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Sustainable Development Goals

This paper is about the first goal of SDGs. This paper shows the progress of achieving the goal by Bangladesh.

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Rashaad Nabil
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167 views

Sustainable Development Goals

This paper is about the first goal of SDGs. This paper shows the progress of achieving the goal by Bangladesh.

Uploaded by

Rashaad Nabil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) AND

POVERTY REDUCTION

Rashaad Nabil
Faculty of Business Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have set a standard parameter to measure any economy’s
developmental progress after attaining Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are total of
seventeen goals, from which the first one is “No Poverty”. As poverty reduction is the part of the topic of
the study, this paper has studied about poverty of Bangladesh. To reduce poverty, utilizing the thrust
sectors of the country properly is the main target of the study. The study is based on the 7 th Five Year Plan
(7FYP: 2016-2020) of the government of the country.
The objective of the study is to understanding SDGs and their effects in the poverty reduction. While
assessing the feasibility of attaining SDGs of the country, some questions have brought up, which are
mentioned in the background of the study.
The methodology to assessing the topic were based on the secondary data: academic and technical
journals, etc. From the journals and the papers (regarding SDGs and Poverty Reduction, etc.), the
literature review section has been written, where the dialogues of the experts have been analyzed to
identify the current situations of the country.
In the findings and analysis sections of the paper, the topic has been scrutinized in the context of the
thrust sectors and 7FYP (2016-2020) of the economy. In this section, the real scenarios of the country
have been portrayed such as the removing of the gap of the feasibility of achieving SDGs by assessing the
7FYP of the country. The opportunities (thrust sectors) of the country also have been discussed to show
the prospects of the development. To support the future plans of the country, the significant roles of the
financial and non-financial resources have been analyzed.
As the paper has been studied in the context of 7FYP (2016-2020) of the country, there are many scopes
have been left to work on this study in the future. However, it is hoped that the conclusion and the
recommendation of the paper will help not only the experts, but also the general people understand the
importance of the topic and the overall state of the country regarding the study.
1. INTRODUCTION

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the aftermath of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
SDGs are a UN initiative. It is officially known as “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development”. The very first goal of SDGs is “No Poverty”. As Bangladesh is a least
developed country, poverty is a vital issue for the country. But Bangladesh has several thrust sectors,
which can be used to reduce poverty, and attain SDGs as well. This paper provides some research,
findings, and evaluation of utilizing thrust sectors to reduce poverty while achieving SDGs in the context
of next five year plans of Bangladesh.

2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY


2.1) Objectives of The Paper
Exploiting thrust sectors properly in next five years, Bangladesh may reduce its poverty, and can achieve
its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well. The main objective of the present study is to
understanding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and effects of SDGs in poverty reduction in
Bangladesh. Another objective of the paper is to measure, deduce or analyze the feasibility of attaining
SDGs in Bangladesh for next five years. The last, but not the least, objective is to come to a conclusion
about whether it is possible to improve the country’s overall economic growth, or not possible by
attaining SDGs and implementing future five year plans.

2.2) Research Questions


The objectives mentioned above lead to some vital questions regarding the study. These questions must be
answered to complete the study. The questions arise here are-

 How can Bangladesh achieve SDGs while reducing the country’s poverty by utilizing the thrust
sectors of the country?
 What are the plans for next five years regarding the thrust sectors in Bangladesh?
 What are the financial and non-financial resources to support the thrust sectors to thrive properly?
 How the country will exploit the potentiality of the thrust sectors?

