Preamble

Your Excellencies, My Lord Bishop(s) (and Archbishop(s), Your Excellencies, Honourable Members of Ghana’s august Parliament here present, Distinguished Invited Guests, Representatives of Catholic Networks, Societies and Associations, Representatives of the Christian Council, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission and the Office of the Chief Imam, Rev. Frs. and Sisters, colleague staff members of NCS, Men and women of the Media, all protocol observed, dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are gathered here this morning for the official launch of Caritas – Ghana, working under the NCS Department of Human Development of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. I am pleased to be invited to welcome all of you to this ceremony. You have travelled from far and near to share the joy of this day with us and we are most grateful to you all for your presence with us this morning.

Brief Overview of Caritas

Mr. Chairman, My Lord Bishops and Distinguished Invited Guests, the Church’s nature is expressed in her threefold responsibility of proclaiming the word of God, celebrating the sacraments and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). According to Deus Caritas Est, “These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable” (Deus Caritas Est, 25). The service of charity therefore is an important constitutive element of the Church’s mission. The Church is therefore called to the exercise of charity at all levels, namely, in small communities and on the national and international levels.

Over the years, the Church universal as well as the Local Church has earned the respect, love and admiration of her faithful and many people around the world because of her generous and consistent witness of faith and the ability of the Church to respond concretely to the needs of the poor and the marginalized. In Ghana, for example, the service to charity has seen the Church contribute immensely to the socio-economic development of the nation through the building of many hospitals and clinics, schools, orphanages and other such facilities. The fruits of these interventions are there for all to see. Nevertheless, most of these good works of the Church have not been properly documented and consistently pursued. Caritas –Ghana therefore will be a vehicle through which the Church in Ghana under the auspices of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference will work closely with Caritas International, Caritas Africa and Governments and non-Governmental Agencies as well as the faithful people of God to bring real change to the people we are called to serve. By so doing, the Church hopes to assist in the integral development of all peoples.

During his visit to Ouida, Benin in November 2011, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, called on all Bishops’ Conferences to help build up society in cooperation with government authorities and public and private institutions that are engaged in building up the common good. For the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the establishment of Caritas-Ghana will be the response of the Church in Ghana to this call of our retired Holy Father.

What Caritas-Ghana will do

Bishop in the Chair, Caritas-Ghana will be a new and innovative way through which the Church in Ghana will carry out the mission of service to charity. It will help people to appreciate the remarkable work done and yet to be done by the Church in terms of the provision of social services in addressing the needs of the poor; Caritas-Ghana and the National Justice and Peace Commission will collaborate to help the Church make the best possible use of the human material and spiritual resources available to us. In doing all of this, we will be inspired by the Gospel values, Catholic Social Teaching, the primacy of the common good, respect for human dignity, the option for the poor and the needy.

Conscious of the fact that Church does not have the technical solutions to offer and more so does not claim the right to interfere in any way in the politics of the State, we will collaborate with Governments to ensure that the mission of the Church in service to charity leads to the integral development of all persons. The Church has a public role to play in collaboration with the State because, “The whole Church in all her being and acting – when she proclaims, when she celebrates, when she performs acts of charity – is engaged in promoting integral human development,” a task which is the rightful duty of elected authorities. We are hopeful that Caritas-Ghana will succeed in its mission.

Words of Welcome

On this note, My Lord Bishops and Cherished Invited Guests, I wish on behalf of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the National Catholic Secretariat, to welcome all of you to this morning’s launching ceremony. Thank you all for coming and God bless us all.

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye

Given at the Launch of Caritas-Ghana

International Press Center, Accra

2 June, 2016.

KEYNOTE SPEECH BY MR. SAMUEL ZAN AKOLOGO – EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF CARITAS GHANA ON 7^TH DECEMBER, 2015 – LUXEMBOURG ON THE OCASSION OF EUROPEAN YEAR FOR DEVELOPMENT AND LUXEMBOURG PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN UNION.

Introductory Remarks

Mr Daniele Weber – Moderator of this session

Presidents of Caritas Luxembourg and Cercle des ONGD Luxembourg – Marie-Josee Jacobs and Armand Drews respectively

Colleague Speaker – Dr. Imme Scholz

Colleague Activists of civil society and the Caritas confederation

Invited guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be here and to be part of this important discourse as part of the framework of the European Year for Development and Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of European Union in 2015. Thank you Madam Christine Dahm of Cercle de Cooperation and Caritas Luxembourg for your kind invitation.

