DOE hosts workshop aimed at incorporating SDGs into GSDS

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DPI, GUYANA, Thursday, March 15, 2018

The Department of Environment (DOE) is being assisted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).

Director of the DOE, Ndibi Schwiers said the two-day workshop will equip members of the expert and advisory groups of the GSDS “with the skills that they need so that they can be the ones to integrate the SDGs into the GSDS”.

UNDP, along with the United National Environment Project (UNEP), is providing the technical support for the workshop which is being facilitated by the Ministries of the Presidency and Finance. The workshop is being hosted at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown.

The UNDP will be facilitating an increase in knowledge of analysis tools among the stakeholders while identifying challenges through practical exercises. At the end of the workshop, stakeholders would have developed a draft Theory of Change.

UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Mikiko Tanaka noted, “the Theory of Change will offer guidance on what should be done to achieve Guyana’s ambitious development agenda”.

The thematic areas of the GSDS are related in some way to the SDGs, Tanaka said. She added, “the workshop will establish the foundations to build a Theory of Change for all seven strategic areas”.

The Framework of the GSDS and Financing Mechanism identifies seven thematic areas that reflect the ambitions of transitioning Guyana into a green state. Today’s workshop is considered the first step towards making this vision achievable.

The GSDS is a 15-year roadmap to reorient and diversify Guyana’s economy by reducing reliance on traditional sectors and opening up new sustainable income and investment opportunities in higher value adding and higher growth sectors.

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius