Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION
FOR SEMESTER I OF
MASTER OF COMMERCE
(BANKING & FINANCE)
BY
(KHUNDONGBAM SURESH SINGH)
Signature of Student
KH SURESH
EVALUATION CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the undersigned have assessed and evaluated the project on
SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL AGREEMENT submitted
by KHUNDONGBAM SURESH SINGH Student of M.Com Part-I.
This project is original to the best of our knowledge and has been accepted for
Internal Assessment
Internal Examiner
External Examiner
Class
Division
Roll
number
First name :
Father name:
M.COM
Surname
PART - I
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Internal Examiner
(Out Of 10 Marks)
External Examiner
(Out Of 10 Marks)
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Signature
INDEX
SR NO.
PARTICULARS
PAGE NO.
Introduction
SAARC Charter
13
18
20
21
25
10
SDGs Indicators
31
11
33
12
Future plans
38
13
Recommendations
40
14
Conclusion
42
15
Bibliography
43
17
INTRODUCTION
LATESTEST UPDATE
SAARC COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETS
October 3, 2013
The SAARC Council of Ministers met in an informal session in New York on 2 October 2012 on
the sidelines of the Sixty-seventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In his capacity as the Chairperson of the SAARC Council of Ministers, H. E. Dr. Abdul Samad
Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives presided over the deliberations of the session,
attended by Hon. Foreign Ministers of SAARC Member States or their representatives.
In his opening remarks, the Chairperson highlighted the important initiatives taken by Maldives,
as the current Chair of SAARC, in pursuing the directives of the Seventeenth SAARC Summit
held in Addu City in November 2011. The Chairperson also announced that Maldives will be
hosting the Thirty-fifth Session of the Council of Ministers during February 2013, exact dates of
which will be circulated through the SAARC Secretariat in due course.
H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary General of SAARC, also addressed the informal session of
the Council. In his brief remarks, he apprised the attending Ministers or their representatives
about the progress achieved in the implementation of the decisions of the Addu Summit and the
preceding Session of the Council of Ministers. He also briefed the delegations about the status of
the Study being undertaken by the SAARC Secretariat to strengthen SAARC mechanisms,
including the Secretariat, Regional Centres and Specialized Bodies.
Taking advantage of their presence in New York during the Sessions of the United Nations
General Assembly, the Foreign Ministers of SAARC Member States have been meeting
informally since 1987 on their sidelines to exchange views on SAARC issues
SAARC CHARTER
We, the Heads of State or Government of BANGLADESH, BHUTAN, INDIA, MALDIVES,
NEPAL, PAKISTAN and SRI LANKA;
1. Desirous of promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through strict
adherence to the principles of the UNITED NATIONS CHARTER and NON-ALIGNMENT,
particularly respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, national
independence, non-use of force and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and
peaceful settlement of all disputes;
2. Conscious that in an increasingly interdependent world, the objectives of peace, freedom,
social justice and economic prosperity are best achieved in the SOUTH ASIAN region by
fostering mutual understanding, good neighborly relations and meaningful cooperation among
the Member States which are bound by ties of history and culture;
3. Aware of the common problems, interests and aspirations of the peoples of SOUTH ASIA and
the need for joint action and enhanced cooperation within their respective political and economic
systems and cultural traditions;
4. Convinced that regional cooperation among the countries of SOUTH ASIA is mutually
beneficial, desirable and necessary for promoting the welfare and improving the quality of life of
the peoples of the region;
5. Convinced further that economic, social and technical cooperation among the countries of
SOUTH ASIA would contribute significantly to national and collective self-reliance;
6. Recognising that increased cooperation, contacts and exchanges among the countries of the
region will contribute to the promotion of friendship and understanding among their peoples;
7. Recalling the DECLARATION signed by their Foreign Ministers in NEW DELHI on August
2, 1983 and noting the progress achieved in regional cooperation;
8. Reaffirming their determination to promote such cooperation within an institutional
framework;
DO HEREBY AGREE to establish an organisation to be known as SOUTH ASIAN
ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION hereinafter referred to as the
ASSOCIATION, with the following objectives, principles, institutional and financial
arrangements:
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the ASSOCIATION shall be:
Article I
a) To promote the welfare of the peoples of SOUTH ASIA and to improve their quality of life;
b) To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to
provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realize their full potentials;
c) to promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of SOUTH ASIA; d) to
contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems;
e) To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural,
technical and scientific fields;
f) To strengthen cooperation with other developing countries;
g) To strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forums on matters of common
interests; and
h) To cooperate with international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes.