3. METHODOLOGY
The study of the topic has, mainly, done by analyzing secondary data collected from the internet. For
making SDGs understood easily, I have taken the base data directly from the SDGs’ website. The
secondary data of the literature review were collected from many journals, paper studied by the specialists
of the topic. By assessing the journals of the economists, philosophers, etc., the study has found the lead
to its main findings and conclusion. In the findings and conclusion section, the data are also from
secondary source such as, these were taken from the 7 th Five Year Plan of Government of Republic of
Bangladesh.
4. LITERATURE REVIEW

4.1) From MDGs To SDGs


Jeffrey D Sachs (2012) stated that The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) created a historic and
effective method of global mobilization to attain a set of significant social priorities worldwide. MDGs
convey extensive public concern about poverty, hunger, disease, unmet schooling, gender inequality, and
environmental degradation. The need of the SDGs has quickly come in front because of the increasing
necessity of sustainable development for all over the world.

4.2) What Are SDGs


According to Herman E. Daly (1990), to develop means ‘to expand or realize the potentialities of: bring
gradually to fuller, greater, or better state’. Development is qualitative improvement or unfolding of
potentials. There are 17 interrelated Goals with 169 associated targets, mean success in one affects
success for others. Dealing with the risk of climate change effects how people manage their delicate
natural resources, attaining gender equality or better health benefits abolish poverty, and developing peace
and wide-ranging societies will reduce inequalities and help economies thrive. In short, this is the greatest
opportunity people have to improve life for forthcoming generations.

4.3) Measuring SDGs


Laszlo Pinter (2013) mentioned in IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) Report that
SDGs must be corresponding to MDGs. SDGs should also be cross-likened where pertinent to the
variables used in globally recognized environment-development model and scenarios. These scenarios
can be significant explaining of different future development pathways that are likely to meet SDG target.
However, indicators of SDGs need always to be supervised, evaluating, and reporting as new scenarios
come up, and these scenarios should be reviewed due to constant progression of learning and careful
adaptation.

4.4) Feasibility of SDGs in Bangladesh


Debapriya Bhattacharya (2015) discussed at CPD Media Briefing that Bangladesh impressively
attained MDGs. Thus, further attainment of SDGs would not be very difficult. But there are some
challenges regarding SDGs for Bangladesh such as, Integration in the national planning process, financial
and non-financial resources, institutional mechanism for implementation, data for monitoring, and lastly
participation and accountability.

4.5) Thrust Sectors of Bangladesh


Joseph DiVanna (2016) presented a keynote at a session on “the next billion dollar opportunities in
Bangladesh”, where he said Bangladesh has 32 thrust sectors that have potential to billions of dollars in
investment and export earnings. All of the thrust sectors have aptitude to become the upcoming billion-
dollar investment prospects in Bangladesh. The thrust sectors in Bangladesh consist of apparel,
agriculture, ICT, light engineering, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, frozen food, energy, handicrafts,
ceramic, tourism, healthcare, etc.
5. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

5.1) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)


Bangladesh has become a promising country to achieve SDGs after attaining the MDGs quite well. The
very first of the SDGs is “no poverty” or “to reduce poverty”. According to UNDP, there are three pillars
of SDGs: Social Progress, Economic Growth, and Environmental Protection. Bangladesh has considered
these pillars in its 7th Five Year Plan (2016-2020), which is made after the final year of MDGs. This plan
creates the bridge between global agenda for higher growth and the protection of the environment.

5.2) Poverty Reduction


Reducing the extreme poverty is a prime principle of the strategies in the 7 th Five Year Plan (7FYP). The
targets of this plan include:

 Brought down in head-count poverty from 24.8% to 18.6%, which is about 6.2% reduction.
 Brought down in extreme poverty to 8.9% in 2020, which is about 4.0% reduction.
 Social Protection expenditure (as a share of GDP) will be increased to 2.3% of GDP.
 Lagging Region Fund will be introduced.
If Bangladesh can reach these targets in next five years, the country will go a step ahead towards the goal
of “No Poverty” of SDGs. These targets should be reached as they will benefit the whole country. There
are many effects of these for example, reduction in poverty will help the parents send their children to
educational institutions for better education, which will help to create more skilled human resources, and
this means the children are more likely to grow up to become positive contributors to the economy and
the society. On the other hand, reduction of poverty will save billions of dollars annually which are costed
by increased health care cost, and higher criminal-justice expenditures, etc.

