Johannesburg, June 28, 2019,  Under the current preparations for the High- Level Political Forum 2019, the APRM participated in the multi-stakeholder engagement discussion organized by the Global Compact Network South Africa (GCNSA) on the 28^th of June at Gorden Institute of business studies- University of Pretoria. Various South African stakeholders including private sector, government, and university representatives engaged in this national dialogue to discuss the role of the private sector in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 ‘Africa We Want.’ In her opening remarks, Ambassador Nozipho January-Bardill, Chairperson of the GCNSA commended the role of leading companies in South Africa as well as financial institutions in aligning their policies with the SDGs plans and the National Development Plan. Furthermore, she assured the significant role of partnerships -SDG 17- for better coordination and effective implementation of all SDGs. Therefore, the GCNSA founded a platform to encourage dialogue between Government officers, Universities, Civil Society, and youth to ensure the effective implementation of SDGs in South Africa.

The meeting also discussed the initial report entitled ‘’private sector contribution to South Africa’s Voluntary National Review (VNR) 2019 process’’. The report addressed the main priorities of the South African private sector towards SDGs implementation such as good jobs, economic growth, education quality, consumption, and production, as well as climate action. Rationalization of natural resources, innovation & infrastructure is another priority, health, and well-being. The report, as Christy Chapman, Empanada Consultancy Representative mentioned, also provided case studies of the big companies’ approaches and frameworks to integrate SDGs in their policies and actions such as Anglo-American mining company and Mondi Group. She also noted the South African private sector’s eagerness to support SDGs implementation through the continental integration projects and sectors i.e. Agriculture sector which is a backbone for many African farmers’ incomes and economies as well as health sector (fighting malaria).

A representative from the SA Government, Dr. Kefiloe Masiteng, Deputy Secretary of the National Commission which leads the VNR process at the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) briefed the audience about the key findings of the South African VNR report that will be presented at the HLPF 2019, July 16-18 in New York. She highlighted that SA is one of the leading countries to advocate the adoption of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and earlier, Agenda 2063 for Africa. She explained the alignment of National Development Plan with SDGs and the advocacy and participatory approach adopted by the Government to raise awareness of SDGs at the local level. She also expressed the South African government’s support to the African Union and the APRM efforts to bring African countries experiences together to share lessons learned from the VNR exercise at the continental level.

The APRM representative in the meeting, Ms. Sara Hamouda, focal point for SDGs and Agenda 2063, thanked the GCNSA for organizing such a national dialogue before the HLPF 2019. She also briefed the audience on the increasing role of APRM as a platform for AU member states and regional organizations to discuss the complex and cross-cutting issues related to the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of SDGs. She clarified that the APRM is currently working on producing a continental report on the state of implementation of SDGs which will highlight the success stories of AU member states in the domestication of SDGs as well as other issues including finance for development, partnerships and domestication of SDGs. Accordingly, the case of South Africa will be showcased in the report as one of the good national examples for the government-private sector collaboration for the effective implementation of SDGs.

Meanwhile, she also clarified that the African Union currently exerts rigorous efforts to enhance the quality of data necessary for tracking the progress in Agenda 2063, especially after finalizing the core indicators framework of the first ten-year of implementation plan of the said Agenda few weeks ago in Nairobi.