Article II
PRINCIPLES
1. Cooperation within the framework of the ASSOCIATION shall be based on respect for the
principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference in
the internal affairs of other States and mutual benefit.
2. Such cooperation shall not be a substitute for bilateral and multilateral cooperation but shall
complement them.
3. Such cooperation shall not be inconsistent with bilateral and multilateral obligations.
Article III
MEETINGS OF THE HEADS OF STATE OR GOVERNMENT
The Heads of State or Government shall meet once a year or more often as and when considered
necessary by the Member States.
Article IV
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
1. A Council of Ministers consisting of the Foreign Ministers of the Member States shall be
established with the following functions:
a) formulation of the policies of the ASSOCIATION; b) review of the progress of cooperation
under the ASSOCIATION; c) decision on new areas of cooperation; d) establishment of
additional mechanism under the ASSOCIATION as deemed necessary; e) decision on other
matters of general interest to the ASSOCIATION.
2. The Council of Ministers shall meet twice a year. Extraordinary session of the Council may be
held by agreement among the Member States.
Article V
STANDING COMMITTEE
1. The Standing Committee comprising the Foreign Secretaries shall have the following
functions:
a) overall monitoring and coordination of programmed of cooperation; b) approval of projects
and programmers, and the modalities of their financing; c) determination of inter-sectored
priorities; d) mobilisation of regional and external resources; e) identification of new areas of
cooperation based on appropriate studies.
2. The Standing Committee shall meet as often as deemed necessary.
3. The Standing Committee shall submit periodic reports to the Council of Ministers and make
reference to it as and when necessary for decisions on policy matters.
Article VI
TECHNICAL COMMITTEES
1. Technical Committees comprising representatives of Member States shall be responsible for
the implementation, coordination and monitoring of the programmes in their respective areas of
cooperation.
2. They shall have the following terms of reference:
a) determination of the potential and the scope of regional cooperation in agreed areas; b)
formulation of programmers and preparation of projects; c) determination of financial
implications of sectored programmers; d) formulation of recommendations regarding
apportionment of costs;
10
11
IN FAITH WHEREOF We Have Set Our Hands And Seals Hereunto. DONE In DHAKA,
BANGLADESH, On This The Eighth Day Of December Of The Year One Thousand Nine
Hundred Eighty Five.
Hussain Muhammad Ershad
PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
Jigme Singye Wangchuk
KING OF BHUTAN
Rajiv Gandhi
PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
PRESIDENT OF THE REBUPLIC OF MALDIVES
Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev
KING OF NEPAL
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN
Junius Richard Jayewardene
PRESIDENT OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA
12
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
2. INDIA:
Central Legislations
1. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (As amended by Central Act 26 of 1982)
2. Glanders and Farcy Act, 1899
3. Dourine Act, 1910 (Act No. V of 1910)
4. Livestock importation (Amendment) Act, 2001
5. Poisons Act, 1919 (Act No. XII of 1919)
6. Dangerous Drug Act, 1930.
7. Drug & Cosmetic Act, 1940 (Amendments) Act, 1995.
8. Indian Panel Code.
9. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.
10. Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984.