5.3) Thrust Sectors of Bangladesh


Thrust sectors are very significant to achieve SDGs. As already mentioned earlier in literature review
section, the 32 sectors have bright future prospects ahead of each. For being so much important, thrust
sectors of Bangladesh have been considered while making 7FYP Targets. It includes:

 Building of 6.15 km long Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge, and 26 km long Dhaka Elevated
Expressway.
 Increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector from 17.8% to 21.5% of GDP by FY20.
 Increase the expenditure on R&D to 1% of GDP (about 0.4% increase).
 Increase incomes from ICT, travel and tourism to $2.6 billion (about $1.1 increase).
By achieving these targets the country will see the improvement in various Macro Indicators. An
elaborated table (source: GED Planning Commission) has given below:

5.4) Financial and Non-Financial Resources


Financial resources have, always, been a constraint to the development of Bangladesh. Financial
provisioning will be a significant matter with regard to the implementation of SDGs. Thrust sectors need
more finance than any other sectors. Though there are some improvements (which are estimated, not
accurate) in public and private investment over 7FYP, but illicit financial flow has about 1.2% of GDP
over last few years. On the other hand, private investment was stagnant at about 22.1% of GDP in past
few years, whereas FDI was comparatively low (0.9% of GDP), and remittances had unstable prospect
(7.9% of GDP). (Source: The Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals: Implementation Challenges for
Bangladesh)
However, some non-financial resources like land, and human resource may use to alleviate the financial
resource uncertainty. Land is not only required for agriculture, but also for the industries. If property
rights and rule of law are properly implemented, which ensure appropriate use of land, then many FDI
might be attracted to the country. As the FDI increase, there will come the use of human resource in the
country. These will lead to more employment. Thus, per capita income of the country will be increased,
which results in decreasing overall poverty of the country.

5.5) Future Work


While this paper studies about the last FYP (2016-2020) of Bangladesh, but SDGs should be met by
2030. There will be coming two FYP (2021-2025 and 2026-2030) of the country, where country’s
progress will be planned again. And the next two FYP will be based on how much the country attain from
the 7FYP. Some of the SDGs will be met in the meantime; poverty may be reduced to a substantial
amount; thrust sectors might get different shapes; changes in the financial and non-financial resources
may be seen. Therefore, over the years, country’s progress toward achieving SDGs will need to be
evaluated as many situations must be arisen; many research will be needed to assess the progress, solve
the future problems, and avoid the upcoming constraints.
6. CONCLUSION
Reducing poverty is always the prime issue for any least developed country. SDGs have been set by
considering the issues globally, but Bangladesh needs to exploit its resources to attain SDGs. Fortunately,
Bangladesh has many thrust sectors, which shows that there many opportunities for the country to thrive.
Because of this, many employments will be created, which will lead to a significant increase in per capita
income of the economy. However, maintaining sources of financial resources is difficult, but non-
financial resources might be used to balancing the constraints.

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All praise be to Allah, the Almighty, for having made everything possible by giving me the strength
patience and ability to complete this paper. Although it is my name on the top, I would like to express my
deepest gratitude to my fellow classmates for reviewing my paper, and my family, my parents, brothers
for the constant support they gave me.

References:
Sachs, J. (2012). From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. New York:
Penguin press.

Daly, H. (1990). Toward Some Operational Principles of Sustainable Development. Amsterdam: Elsevier
Science Publishers.

Pinter, L. (2013). Measuring Progress Towards Sustainable Development Goals. Winnipeg: International
Institute for Sustainable Development.

Bhattacharya, D. (2015). Outcome Document of the Open Working Group on SDGs. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press.

DiVanna, J. (2016). 32 Thrust Sectors Could Fetch Billions. Dhaka: The Daily Star Press.

GED Planning Commission- Table of the Figure.

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html

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