Relevant stakeholders need to play an effective role in implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In the SDGs implementation process, media will play a vital role to ensure data availability, transparency and accountability.

This opinion emerged at a consultation meeting held today on 9 April 2019 and was organised by Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh. Citizen’s Platform is going to organise a national consultation, Citizens Conclave: Four Years of SDGs in Bangladesh, on 27 April 2019. As a part of the national consultation, the Citizen’s Platform is preparing a report on the progress of the SDGs implementation.

The national consultation will be organised before the meeting of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development in 2019. This year the theme of the HLPF meeting is “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. The set of the goals which will be reviewed are- Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 10: Reduced Inequality, Goal 13: Climate Action, Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. The event will yield an outcome by analysing the state of progress of the specific aforementioned goals with an underlying objective to present it at the HLPF through a side-event. A draft of the report on these specified goals was presented to the media professionals at the consultation meeting today.

Core group members Citizen’s Platform, Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), and Mr Asif Ibrahim, Vice Chairman, Newage Group, were present at the consultation meeting. On behalf of Platform’s Secretariat, CPD’s Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, and Senior Research Fellow Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan were also present.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Convenor of the Citizen’s Platform and CPD’s Distinguished Fellow, chaired the consultation meeting. Media professionals and representatives from the Platform’s partner organisations shared their opinions and suggestions on the draft report presented.