from their homes and some six million are severely food insecure. Humanitarian agencies are, rightly, at the forefront of the response efforts, and are undertaking essential life-saving activities. Despite the urgency of humanitarian challenges, there is also a need to balance relief with responses that address the needs of South Sudanese over the long term.

The SDGs are not intended to be applied only once conflict has ended but are integral to early recovery efforts and can help build a future based on common aspirations and equal opportunities for all people. Therefore, this report stresses the importance of shared objectives, strategies and approaches between humanitarian and development actors. Today, nearly all available data on the SDGs paint a grim picture, and the main underlying factor is the ongoing armed conflict. Finding a lasting political resolution to the conflict and building a peaceful, just and inclusive society, as expressed in SDG 16, was the most urgent and widely expressed priority of stakeholders consulted for this report. SDG 16 is also seen as an ‘enabler’ that can unlock pathways in most other SDG areas and build the foundations for longer-term development. Restoring security among communities is the single quickest way to increase school attendance, boost agricultural productivity, facilitate access to markets, and achieve more inclusive economic growth. Similarly, addressing the conditions of and finding solutions for the country’s displaced people, and enabling them to make informed and positive choices, is needed to make progress on the SDG framework as a whole.

Long-term progress on the SDGs will require more inclusion of marginalized groups and increased accountability in the political and governance spheres (alongside technical and capacity building approaches) and establishing what an equitable and representative South Sudanese state and society can and should look like. It will require addressing the very real justice and reconciliation needs of the people, as well as the historical (and more recent) grievances that underpin many inter-communal tensions and violence. Additional findings reflect the need for unimpeded delivery of food aid and concrete steps to revive the agricultural sector and reduce food insecurity (SDG 2), which is increasingly widespread, and to improve access to quality education for all (SDG 4). They also call for eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls and making concrete advances on gender equality (SDG 5), and addressing years of economic stagnation and reversing the severe austerity measures currently in place (SDG 8). Approaches to addressing these, and other priority areas, are referred to as ‘critical pathways’.

They require applying SDG principles, accounting for the impact of the conflict, and defining desired and lasting outcomes. For instance, by applying the principle of ‘leave no one behind,’ SDG strategies can be advanced across the entire spectrum of South Sudanese society, irrespective of gender, ethnic or political affiliation, or socio-economic status. Similarly, recognizing how all the SDGs are ‘interlinked’ means that while some goals need to be prioritized, other (less recognized) goals neither can nor should be excluded. For example, gender equality (SDG 5) is overlooked in South Sudan, even though women and girls are disadvantaged in most aspects of public and private life.As such, strategies to promote the advancement of women and girls in society are needed, not only as part of SDG 5 but as part of all SDG efforts. Delivering on the SDGs will require strategic, long-term efforts to alter the status quo and reverse harmful trends. Financing them will entail a structural shift from security-related spending to increased social expenditure.

This must occur alongside an expansion of the tax base, and a diversification of the economy away from its dependency on oil. In addition to mobilizing domestic resources, revitalizing the global partnership for development (SDG 17) will also be part and parcel of bringing the SDGs to life in South Sudan. The process will be long and hard but the SDGs are integral to this young country’s development as a safe, thriving and cohesive society, with all citizens and the institutions that represent them working towards the wellbeing of the country.