Achieving the 2030 target for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require strategic and continuing multi-sectoral collaboration across the globe, says Tonye Cole, Executive Director, Sahara Group as the world marks the first anniversary of the SDGs.
Officially branded “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, the SDGs is a set of seventeen aspirational “Global Goals” with 169 targets between them. The goals include: ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests. The SDGs document was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit September 25–27, 2015 in New York, USA.
Cole, who is also co-founder of Sahara, a leading African Power and Energy Conglomerate, said the SDGs platform had since become a veritable tool for addressing critical developmental issues globally. “Going by available records, a significant success trend is emerging and it is great to see unfolding collaboration amongst several stakeholders on interventions being midwifed by the United Nations and its affiliates. It is imperative for governments, private sector, NGOs, international development agencies and global civil society to work together in a sustainable manner to ensure the targets of the SDGs are achieved by 2030.”
He noted that Sahara Group has implemented sundry SDGs compliant interventions and is currently supporting several partnership platforms that are setting the tone for accelerating the achievement of the SDGs across the globe.
Sahara Group has different projects to advance the fulfillment of the 17 SDGs. One of them is the The Food Africa Project which supports the fulfillment SDG 2. A very first of its kind, this is the product of a partnership involving Sahara Group, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals- Fund (SDG-F) and the Kaduna State Government aimed at empowering the people of Kaduna State and alleviating poverty through food security. The plan is to replicate this across Africa.
Sahara Group and other partners hope to integrate the entire food value chain – the farmer, wholesaler, retailer and consumer- through the Food Africa Project. This will facilitate a sustainable source of food security, poverty alleviation and eradication, skill acquisition and social inclusiveness. The Food Africa project aims to impact at least 500,000 beneficiaries (30% direct beneficiaries and 70% indirect beneficiaries) providing families with better nutrition and livelihood opportunities over a five-year period.
Sahara Group is a leading privately owned African Energy and Infrastructure Conglomerate with operating entities active in the Power, Downstream, Midstream, Upstream and Infrastructure sectors. Sahara currently has its operations in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and continues to explore new frontiers to replicate its passion for seeking creative, cleaner and sustainable ways of being the provider of choice wherever energy is consumed. The Group is a member of the World Economic Forum community – Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and collaborates with global, regional and national organisations to promote sustainable development and transparency in business.
