Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report of Province No

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Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report of Province No Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report of Province No. Five Province Planning Commission, Government of Province, Province No. Five 2 Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report Province Planning Commission, Government of Province, Province No. Five This report was prepared and published in 2019 by the Province Planning Commission, Government of Province, Province No. Five, with the support from United Nations Development Programme. Photo Credit: UNDP Nepal, Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi, CP Khanal Preface The government of Province No. 5 has been forward for achieving the goals so that formulating first five-year plan (2019/20 - no one will be left behind. This report has 2023/24) of the province with a vision of helped us to set the targets to be achieved 'prosperous province, happy people'. The in our five-year plan. Local governments, goals and priorities of the plan match with civil society organizations, private sector of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) this province and interested development agreed by the global community for the partners will also benefit from this report period of 2016-2030. As the Government to identify the areas where they need to of Nepal has shown its commitment on the focus to help the provincial government in realization of SDGs at the international level, achieving the SDGs. this province intends to localize the SDGs to the provincial context to contribute in The Province Planning Commission would the fulfillment of the national commitment. like to thank the UNDP for helping us to This SDG baseline report is produced under prepare this milestone report and also to technical and financial support from UNDP the team of experts Dr. Govind Nepal, in order to identify the status of the province Damodar Gnawali and Ashutosh Mani in various goals and use the information to Dixit for their contribution in producing the identify and design strategic interventions background materials for this. 1 would also needed to achieve SDGs. like to thank the Vice Chair and members of the Province Planning Commission, This report has been prepared based on concerned staff of the government and the available information and through a representatives of private sectors, civil consultative process with stakeholders. It has society organizations, development partners highlighted the data gap which needs to be and other stakeholders who contributed in filled in order to effectively monitor progress preparing this report. on the SDGs in the coming days and ways ................................... Shankar Pokhrel Chief Minister and Chairman of the Province Planning Commission Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report 5 Table of Contents Chapter One: Background 01 1.1 Introduction 01 1.2 Objectives 06 1.3 Approaches and methods 07 1.4 Organization of the report 07 Chapter Two: SDG Goals and Targets 09 Chapter Three: Baseline status of SDGs indicators in Province No. Five 25 3.1 Data gap and availability in provincial SDG indicators 37 Chapter Four: Integration of SDGs in Provincial Planning 39 Chapter Five: Monitoring and Evaluation 45 Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report 1 Chapter One Background 1.1 INTRODUCTION The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable discrimination within and across societies, Development that established the iii. Humans have a moral obligation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was preserve planet Earth. born out of the need to pursue a socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable These economic, social, and environmental economic growth in an integrated manner. goals are interrelated and therefore call for integrated solutions. They all require good The normative basis of sustainable governance to be practised and the science development is the pursuit of a virtuous of complex systems to be understood.1 global society supported by three core beliefs: The SDGs were first formally discussed at the i. There should not be poverty in the midst United Nations Conference on Sustainable of plenty, Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June ii. The global community of nations must 2012 (Rio+20), and then at the United foster social cohesion and mobility, Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in reduce inequalities, and end all forms of September 2014. 1. As Sachs (2015) notes, complex systems represented by a global economy, social connectedness, and Earthly climate and ecosystems exhibit non-linear responses to shocks, i.e., a modest change in the components of the system can cause a large change in the performance of the system as a whole. 2 Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report The UN Open Working proposed set of a more holistic approach to development. 17 SDGs with 169 targets Group (OWG) The ambition, however, is so high that many for SDGs agreed on a covering a broad governments see several goals and targets range of sustainable development issues as aspirational. for the period 2016-2030. The SDGs The Constitution of Nepal issued in 2015 commenced on January 2016 and emerged has ushered in an era of swifter and more as the common and globally agreed upon balanced socio-economic transformation, development framework for the planet, with a federal system of governance as people, their prosperity, and peace. As of its bedrock. The constitution envisions now, 230 indicators have been finalized to creating a socialist-oriented economy measure and track the progress of the SDGs to fulfil people’s aspirations for justice, worldwide. peace, good governance and sustainable development. The main political reason of Before adopting the SDGs, the world agreed federalism is to bring government closer to to implement the Millennium Development the people, enhance the pace and quality Goals (MDGs) from 2001 to 2015. They of development and ensure more effective were largely successful because they were delivery of public goods and services by time-bound, quantified and simple to providing space for peoples’ participation monitor. However, on several issues, they did and ownership in development. It is also not go into the root causes of development. expected that the key services are accessible The SDGs are not just an enlargement of to all citizens and delivered in a transparent the Millennium Development Goals in terms and accountable fashion by all levels of of the number of goals and targets, but government. The constitutional framework guides they also seek to address complex issues federal, provincial and local governments to like inequality and human rights. They take exercise cooperative federalism. To set targets for the plan period and beyond, there is a need to know the baseline status of SDGs at the provincial level. The National Planning Commission, the highest policy making body in Nepal, has prepared two important reports related to SDGs: the SDGs Status and Roadmap, 2016- 2030, and Nepal’s SDG Needs, Costing and Financing Strategy. Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report 3 The Constitution of Nepal is consistent This is, therefore, a high time for formally with the principles of the SDGs. Several mainstreaming the SDGs in the planning SDGs are enshrined in the constitution as process. To set targets for the plan period fundamental rights of citizens. For instance, and beyond, there is a need to know the basic and secondary education, basic baseline status of SDGs at the provincial health, clean water and sanitation, food, level. The National Planning Commission, clean energy and housing are stated as the highest policy making body in Nepal, fundamental constitutional rights; they has prepared two important reports related also form the core of the SDGs. Several to SDGs: the SDGs Status and Roadmap, of these constitutional rights fall under the 2016-2030, and Nepal’s SDG Needs, jurisdictions of the provincial and local Costing and Financing Strategy. Both reports governments. Some functions are concurrent are national initiatives. The national SDG responsibilities of federal, provincial, and Roadmap has acknowledged that much of local governments. True implementation of the responsibilities of SDGs implementation the SDGs requires SDG-based planning will shift towards provincial and local within the different levels of government. governments under the current federal set This necessitates localization of SDGs and up. First, vital public services, which form a a concerted and coordinated pursuit by all social core of the SDGs, are now assigned public and non-state stakeholders across all to the provincial and local governments, levels of government. and are constitutionally mandated to be funded in part by the fiscal transfers from the Currently, like the federal government, the federal government. Second, prioritization provincial government in Province No. Five and implementation sequencing of SDGs is also engaged in the formulation of its can now be better tailored to local contexts first periodic plan for the next five years. ensuring people’s participation. 4 Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report Third, “leaving no one behind” and cities, 32 municipalities and 73 rural ensuring equity in development outcomes municipalities of Nepal. According to the require targeted interventions aimed at national population and housing census pockets of deprivation, a task best handled (2011), the province has 2,140,316 (47.6 when information and peer-monitoring are percent) male population and 2,358,956 handled locally. These points suggest that (52.4 percent) female population. localization of SDGs is critical for Nepal The estimated average annual population to achieve its commitments. To localize the growth rate (exponential) of the province SDGs, the first step is to prepare an SDG between 2001 and 2011 is 1.37 percent, baseline report to understand where the compared to the national average of province stands in terms of the goals and 1.35 percent. The average household targets. In this regard, the Province Planning size of the province stands at 5.1 (Central Commission (PPC) of Province No. Five has Bureau of Statistics, 2011). The literacy prepared this SDG baseline Report under rate among people aged 5 years or above the support of UNDP through a three- is 66.4 percent (75.50 percent for male member expert team.
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