Background

The Sustainable Development Goals were the principal reason and thus constitute the content of the Special United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in September this year 2015. The outcome document – Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development expresses global commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We recall that they were adopted on 25^th September, 2015 by world leaders from 193 countries without a single dissention and the usual diplomatic hassle and tussle. One opinion is that the differences were neatly ironed out during the long and broad consultative process by the Open Working Group that proposed the 17 goals and perhaps consensus was further deepened by the equally long Intergovernmental Negotiations in New York from January to August, 2015. Be as it may, the overwhelming endorsement of the Declaration and the 17 SDGs was an indication of the responsibility to act! Implementation is at the heart of the responsibility to act which must be manifest in concrete initiatives and allocation of resources.

Understanding the Implementation Framework

In April 2015, the issue of financial resources to implement the proposed SDGs gained some attention and rallied all the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) together to speak with one voice. Their joint statement: From Billions to Trillions: transforming Development Finance, Post-2015 financing for Development: Multilateral Development Finance, signalled the level of resources that were projected to deliver the SDGs. I will not go into judgement about the normative value of their statement at this point. What is important to me at this conference is the imperative of partnership that underpinned the unprecedented collective action and agreement of all the diverse IFIs comprising the global and regional development Funds and Banks. This was a great innovation of partnership which further imposes a responsibility to act in the spirit of togetherness and to deliver the financial resources they projected for the implementation of the SDGs. First of all, the respective principal shareholders of these institutions must now begin to define a common purpose of financing for a people-centred development that will contribute to ending extreme poverty by 2030 in ways that will ‘leave no one behind’. This is one key commitment of the SDG Framework. Civil Society Organizations engaging with the IFIs should begin innovative advocacy actions that are underpinned by dialogue to ensure the responsibility to act by these IFIs on the development agenda remain paramount.

The Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3) concluded in Addis Ababa in July with the outcome document – Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA). The imperative of the new development agenda of the SDGs provided new impetus for the Addis Ababa Conference in a number of ways. The United Nations Agenda 2030 clearly recognized the Addis outcome document of the FFD3 as the principal means of implementing the SDGs. FFD3 was seen as an integral part of the 2030 Agenda and is expected to support it through the concrete policies and actions outlined in the outcome document. This means that stakeholders and major groups of the UN Sustainable Development process and Financing for Development should not continue with their historical parallel actions. The responsibility to act in this context also means a critical call to act together in partnership in all actions necessary and desirable to the implementation of the SDGs.

Another dimension of understanding the framework for the implementation of the SDGs is the inter-relationship with the on-going climate change conference in Paris. The stand-alone goal 13 on climate change is important but its realization depends on a binding agreement from the Paris Conference. Pope Francis, in Laudato Si, 139 says that: ‘We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combatting poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded and at the same time protecting nature’. While it is important that we are engaging in this discourse in tandem with the Paris Conference, we should also keep our gaze, passion and energy on Paris so that a binding agreement is reached. Pope Francis has provided a moral compass to world leaders that Economic Justice, Care for our common home (the Earth) and Social Development can no longer be issues of separable concern. This message is applicable to us in civil society and those in corporate business as well, to accept as a common ground and normative value for dialogue and partnership.

In the discussion of our topic today on Responsibility to act, we cannot be oblivious to goal 17 – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global partnership for Sustainable Development. It is important to note that the principle of partnership in the opening preamble of the 2030 Agenda is taken up forcibly again in paragraphs 60 – 71 under the principal heading: Means of Implementation and the Global Partnership. These paragraphs lucidly elaborate the desirable actions on issues of Finance, Technology, Capacity-Building, Trade and Systemic Issues. I suggest that even though the entire SDG Framework is a call to global partnership, we can focus more clearly in defining and developing innovative partnerships around these five critical issues in goal 17. The Group of 77 and China have sponsored a resolution for the consideration of the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly on issues of implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. We in civil society and other stakeholders need to make sure that the spirit of this resolution is consistent with principles of participation and partnership as defined by the SDG Framework.