11. Bio-diversity Act, 2002
12. Bio-Terrorism Act, 2008
13. Milk and Milk Product Order, 1992
13
State Legislations
1. Goa, Daman & Diu Diseases of Animals Act 1974 (Goa, Daman and Diu)
2. Gujarat Diseases of Animals (Control) Act 1963 (Gujarat)
3. Himachal Pradesh Livestock and Birds Diseases Act 1968 and Himachal Pradesh
Livestock and Birds Diseases, Rules 1971 (Himachal Pradesh)
4. ammu and Kashmir Animal Disease (Control) Act Svt. 2006 (1949 AD) (Jammu and
Kashmir)
5. Madhya Pradesh Cattle Disease Act 1934 and Madhya Bharat Animal Contagious
Diseases Act, 1955 (Madhya Pradesh)
6. Bombay Diseases of Animal Act, 1948 (Maharashtra)
7. Orissa Animal Contagious Diseases Act, 1949 (Orissa)
8. Punjab Livestock and Birds Diseases Act, 1948 and Punjab Contagious Diseases of
Animals Rules 1953 (Punjab)
9. Rajasthan Animal Disease Act, 1959 and Rajasthan Animal Disease Rules 1960
(Rajasthan)
10. Bengal Diseases of Animals Act, 1944 (West Bengal)
11. Pradesh Cattle Disease Act 1866; Andhra Pradesh Cattle Disease (Extension and
Amendment) Act, 1961; By Laws made under Andhra Pradesh Cattle Disease Act 1866
(Andhra Pradesh)
12. Karnataka Animal Diseases Control Act 1961: Karnataka Diseases (Control) Rules 1967
(Karnataka)
13. The Madras Rinderpest Act, 1940 (Tamil nadu)
14
3. NEPAL
1. Animal Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act, 2055 B.S. (1999 A.D.)
2. Nepal Veterinary Council Act, 2055 B.S. (1999 A.D.)
3. Nepal Agriculture Research Council Act, 2048 B.S. (1991 A.D.)
4. Animal Health and Livestock Services Act, 2055 B.S. (1999 A.D.)
5. National Dairy Development Board Act, 2048 B.S. (1991 A.D.)
6. Agricultural Development Bank Act, 2024 B.S. (1967 A.D.)
7. National Cooperative Development Board Act, 2049 B.S. (1992 A.D.)
8. Nepal Food Act, 2023 B.S. (1966 A.D.)
9. Animal Feed Act, 2033 B.S. (1976 A.D.)
10. Consumer Protection Act, 2054 B.S. (1998 A.D.)
4. PAKISTAN
1. Dourine Act, 1910;
2. Punjab Dourine Rules, 1952;
3. Glanders and farcy Act, 1899;
4. Sindh Glanders and Farcy rules, 1921;
5. South African Horse Sickness rules, 1959;
6. Sindh cattle (Contagious Disease) Act, 1948;
7. Sindh cattle (Contagious Disease) rules, 1949;
8. NWFP Animal Contagious Diseases Act, 1948;
15
9. Bye Laws for Registration and Control of Dogs and Prevention of Rabies with the Texila
Cantonment;
10. Pure Food Ordinance, 1960;
11. Pure Food Rules, 1965.
12. Cantonments Pure Food Act, 1966;
13. Cantonments Pure Food Rules, 1967;
14. Milk Boards Ordinance,1963;
15. Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act,1937;
16. Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Amendment Act,1972;
17. Animal Hair (Grading and marketing) Rules, 1961;
18. Egg Grading and Marking Rules, 1937;
19. Ghee Grading and Marking Rules
20. Creamery Butter Grading and Marking Rules, 1941.
5. SRI LANKA
1. Food Act 26 of 1980 and Butchers ordinance to regulate and control the food safety of
foods of animal origin.
