Acknowledgements:
- The Right Honourable Prime Minister
- The Right Honourable Minister for General Duties and responsible SDGs
- Her Excellency, Ambassadors Denmark Uganda of Diplomatic Missions
- Development Partners
- Heads of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies
- Executive Director, NGO Forum Uganda
- Private Sector representatives
- Academia
- The Media Fraternity
- Colleagues from the UN system
- Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the United Nations system, it is a great pleasure to join you all today at the Kampala People’s Festival 2023 organised under the theme "Harnessing Citizens' Potential: Fostering Ownership, Expression, Enjoyment, and Innovation for SDGs."
The festival as presented by others presents a great opportunity for Kampala residents to contribute views on how to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.
The festival is also a lead-up activity to the SDGs Summit which will be held in New York next month. The summit will be attended by World Leaders including His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and, will focus on reviewing progress made towards the achievement of the SDGs at the halfway point.
Right Honourable Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a blueprint for a better world, where poverty is eradicated, inequalities are diminished, and environmental sustainability is safeguarded, and of course in our case, SDGs are incorporated in the commitments of NDPIII. But achieving these ambitious goals cannot rest solely on the shoulders of governments, and partners institutions. It is the collective effort by everyone that holds the key to unlocking the true power of the SDGs. A critical step in achieving this is through raising awareness about the SDGs, and that is why the Kampala SDGs Festival is particularly important.
While the Government has various initiatives supporting job creation and livelihoods especially for the youth, including the Parish Development Model (PDM), the Youth Livelihood programmes and ‘Emyooga’, more efforts and innovations are needed to overcome the challenges. The lack of access to decent jobs is a global problem, and therefore solutions proposed in Uganda, and we count on young people to global solutions.
We must foster ownership within our community. Each one of us has a role to play in making a positive impact, no matter regardless of gender or age. When we take ownership of the SDGs, we commit ourselves to promoting sustainable practices in our daily lives, supporting local initiatives, and holding us all accountable on how we are supporting the collective agenda. This kind of attitude is what will take us to the finish line. All our efforts are needed to see the change we want.
Today’s session on innovation is an opportunity to learn from a number of experts in the field and lead our own ideas to shape Gov’ts, UN’s our collective innovation strategies for sustainable development in the years ahead.
Innovation holds incredible, nearly limitless promise and is helping us shape our future, in new ways. Not just through technology, but through new partnerships, new ways of working, new ways of financing, and new ways to identify and scale-up promising policies, programmes and services in the science of shaping the future we want and the development results we want.
Whatever innovative solutions we obtain through this festival dialogues and online discussions and all the processes that have led to this will contribute to Uganda’s commitments at the SDG Summit next month. The commitment will be actualized through future high impact initiatives under auspices of the Government National development plans and programmes.
Right Honourable Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before I conclude, let me use this opportunity to extend my appreciation to the Right Honourable Prime Minister and the Minister for General Duties, for their continued commitment to coordinating Government and its partners in the domestication and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, at the core of which are the seventeen (17) SDGs.
As we harness citizens' potential for the SDGs, we remind ourselves that this is not a journey we take alone. Collaboration and partnership are key. We need all in country stakeholders to join hands and also hold hands with stakeholders outside the country, our friendly neighbours.
I encourage all to actively participate in the different dialogues during the festival and share ideas. You can also share your ideas through online platforms using @sdgs_ug @UinUganda and, #TondekaMabega
I wish us all a fun festival.
End