TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDEV) has devised a Catch-Up Plan marked with intensified efforts and data-driven policies to accelerate progress into achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on time.
With five years remaining, the SDG Catch Up Plan for Eastern Visayas highlights key performance trends, implementation challenges, and strategic opportunities for improvement. It outlines targeted initiatives and a structured mechanism for implementing and monitoring to ensure effective execution in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
“It’s not too late. However, we must act now, we must act fast and we must act smart,” DEPDEV-8 Regional Director Meylene Rosales said.
Meanwhile, DEPDEV pushes for effective tracking of the SDG progress for accessible, reliable, timely and disaggregated data at all levels. While data availability and quality have steadily improved over the years, statistical capacity still needs to be strengthened in the country.
In the recent Data Festival conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority in the region (PSA-8) reveals the SDGs are not progressing fast enough in Eastern Visayas, with a significant number of indicators requiring acceleration or showing regression toward the 2030 targets. With only five years left, the pressure is mounting.
PSA’s tracking on pace of progress shows the SDG goals in the country as a whole has made progress since 2015, but the pace remains below expectations to meet the targets by 2030.
PSA is using measures like the Anticipated Progress Index (API), which categorizes indicators as “On Track,” “Needs Acceleration,” or “Regressing”.
Data on the country’s 2024 SDG pace of progress results showed that 12 of the 17 SDGs have sufficient indicators.
Of the 12 goals, Eastern Visayas showed advancement in 10 of these goals since 2015; however only Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) reached the expected pace of progress in 2024.
The other advancements in the SDG goals are needing immediate acceleration. These include Goal 1 (no poverty) to end all forms of poverty; Goal 2 (zero hunger) to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition; Goal 3 (good health and well-being) to end preventable deaths, combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, achieve universal health coverage, and ensure access to safe medicines and vaccines; Goal 4 (quality education) to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities; Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth) to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all; and Goal 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, ensuring access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
However, Eastern Visayas is regressing or moving backwards in other goals such as on SDG 5 (gender equality) to end discrimination and violence against women and girls; SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) to build resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation; SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) to addresses issues of migration, representation, and development assistance for vulnerable countries, promoting social, economic, and political inclusion for all people; SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) which focuses on urban planning, infrastructure, housing, transport, waste management, environmental protection, and public spaces to ensure all people benefit from cities and communities, rather than being left behind; and, SDG 13 (climate action) which focuses on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
PSA is already working to modernize and strengthen statistical systems to address all aspects of production and use of data for the SDGs.
(AHLETTE REYES, PIA-8)
