SDSN Philippines Hosts its Annual General Assembly

Last 7 September 2022, Sustainable Development Solutions Network Philippines (SDSN PH), housed at the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability (AIS), hosted a public plenary entitled “Crossroad to 2030: Reviewing and recalibrating the SDGs roadmap of the Philippines”. Attended by 230 participants, the plenary tackled where the Philippines stands vis-à-vis the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 global goals established in 2015 which are intended to be achieved by 2030.

Public plenary on status of SDGs roadmap

In his plenary talk, Mr. Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President and Head of the Paris Office of SDSN and lead author of the Sustainable Development Report (SDR) 2022, started by discussing how the world experienced a decline in achieving the SDGs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He then discussed the current rank of the Philippines in comparison to other Southeast Asian countries. Moreover, he shared that the SDG Dashboards reflect that the Philippines is on track on maintaining SDG achievement for SDGs #6 Clean water and sanitation, #12 Responsible consumption and production, and #13 Climate action, while moderately improving in 10 goals and stagnating in four goals.

After the plenary presentation, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary for Policy and Planning, Rosemarie G. Edillon, acknowledged the status report and recommendations of the SDSN in the SDR. The invitation of NEDA to respond to the presentation is part of SDSN PH’s continued commitment to engage with the government in effecting changes to the network and beyond. This point was reiterated by Mr. Afiq Ismaizam, SDSN Secretariat Focal Point to the Philippines, during his closing remarks.

Induction of new country manager

The public plenary is part of the General Assembly (GA) of SDSN PH. Prior the public plenary, SDSN PH had its Business Meeting where the SDSN PH Country Manager position was turned over from Dr. Philip Arnold Tuaño (Dean, Ateneo School of Government) to Dr. Emmanuel Delocado (Program Manager for SDGs, AIS). Previously holding the SDGs Program Manager position as well, Dr.Tuaño has been with the SDSN PH since its conceptualization. In his Outgoing Country Manager’s Report, he recapped the year’s accomplishments, including the series of webinars on SDG#2 Zero Hunger, and a GIZ-funded report on partnerships between academia and business. During his induction, Dr. Delocado vowed to strengthen the engagement and networking of SDSN PH, especially with the government, business sector, industry, and the youth. He committed to strengthen activities on education and dissemination on SDGs among the member institutions and within the Philippines