Sustainable Development Goals in Lesotho Prospects and Constraints

Abstract

Lesotho, like other members of the United Nations, is committed to implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as its post 2015 development agenda up to 2030. The objective of this paper is to assess Lesotho’s experience with the SDGs through an analysis of the prospects and constraints it encounters in their implementation in the country, using desktop methodology. The paper argues that the SDGs have, inter alia, enabled Lesotho to strengthen its development planning through the alignment and integration of the National Strategic Development Plan II 2018/2019–2022/2023 with the SDGs framework. The SDGs have also facilitated a participatory stakeholder engagement in the conduct of the voluntary national review of 2019, which was done in a bottom-up process from community to national level. Moreover, the SDGs have made it easier for the country to promote economic and social inclusion and environmental integration in a more articulate manner than before. However, the paper also notes that more success is hindered by challenges of poor governance, led by weak economic management, corrupt financial management, social exclusion, and unstable as well as non-accountable political governance. The paper recommends that transformative, comprehensive, and inclusive national reforms have to be put in place and practiced in order to facilitate the successful implementation of the SDGs in Lesotho en route to 2030.