$130m to boost Ghana’s SDG implementation

The United Nations (UN) has announced some $130 million in funding support to Ghana to boost the implementation and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The arrangement is born out of a new joint SDG financing project launched in Accra last Friday.

UN Resident Coordinator for Ghana, Charles Abani told stakeholders "the joint SDG financing project forms part of our overarching socioeconomic response and recovery plan through which we are aligning $91 million of existing funds to support Ghana."

He also announced that the UN had committed to raising an additional $39 million over the next 18 months in support of the country's programmes under the global development agenda.

Specifically, the new arrangement will support the consolidation of the SDG financing landscape in Ghana and deploy innovative tools for efficient prioritisation of infrastructure projects and build SDG investor maps to link the private sector to viable investment opportunities, among others.

The main objective of the project is to support developing countries close the financing gap and reorient public and private investment towards the SDGs, with the investment strategy that drives transformation.

Commending the UN for the initiative, the Minister for Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, said the ability to mobilise, sequence and put to use effectively a wide variety of financing sources, instruments and strategies would be central to the country's ability to achieve the SDGs.

"We are, therefore, hopeful that this joint programme will provide concrete, practical, and transformational strategies for SDG financing," Gyan-Baffour said.

The new financing regime, the Minister pointed out, aligned with the government’s own ongoing initiatives, including the cost estimates of delivering the SDGs.

The government was hopeful that the joint programme will provide concrete, practical and transformational strategies for SDG financing, in addition to the appropriate institutional mechanisms and processes to enable the country benefit from the myriad of financing opportunities available.

The launch of the SDGs financing project paves a way for UN in Ghana to support Ghana implement transformative joint programmes, shift SDG implementation narrative from funding to financing, deepen partnerships and strengthen the financing architecture.