2. Animal Disease Act, No 59 of 1992
3. Animal Feed Act No 15 of 1986
4. Veterinary Surgeons and Practitioners Act, No. 46 of 1956
5. The Animals Act, No. 29 of 1958
16
AGREEMENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
SAARC CONVENTIONS
1. Home Agreements and Conventions SAARC Conventions
2. SAARC Convention on Combating and Prevention of Trafficking in Women and
Children for Prostitution
3. Convention on Promotion of Welfare of Children
4. Convention on Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters, July 2008
5. SAARC Conventionon Narcotics Drugs
6. SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism
7. Additional Protocol on Terrorism, Jan 2004
17
Inspired by the common objectives of all South Asian States to promote the welfare of their
peoples, to provide all individuals with the opportunity to live in dignity, and to realise their full
potentials as enshrined in the SAARC Charter;
Also inspired by the general objectives of all South Asian States to promote peace, freedom and
social justice;
Further inspired by their shared commitment to the rule of law, liberty and equal rights of all
citizens;
Reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity of the human person as
enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and as enshrined in the respective
Constitutions of the SAARC Member States;
Recognizing that inclusive policies, including constitutional protection developed in keeping
with the wishes of the people, are essential for developing trust and understanding between and
among communities;
Affirming that broad-based participation of people in institutions and processes of governance
creates ownership and promotes stability;
Convinced that economic growth and social development based on justice and equity and
democracy are interdependent and mutually reinforcing;
Reaffirming that the pursuit of inclusion, good governance, and poverty alleviation, especially
the elimination of extreme poverty, are essential to the promotion and consolidation of
democracy;
Aware that tolerance and diversity are critical in creating effective foundations for a pluralistic
democratic society; and
Convinced that undemocratic and unrepresentative governments weaken national institutions,
undermine the Constitution and the rule of law and threaten social cohesion and stability in the
long-run.
18
The Member States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), in the
spirit of consolidating democracy in South Asia, hereby commit to:
- Reaffirm the sovereignty of each Member State;
- Ensure the supremacy of their respective Constitutions and uphold their spirit;
- Continue to strengthen democratic institutions and reinforce democratic practices,
including through effective coordination as well as checks and balances among the
Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary as reflected in the respective Constitutions;
- Guarantee the independence of the Judiciary and primacy of the rule of law, and ensure
that the processes of appointments to the Judiciary as well as the Executive are fair and
transparent;
- Adhere to the UN Charter and other international instruments to which Member States
are parties;
- Recognise the role of political parties and the civil society in a democracy; and
- Renounce unequivocally any unconstitutional change of an elected government in a
Member State;
Accordingly, Member States undertake to:
- Reinforce the linkage of development and democracy;
- Promote sustainable development and alleviation of poverty through good governance,
equitable and participatory processes;
- Promote democracy at all levels of the Government and the society at large;
- Strengthen democratic institutions and processes in all national endeavors with due
focus on decentralisation and devolution;
- Promote equality of opportunity, equality of access and equality of treatment at the
national level, in keeping with the respective constitutional provisions, as safeguards
against social injustices and stratification;
- Inculcate democratic values in society through education and awareness building;
- Ensure gender mainstreaming in government and society;
- Uphold participatory democracy characterised by free, fair and credible elections, and
elected legislatures and local bodies;
19
20
Benchmarking of these indicators along with projected targets for the next five years,
and;
In line with the above directive, the ISACPA met twice in Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka and
deliberated on further elaboration of SDGs. To facilitate the work of ISACPA, the SAARC
Secretariat in collaboration with the UNDP convened a Regional Brainstorm in Nepal on 24-25
January 2007, where regional and international experts discussed at length on elaboration of
SDGs, its monitor able indicators, and appropriate and cost saving monitoring and evaluation
mechanisms at national and regional level.
In third meeting of ISACPA held in Nepal on 25th January 2007, the Commission fine-tuned
the recommendations of the Regional Brainstorm and decided to prepare a report entitled
Taking SDGs Forward - on the elaboration done on the SDGs. The meeting also decided to
include in this Report a) Present status of progress achieved in the attainment of MDGs, which
are part of the SDGs and gaps thereof; b) Elaboration of SDGs, including indicators; c)
Institutional mechanism for monitoring and evaluation; and d) a section on best practices.
