The first 1000 days of SDGs

Adopted by the United Nations in September last year, the formal implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -- the 15-year global development agenda -- has commenced on January 01, 2016. Under the highly ambitious 17 goals, global communities are committed to achieve 169 targets by 2030 to turn the world greener and cleaner, peaceful and prosperous.  To accomplish the huge task, different countries, including Bangladesh, have been working to design their policies and set relevant achievable targets to measure the targets.    
Civil society organisations across the world are actively following the national- and global-level works and campaigning for well planned state interventions to make the SDGs successful as much as possible.
Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Development Goals has initiated an active campaigning programme titled 'Starting Strong - the first 1000 days of the SDGs.' It is an interesting initiative on behalf of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as well as other developing countries. These countries are also known as 'Global South' as most of them are situated in the Southern Hampshire of the globe.  
WHY VOICE FROM SOUTH: The southern nations have long been ignored in different global forums mainly due to their weak economies and very limited geo-political influence. Thus northern nations, rich and developed, used to dominate global forums and initiatives taken in those forums which generally serve the interests of the developed nations.
Things, however, started to change since the '90s. Developing or third world countries started to consolidate their economic growth and enhance capacity to negotiate in multilateral forums. Liberalisation and reforms gave a boost to economic growth. As a result, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the South increased to 40 per cent of global GDP after 2010 from about 20 per cent between the early '70s and the late '90s. The World Bank projects that the share of the South in global GDP will reach 55 per cent by 2025. China led the rise of Global South. The South's participation in global trade also increased from 24 per cent in 1970 to 35 per cent in 2000 and 51 per cent in 2012.
Because of large geographical territories, natural resources and large population, the growth of some developing countries become faster and they become advanced developing countries. The formation of BRICS (Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Asia) reflects this. They have become more influential in global geo-politics and have formed the BRICS Bank.
The rising socio-economic trend of the southern nations has prompted their civil society organisations, researchers and activists to contribute to the development process in a greater way.  This helps the policymakers of developing countries to strengthen their negotiating and bargaining capacities in the global forums like the World Trade Organisation (WTO). A large number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from these countries are now active at the global level to back the cases of the South.
The diverse activities of NGOs or civil society groups contributed significantly to finalise the SDGs or post-2015 development agendas. These organisations are now working on implementation and monitoring the goals and targets in different countries as well as regions. Many of them are also networking within themselves to share knowledge and understanding.
Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Development Goals or Southern Voice, in short, is such a network of more than 40 NGOs of South Asia, Africa and Latin America. Having a Dhaka-based secretariat, the platform identifies its core objective as 'embedding Global South research in the post-MDG discourse'. The platform presents itself as 'a unique space and scope' to contribute to the post-MDG dialogue.
When the era of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came to its last lap, Southern Voice started research, analysis, discussion and campaigning. It was actively engaged to 'inform the discussion on the post-2015 framework, goals, and targets, and to help give shape to the debate itself.' To do this, it facilitated researches in the countries of the Global South.  
Originally initiated in Cape Town in June, 2012, the platform formally started its journey in January, 2013 in Dhaka. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) became the secretariat of the network.
As the era of SDGs has started and more than 100 days have already passed, Southern Voice is now actively working on the implementation challenges of SDGs. The 'first 1000 days' programme, a part of this work, is supported by Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the UK's leading think-tank.  
MORNING SHOWS THE DAY: The idea of focusing on the first 1,000 days of SDG era is inspired by the popular practice of 'first 100 days' of any new head of a state in his or her power.  Andrea Ordóñez, research coordinator of Southern Voice, explains it nicely: "We were inspired by two already popular analogies. The first one is the '100-day agenda' of new presidents or premiers, a concept which has gained popularity in many countries both among those elected and those holding them accountable. These first 100 days set the tone of a new presidency, establishing its priorities and exemplifying the types of action the new government will take. ...The second analogy is that of the 'first 1000 days of life', which are critical in terms of a child's capacity to grow and learn."
The period of first 1,000 days is also the first three years or first one-fifth period of SDGs implementation.  So, investment during the period is crucial to achieve the targets and goals. The platform suggests three critical strategies for the nations in this regard. These are: maintaining integrity, making critical use of the evidence and focusing on both ideas and action.  These things are more important for southern countries due to lack of good governance in most of the cases and socio-political instability in many cases.
Thus, better implementation requires better and stronger preparation in the right direction and the first three years may be considered as period of preparation.  
Meantime, in the global level, the United Nations Statistical Commission has already finalised 230 global indictors of the SDGs. These were agreed in its 47th session in March this year. The global indicators are not necessarily applicable to all the countries but a comprehensive guideline to develop customised indicators by the countries. Nevertheless, global indicators are challenged by some developing countries as they feel that  many targets emphasise the obligations of developing countries and undermine those of the developed countries.  
On the other hand, the first review forum for Financing for Development (FfD) in April this year also faced some strong criticism mainly from the southern nations. Organised by the UN Economic and Social Council, the forum prepared an outcome document on 'inter-governmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations' for FfD. While southern nations tried to bring an outcome document with some mandated action or recognition and acknowledgment of existing commitments, northern nations strongly resisted, as reported by the Third World Network (TWN).  
Meanwhile, Bangladesh, a country of the Global South, has already started its own activities for the first 1,000 days. It has not, however, been formally declared.  The government has initiated series of stakeholders' consultations for implementing the SDGs. The government also linked the country's Seventh Five Year Plan (7FYP) with the SDGs (Table-1).
Thus, one thing is clear for the first 1,000 days. Global South has to work hard during this period to establish its legitimate demands in the global forum. Moreover, on the domestic front, countries have to work in a balanced manner to improve their own efforts.
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