Progress from 2019 to 2022: National Implementation Arrangements The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development was integrated into the national development Plan (NSDP II) to ease implementation and national ownership. Since its adoption in 2016, the Government of Lesotho, through the Ministry of Development Planning, embarked on targeted multi-stakeholder campaigns, workshops, and discussion panels to enhance advocacy and awareness creation. A multi-Stakeholder Coordination Structure established in 2018, was amended in October 2021 as part of processes to develop internal capacities for SDG-aligned development planning, implementation, monitoring and oversight.
The review focused on 1) Improving Communication and dissemination for enhanced policy coherence, 2) Strengthening coordination processes for implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, 3) Establishing operational linkages for oversight and accountability including Parliament, the Cabinet and the High-Level National SDGs Forum chaired by the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister. In addressing the data gaps and challenges, the national statistical office, Bureau of Statistics (BoS), developed the second National Strategy for Development of Statistics (NSDS II) with a focus on gender mainstreaming and having a well-coordinated National Statistical Systems (NSS).
The strategy also aims to strengthen the national statistical ecosystem through modernisation of NSS; building integrated data management systems; improving data literacy and raising the profile of statistics for monitoring the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The challenges for mobilising development finance and financing resources remain high. On the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on development financing, the country has adopted the integrated national financing frameworks aimed at addressing the misalignment between the financing and development priorities for the Government and development of a long-term development financing strategy aligned to the SDGs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the existing inequalities, particularly those to education, labour market, and health care. That is, the past progress on the social protection system insulated some vulnerable groups from bearing the full brunt of the pandemic, but people in the informal sector were losing their jobs and incomes, thereby facing rising hunger levels and economic hardship.