Taking into account the above factors, this report Taking SDGs Forward recommends
adoption of 75 indicators for the 22 SDGs. It is expected that adoption of these indicators will
help to achieve the SDGs during next five years. Accordingly, this report recommends that all
the national governments annually send monitor progress reports based on these 75 indicators
to the SAARC Secretariat, which will compile and analyze these reports and submits its
findings in the annual meetings of the SAARC Poverty Alleviation Ministers. It also
recommends strengthening of technical and analytical capacity of the Poverty Alleviation Cell
in the SAARC Secretariat. Later, the Commission decided to publish the compilation of the
Best Practices as a separate document.
The actions suggested in this report have great potential in enhancing regional cooperation.
Some simply highlight existing initiatives, suggesting that they be developed or expanded while
21
others will set the countries of the region off in new directions. National level determination
and commitment, however is required to achieve the goals and maximize the benefits from
regional cooperation. These entire efforts can, however, is greatly enhanced by concerted
regional actions.
The SAARC Development Goals are expected to help member states to galvanize their
development efforts, offering a space in which all sections of society can come together to debate
national and regional priorities. But, they will only finally serve their purpose if they pay due
attention on the remaining gaps and on the changes needed to meet the rights of everyone,
especially the poorest and most vulnerable. Advocacy for greater resources is already under way.
But, these resources need to be complemented with appropriate institutional changes to ensure
that all these goals are within reach.
The Twelfth Summit held in Islamabad in January 2004 recommended the formation of an
Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA) to prepare a report on
Our Future Our Responsibility. The summit entrusted the Commission to prepare a
comprehensive and realistic blue-print, setting out SAARC Development Goals (SDGs) for the
next five years in the areas of poverty alleviation, education, health and environment, and submit
it in the next Summit. This action reflected South Asian Leaders recognition of the regional
imperative for galvanizing a popular imagination of poverty free South Asia as well as the
international imperative of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
Collective will of the SAARC Leaders to go further and faster, beyond the MDG targets inspired
the identification of the SDGs.
1. The mandate given to the Commission had an in-built challenge to identify targets to
inspire regional actions that are appropriate in South Asias own context and add
momentum to the national efforts towards achieving MDGs. In view of mixed
performance in the attainment of MDGs in the last few years, the regions own response
set out through the SDGs was imbued with deeper commitment and characterized by
rapid advancement. The Report - An Engagement with Hope on the SDGs was
finalized in 2004 and it identified a set of twenty-two goals. Of these, 8 SDGs are related
to livelihood, 4 to health, 4 to education and 6 to environment (Table 1).
2. The Twenty-sixth Session of the Council of Ministers (Dhaka, 11 November 2005) while
recommending the goals to the Thirteenth Summit advised the Commission to further
elaborate the SDGs. The Leaders endorsed the SDGs, as recommended by ISACPA, and
entrusted the Commission to continue its advisory and advocacy role in this regard.
22
23
24
25
3. Initially, MDGs were set as a monitoring tool for tracking progress made by
the developing countries on the 48 key indicators, which also govern many
other indicators of different sectors. Accordingly, the signatories of the
Millennium Declaration started producing MDG progress report mainly with
the support of the United Nations Country Team. However, later it was
realized that just tracking of the goals would not serve the purpose unless the
feedbacks received from during the monitoring process are incorporated to
planning process of a country. Thus, the MDG progress report has been
taken as an advocacy tool to improve planning process and their
implementation. Many countries have been encouraged to prepare MDGbased plan lately.
4. It was soon acknowledged that the MDGs would not be realized with a
business as usual approach, and therefore pace of progress must be
accelerated. Moreover, poor countries require reaching certain critical
thresholds in areas of health, education, infrastructure and governance to
escaping poverty traps. However, many countries fail to do so owing to
structural problems such as lack of free international trading system,
insurmountable external debts, landlockedness and smallness. This gave rise
to the MDG compact a compact through which the world community can
work together to help poor countries achieve the MDGs.