The unfinished business of the SDG Framework on the setting of indicators is very important especially as there are still windows for influencing what will constitute the measure of implementation and desirable change. We need to build partnerships to influence the work of the Inter-Agency Expert Group (IAEG) who have the responsibility for this piece of work to be concluded in March, 2016. Our engagement is also relevant with the national statistical offices in our respective countries which are expected to develop national level indicators to monitor their implementation. Our understanding and engagement with the follow up and review mechanisms and processes at the National, Regional and Global levels is also critical to ensuring implementation of the SDG Framework

Conclusion

The United Nations Special General Assembly on the Post-2015 Development Agenda adopted the final outcome document on 25^th September without any diplomatic hassle and tussle; a rather unprecedented feat! This gave an overt sign of a world together right; at least on the issue of sustainable development. While the litmus test of this assertion remains with the outcome of the on-going climate conference in Paris, we should not overlook the great opportunity presented by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Framework. As we await 2016 for the SDGs to kick in, a proactive posture of preparation and commitment to engagement by the Caritas confederation is critical to the realization of the SDGs. For this reason, I present the following as a menu of action forms that can be considered; taking into consideration the specificities of our respective contexts:

• Awareness creation of the SDGs; including informing ourselves about the 2030 Agenda, the 17 goals, 169 targets and the indicators yet to be finalized.
• Develop priorities from the seventeen goals for our own social intervention programmes and use these to define our partnership relations.
• Advocacy targeting national governments to replicate long-term development planning that integrates the SDGs. This is another way of developing national priorities on the seventeen goals
• Independent monitoring and reporting on implementation of the SDGs at relevant levels; especially at national and sub-national.
• Create national platforms for sharing knowledge, information and best practices in the implementation of the SDGs
• Advocate for the setting up of national review mechanisms on the implementation of the SDGs. These must be broadly representative of diverse stakeholders and interest groups.
• Social cohesion, good governance and anti-corruption measures are essential pre-conditions for the realization of the SDGs in Africa. Caritas Member Organizations should maintain consistent voice on these issues and build effective partnerships for engagement.
• Develop strategic networking relations with broader civil society to broaden our advocacy platform and amplify our voices on the SDGs Framework. Inter-faith platform engagement could leverage greater influence and even resource mobilization in this regard.
• New and creative resource mobilization techniques and forms have to be explored to support our work on the SDGs. This should not exclude scrupulous but cautious exploration of the corporate sector and philanthropy.
• Caritas Africa can consider launching a campaign in an area that is very crucial for the realization of the SDGs in Africa. This idea includes also joining relevant regional or international campaigns already led by credible CSO. The campaign against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa can be considered by Caritas Africa.
• Provide models to contextualize the SDGs in Africa Agenda 2063 for greater harmonization of purpose and equal ambition for change in the lives of people. We must be wary of an African agenda that is less ambitious, impervious to change and finds excuses for mediocrity.

Thank you all for this opportunity to share knowledge and ideas aimed at transforming our world for the common good.

Samuel Zan Akologo – Executive Secretary, Caritas Ghana

Introduction

This brief article is a follow up reflection to my two previous on the same subject matter! Following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Agenda 2030 in September, 2015, I reflected on the subject as ‘Giant Steps to Achieving A World Without Poverty; Civil Society can Make it Realizable’. This was followed in December, 2015 during the climax of the European Year of Development in Luxembourg, on ‘Responsibility to Act; Engaging in innovative partnerships to implement the SDG Framework’. These are available online for reference so that I can save space in not referring to the substance of these previous thoughts. My purpose is to contribute my little civic activism and knowledge on initiatives to enhance implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which succeeded the erstwhile Millennium Development Goals from 2016 to 2030. Caritas Ghana’s 2015 Development Partners’ Forum agreed an elaborate programme of action focusing on the SDGs which was titled Country Partnership Action Agenda (CPAA) which was shared with diverse and potential partners.

General Background

Sub-Saharan Africa played a significant role in the development of the SDG agenda. The Africa Union Agenda 2063 preceded the post-2015 development agenda process with a clear intention to influence the SDGs with an Africa perspective. Besides, the High Level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda, which ran from 2012 to 2013, was co-chaired by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia. The Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) at the UN on the SDGs which led to their adoption in September, 2015 were co-facilitated by Ambassador Macharia Kamau of Kenya. The Africa Union also had what was called the Common Africa Position (CAP) throughout the IGN. With the foregoing background, it seems safe to posit that the implementation of the SDGs must be an important priority for Sub-Saharan Africa.

