Amman - Doaa AlKhadeer
A shadow report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Jordan by Phenix Center for Economic Studies, published late last year, noted that the repercussions of the Coronavirus pandemic have negatively affected the achievement of the SDGs at the national level due to the disruption of all economic and social sectors during the lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic.
The report concluded that the government's most significant challenges in achieving the SDGs are poor funding and lack of inter-ministerial partnership, which made it difficult to identify mechanisms for measuring indicators, 101 out of 241 of which are relevant to Jordan. These challenges adversely affect the monitoring and measurement of the achievement of the SDGs.
The report consists of a series of parallel reports of government reports issued by civil society organizations to highlight the achievements and challenges Jordan has faced over the past five years to achieve these goals.
The report noted that the High National Commission for Sustainable Development worked to implement the SDGs independently of civil society institutions and the private sector and has not met again with partners with whom it collaborated to create the first Voluntary National Review (VNR).
The report concluded that the SDGs have not been fully achieved on the ground, as a large proportion of Jordanians do not have healthcare coverage, while the goal was to include all Jordanians.
With regard to the SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), a large proportion of workers are employed in the informal sector, which is not aligned with the goal and indicators of Decent Work..
The report stressed that the Syrian refugee crisis has hampered progress in the SDGs due to pressure on resources, trade, import, tourism, investment and declining economic growth, as the annual cost of hosting Syrian refugees amounts to $2 billion. This indicates that Jordan is moving away from the road map it drew through the first VNR as the Kingdom committed to reduce poverty and unemployment rates and to raise the quality of education and health care.
The report notes that if Jordan continues at this pace towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the goals will not be met by 2030.
Jordan is ranked 89th out of 166 countries globally. According to the Sustainable Development Report 2020 made by the United Nations, Jordanis on track to achieve only four of the 17 SDGs - which are Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and Goal 13 (Climate Action). However, it is not on track to achieve the rest of the SDGs, which are equally important. .