Tracking Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals in Four Rural Villages in Limpopo, South Africa. Issue 1 (15th February 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Tracking Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals in Four Rural Villages in Limpopo, South Africa. Issue 1 (15th February 2021)
- Main Title:
- Tracking Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals in Four Rural Villages in Limpopo, South Africa
- Authors:
- Wernecke, Bianca
Mathee, Angela
Kunene, Zamantimande
Balakrishna, Yusentha
Kapwata, Thandi
Mogotsi, Mirriam
Sweijd, Neville
Minakawa, Noboru
Wright, Caradee Yael - Abstract:
- Background: Measuring national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enables the identification of gaps which need to be filled to end poverty, protect the planet and improve lives. Progress is typically calculated using indicators stemming from published methodologies. South Africa tracks progress towards the SDGs at a national scale, but aggregated data may mask progress, or lack thereof, at local levels. Objective: To assess the progress towards achievement of the SDGs in four low-income, rural villages (Giyani) in South Africa and to relate the findings to national SDG indicators. Methods: Using data from a cross-sectional environmental health study, the global indicator framework for the SDGs was applied to calculate indicators for Giyani. Local progress towards SDG achievement was compared with national progress, to contextualize and supplement national scale tracking. Findings: Village scores were mostly in line with country scores for those indices which were computable, given the available data. Low data availability prevented a complete local progress assessment. Higher levels of poverty prevail in the study villages compared to South Africa as a whole (17.7% compared to 7.4%), high unemployment (49.0% compared to 27.3%) and lack of access to information via the Internet (only 4.2% compared to 61.8%) were indicators in the villages identified as falling far short of the South African averages. Conclusions: Understanding progress towards the SDGsBackground: Measuring national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enables the identification of gaps which need to be filled to end poverty, protect the planet and improve lives. Progress is typically calculated using indicators stemming from published methodologies. South Africa tracks progress towards the SDGs at a national scale, but aggregated data may mask progress, or lack thereof, at local levels. Objective: To assess the progress towards achievement of the SDGs in four low-income, rural villages (Giyani) in South Africa and to relate the findings to national SDG indicators. Methods: Using data from a cross-sectional environmental health study, the global indicator framework for the SDGs was applied to calculate indicators for Giyani. Local progress towards SDG achievement was compared with national progress, to contextualize and supplement national scale tracking. Findings: Village scores were mostly in line with country scores for those indices which were computable, given the available data. Low data availability prevented a complete local progress assessment. Higher levels of poverty prevail in the study villages compared to South Africa as a whole (17.7% compared to 7.4%), high unemployment (49.0% compared to 27.3%) and lack of access to information via the Internet (only 4.2% compared to 61.8%) were indicators in the villages identified as falling far short of the South African averages. Conclusions: Understanding progress towards the SDGs at a local scale is important when trying to unpack national progress. It shines a light upon issues that are not picked up by national composite assessments yet require most urgent attention. Gaps in data required to measure progress towards targets represents a serious stumbling block, preventing the creation of a true reflection of local and national scale progress. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Annals of global health. Volume 87:Issue 1(2021)
- Journal:
- Annals of global health
- Issue:
- Volume 87:Issue 1(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 87, Issue 1 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 87
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0087-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2021-02-15
- Subjects:
- 362.1
- Journal URLs:
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/annals-of-global-health ↗
https://www.annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.5334/aogh.3139 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2214-9996
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 15526.xml