27
28
4. The adult literacy rate is reasonably high for the Maldives (98.9 percent in
2004) and Sri Lanka (92.5 percent in 2003/04). In the other five countries,
the rate ranges between 48.0 percent and 64.0 percent, which is too low.
5. In the area of Net Enrolment Ratio in primary education, except for the
Maldives and Sri Lanka, other countries have not been able to make
significant progress. There exists a high dropout rate, especially in
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. In South Asia, females are behind
males in enrolment at all levels of education. There also exists gender
inequality in adult literacy rate in all the South Asian countries.
6. Human fertility and mortality rates are declining and life expectancy at birth
is increasing in the region. Except for Sri Lanka, the other countries of South
Asia are currently in the middle of the demographic transition. Fertility and
mortality rates in these countries are decreasing, but they have not reached
the desired low level of fertility and infant, child, and maternal mortality
rates. In the area of mortality, concerted action must be taken to reduce the
infant, child and maternal mortality rates, particularly in Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
7. Income inequality has been rising over the years in most of the South Asian
countries, despite the reduction of poverty. If this trend continues, the gains
achieved so far may not be sustained and may result in social imbalances.
8. South Asia has achieved a remarkable progress in reducing the proportion of
the population without access to safe drinking water. The proportion of
population without access to safe drinking water decreased from 29 percent
in 1990 to 14 percent in 2002. However, in the areas of sanitation, the region
lags behind all the other regions of the world, except for Sub-Saharan
Africa. In 2002, the proportion of population without access to improved
sanitation (toilet facilities) in the South Asia was 63 percent.
9. Over the last decade, public spending in health and education sectors has
increased in relation to overall government expenditure. However, in terms
of GDP, these expenditures have remained almost stagnant. Therefore, there
is a need to increase public spending in health and education in terms of
GDP on a sustained basis.
29
30
SDGs Indicators
31
32
33
II.
Impact Assessment
I.
II.
34
Problems in Monitoring
I.
II.
The data needed for the measurement of the MDGs are too broad and too
heterogeneous. There are some indicators related to coverage such as HIV
prevalence rate, which requires a larger sample size in order to provide a
robust estimate, as the coverage of the attribute prevails only in a limited
part of the population. On the other hand, there are some indicators such as
those on poverty, which need to be administered in smaller sample in order
to reduce the non-sampling error, a critical issue in developing countries.
III.
The key requirement of the household survey providing data for several of
the MDG indicators would be that a large sample of households be
interviewed. For other MDG indicators, the case is exactly opposite. Thus, it
is difficult to design only one survey that could be used to meet all the
household data needed for the MDG indicators. Hence, the MDGs
monitoring needs to rely on the whole statistical system of a country.
IV.
35
National mechanism:
I.
II.
III.
The Nodal Agency/Focal Point(s) should not only communicate with the
SAARC Secretariat for providing inputs for regional monitoring and for
coordination, but also should have the role to assess the quality of data,
elaborate on policy implications and directions, and generate national SDG
reports.
IV.
Regional mechanism
a. Annual reporting and assessing the progress at the regional level can be done
through the SAARC Ministerial process of poverty alleviation that can fine-tune
approaches based on the rates and extents of progress made. In addition, the same
should also be done for the Regional Poverty Profiles (RPP) series biennially.
Likewise, there should be two comprehensive reviews, one at the completion of the
third year and the other at the end of the fifth year. ISACPA may be engaged to
develop the TORs for these reviews.
b. The regional reports would seek to analyse overall progress and direction of
movements of the region as a whole as well as to make cross country comparisons.
