Kandifo Institute, an analytical policy think-thank, has expressed satisfaction with the annual growth rate in connection to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the country.
According to Kandifo, it is amazing to see the annual growth of the SDG hovering around 17 percent considering how economies were impacted globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participating in a webinar organized for the global launch of an investor platform to accelerate and align investment toward SDGs by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Institute commended UNDP for such an innovative initiative, emphasizing that the timing for the platform launch is perfect as the globe continues to battle COVID-19.
Executive Director of Kandifo Institute, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, congratulated the UNDP for launching the innovative platform open to all investors globally.
“We believe that this idea would be put to good use and help transform the many challenges of communities into opportunities. The UNDP in no time will enjoy its fruits of driving a universal call to action to support countries in achieving the SDGs through integrated solutions by ending poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030,” he said.
The facilitators of the webinar, Sebnem Sener, UNDP SDG Impact, and Marcos Neto, UNDP Sector Hub, took the audience through the various processes on the platform that investors are likely to encounter when using the tool. For instance, the “what can you do to help” button gives a detail of Pilot Government Projects with a list of various countries, where Ghana happens to be a part.
The Panelists for the webinar represented three continents: South America, Africa and Asia in the persons of Juan Carlos Mora Uribe, representing South America; Yofi Grant, GIPC, representing Africa; and Cheo Hock Kuan, Temasek Trust, representing Asia.
Mr. Yofi Grant on the one hand asserted that the platform was extremely constructive and enabling as they represent Ghana’s developmental goals, and as well serves as a great platform for investment opportunities globally. He again stated that he believes private entrepreneurs and investors would see a clear opportunity in the platform, adding that Ghana benchmarked the SDGs in its budget review and is excited that the UNDP has made provision for this innovative tool to support the SDGs.
Mora Uribe on the other hand, expressed great excitement in the launch, stating that Bancolombia was in the process of mobilizing capital to support the SDG’s and that this platform would be very useful as there are large variety of opportunities in need of investors to support.
Cheo Hock Kuan also shared a bit of Temasek’s shared goal with the UNDP as SDG impact team to pilot development of these SDG’s. She believes that this tool would contribute in shaping the positions of various investors towards these development goals.
The projects under Ghana included Ghana Rising and Sustainable Infrastructure Post Covid-19. This and many other details or opportunities that are made by the UNDP and other investors can be found on the sdginvestorplatform.undp.org
Mr. Yofi Grant explained the various sectors with the greatest potential to attract international investors topping up with some priority sectors that had already described their policies. For Agriculture, he indicated that Ghana is already channeling that vision in relation to planting for food and jobs as well as the one district one factory (1D 1F).
Technology is advancing massively as there are interesting synergies between government and citizenry or the private sectors to provide affordable mobile internet or hotspots to indigens. This is very key especially in the covid-era as there is less human contact. In the health sector, it is believed that Covid-19 brought a lot of shortfalls for Ghana but incidentally, the platform links to the digitalization programme by government to connect citizenry to the platforms.