However, a recent Regional Scorecard paper by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in April, 2016 on ‘The SDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa’ shows how Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to progress across the SDG agenda 2030, if current trends continue. It concludes that although we can expect gains for many of the goals and targets, low starting points and inequality both within and between countries will make Sub-Saharan Africa’s achievement of the global goals particularly difficult. We would need effective tracking of progress as the litmus test for these preliminary conclusions.

The Context of Ghana and SDG Agenda

Admittedly, even though Ghana’s permanent seat at the UN was vacant during most part of the IGN process, the nation participated throughout the IGN on the SDGs in 2015. There is an active inter-ministerial Committee on the SDGs at the capital-level which has had interactions with some civil society organizations. The Committee has issued guidelines for the preparation of a Working Document for mainstreaming the SDGs. It sets out to develop a work plan with the aim of localizing the SDGs in every sector with particular focus on areas of priority. The second area is to prioritize the SDG targets across the span of fifteen years which will form part of the Forty-Year Development Plan for each sector in Ghana. Recently the UN Secretary General appointed His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana, as a member of the High Level Committee to promote the implementation of the SDGs. Regrettably though, Ghana has not yet volunteered itself for the Voluntary National Review (VNR) during the 2016 High Level Political Forum in July. Ghana is expected to go to the polls in November, 2016 and issues of development around the SDG targets will be the main issues for contestation by all political power seekers.

Caritas Ghana remained actively engaged both locally and internationally on the SDG agenda since 2014 to date. A 2015 Country Forum of Caritas Ghana and its partners focused on the role of the Church in the post-2015 Development Agenda. Caritas Ghana’s Executive Secretary attended and spoke, on behalf of the global Caritas Confederation during the April IGN on means of implementation. Caritas Ghana remains active member of Caritas International’s Post- 2015 Working Group, Together 2030 International Civil Society Platform and the national civil society network on the SDGs.

Caritas Ghana Intervention Proposal for 2016

Caritas Ghana is seeking to establish a systematic process and means to engage our national government and other major stakeholders to enhance the implementation of the SDGs in Ghana. The two main objectives are:

1. To increase citizens’ awareness and participation in the implementation of the SDGs; and
2. To contribute to achieving National level policy coherence and planning for the implementation of the SDGs.

The expected impact would be measured by:

1. Increased citizens’ demand on government for implementation of the SDGs, especially around the 2016 General Elections
2. The proposed 40-year National Development Plan would have key references to SDGs, targets and indicators.

• Increased multi-stakeholder engagement on the SDGs in Ghana

We propose three key interventions during the period from June to December, 2016 as our contribution to civic engagement:

Prepare a national monitoring report on SDG Implementation status

Caritas Ghana will develop a detailed terms of reference for this assignment to be undertaken by a qualified research Consultant using participatory action-research approach/methodology. Draft report will be validated by the relevant state institutions responsible for the SDG implementation; especially the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Inter-ministerial Committee on the SDGs.

National Policy Engagement

The national monitoring report will be the main resource material for a national policy engagement which will involve diverse stakeholders from civil society, faith-based organizations, private sector and public institutions. This activity is scheduled for September, 2016.

• Participation in Regional and International policy dialogue on follow up and review.

Caritas Ghana intends to use the lessons learned from this initiative to feed into Regional and International advocacy efforts for the implementation of the SDGs. The expectation is to involve the secretariat of the Symposium for Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in Accra to learn from the process and use its outcome for their advocacy at the AU level. The outcome of the initiative will also feed into Caritas Africa and Caritas International advocacy efforts by hopefully representing those institutions in any Regional and International policy dialogue meetings on the SDGs. High on our agenda is to participate in the July High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on the follow up and review session in New York in July 2016 and any other relevant international forum that is open to civil society participation and influence.

Conclusion

The UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/ 67/290 and the 2030 Agenda provide for regular reviews on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commitments at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The first High Level Political Forum for 2016 on follow up and review will convene in July under the theme ‘Ensuring that no-one is left behind’! Only six African countries, namely; Egypt, Madagascar, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda have so far submitted themselves for the Voluntary National Review! We may want to ask why but let that question be relevant only for national advocacy engagement. As for the theme for 2016, I think it is apt and deserve support and pushing for its elaboration. I would just conclude with my humble view that this theme should not be about statistical aggregation or a situation where this is interpreted as ‘leave no-one without a little’! Equity and subsidiarity principles must be the guide in the measure of achievement of this theme.