36
c. The monitoring process should try to take benefits from similar monitoring done
by the UNDP and other UN Specialized Agencies in their respective areas of
mandates. For that, the Secretariat should maintain regular contact with these
agencies and preferably maintain a network.
d. In order to make the Secretariat enable to perform these important functions
with efficiency, particularly to analyze the available data to capture regional trends,
the Poverty Alleviation Cell must be adequately strengthened with support of
competent technical expertise on a long-term basis.
e. There may be a comprehensive database maintained by the SAARC Secretariat
on SDGs indicators, which should be directly updated by the authorized nodal
points, simultaneously at the time of updating national database. In order to
maintain such an interactive web-based database and to facilitate real-time webbased consultations, the Secretariat may have a dedicated cell to deal with
statistics.
f. In order to ensure availability of comparable data, SAARC may give high
priority to develop common concepts, definitions, classifications, standards,
measurements and codes in statistics to identify indicators,
and harmonize the same to promote the production of comparable statistics and
indicators in the region.
g. ISACPA can play an overall oversight role on the SDG regional reporting
process.
37
FUTURE PALNS
38
39
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Attainment of the SDGs is primarily a responsibility of the individual
Member States. Therefore, mainstreaming of these goals in the national
policy planning and their implementation need to be done with the same
dynamism and determination, as in the case of the MDGs.
2. MDGs have been contextualised for South Asia through the SDGs, meaning
that they are complementary to each other. Attainment of SDGs therefore is
directly linked to the progress made towards achieving the MDGs.
3. SDGs would require, inter alia, reprioritisation of resources, incentives for
intimate engagement of all stakeholders at the national levels, clear
delineation in the allocation of tasks and responsibilities, effective intersectoral coordination, and enabling legal and regulatory frameworks.
4. Putting in place the benchmarks against indicators as agreed (preferably any
year after 2000 as a starting point) and monitoring mechanism(s) must
reflect the distinctiveness and specificity of a country and its regions, and as
such are essentially national tasks, although harmonising indicators have to
be done at the regional level.
5. The indicators should be able to measure input, output, and impact/outcome,
but must be cognizant of the data-gaps and carry the requirement of
regionality. They should also provide impetus to policy focus, both at the
national and regional levels.
6. While identifying the indicators, primary consideration should be the
availability of the information without the need of separate surveys to collect
information. The selection of the indicators must follow prioritisation and
sequencing among the competing quantifiable indicators and their proxies,
so as to avoid too many indicators, which may complicate monitoring
process and also may not be cost-effective.
7. The efforts towards harmonisation must be characterised by the intention to
agree on a common set of workable indicators, based on availability of
credible data, to facilitate comparison across the countries. Besides, the set
40
of indicators agreed at the regional level should also encourage the countries
to try to generate essential data at regular intervals, which are not being
collected in some countries at the time.
8. The concerned countries should have the flexibility to add additional or
proxy indicators where there is necessary to capture their specific
requirements and situations.
9. The countries would be required to decide on targets and benchmarks,
through a truly participatory process to advance the attainment of the SDGs.
10.In order to establish cost-effective monitoring methodologies, it would be
prudent to principally rely on the mechanisms available for MDGs
monitoring or their national equivalents, with necessary expansion of scope
and mandate as well as appropriate strengthening.
11.Data wherever applicable should be disaggregated by gender (male/female)
and by area (rural/urban)
41
CONCLUSION
1. All the actions suggested in this report have great potentials in enhancing
regional cooperation. Some simply highlighted existing initiatives with the
suggestion to develop or expand them while others would set the countries
of the region off in new directions. National level determination and
commitment, however is required to achieve the goals and maximize the
benefits from regional cooperation. All these efforts can, however be greatly
enhanced by concerted regional actions.
2. The SAARC Development Goals are expected to help member states to
galvanize their development efforts, offering a space in which all sections of
society can come together to debate national and regional priorities. But,
they will only serve their purpose if the governments pay due attention on
the observed gaps, and on the changes needed to safeguard the rights of
everyone, especially the poorest and most vulnerable groups. Advocacy for
greater resources is already under way. But, these resources need to be
complemented with appropriate institutional changes to ensure that all these
goals are achieved.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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