SCOPUS
If delivered, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) may serve as a truer barometer of Bangladesh's 'graduation' to a 'developing' country by 2026 than the three CDP (Committee for Development Policy) requirements. It would clinch evidence of the country advancing to a 'developed' country by the 2040s since policy expectations already prevail in personal choices.
When the SDG package was first adopted on September 25, 2015, the world was still reeling from the Great Recession of 2008-11. A decade or more of material accumulation now had to yield to economic survival. Typical faces on Main Street citizens turned from the glee of economic boom to wrinkles from increasing pressures, which the pandemic and subsequent war-driven inflation only compounded. Not to overstate, the largest U.N. General Assembly conference, held on September 2015, agreed to redress more global irregularities than any other global gathering since the 1918-20 Paris Peace Conference closed World War I (its 'self-determination' cause became its most universally relevant leftover, spawning so many new countries). "Leave no one behind" became a similarly encapsulating SDG conclusion.
When the tenth anniversary of that landmark comes in 2025, Bangladesh could stand on the precipice of becoming a 'developing' country (November 2026). How can the SDG package help reach that goal, and what progress must be made for Bangladeshis to feel more confident?
All but three of the 17 SDG targets impact 'graduation' directly. Those three still exert too many back-stage influences to ignore. They are: SDG 4 on 'quality education', SDG 16 on 'institutional maturity and fairness', and SDG 17 on 'partnership building'.
'Quality education' faces at least two strategic challenges in Bangladesh: adjusting platforms to fit technological changes; and expanding the 'learning markets' so more future adults can earn a decent living. Whereas the online shift driven by the corona virus pandemic harshly demonstrated how technology would reconfigure future education by substituting the intimacy of student-teacher classroom relations with home-based learning, the shift to privatising tertiary education had not only widened the scope of learning already (more students go to private universities than public, for instance), but also compromised the quality of learning.
Online education is, by definition, a profession in perpetual flux: with new software emerging constantly, universities must also invest constantly if they want to remain at the cutting-edge of knowledge (which is more than universities routinely budget for). Public universities can muster that money, but the legislative and bureaucratic processes to distribute that money take so much time that the new technology sought easily becomes obsolete by the time the money arrives. A vicious cycle keeps public universities spinning, unfortunately without a pause. Unless a certain minimum income is earned from enrollment, private universities also run into that same vicious cycle. The net result: education across Bangladesh shifting to the back-seat of intellectual development at a time when unprecedented progress demands more.
Ultimately, whether or not we get the graduates to fill in the newly-sprouting automated jobs, even supply the cutting-edge software every 'developing' country must demonstrate, depends on how we treat education in this crucial 'Decade of Action' (2020-30): must it continue as a pedagogical exercise, as it has historically done, or turn to andragogy (work-related teaching), much akin technical institutions across the country?
Turning to 'institutional maturity', the SDG imperative is like a seed already sown but whose flowering needs delicate handling. Institutional gestation and growth is a long-term affair, and historically we have seen institutional survival lasting longer in democratic societies: policy changes when a new government wins the mandate to run the country under a free-and-fair election can be better absorbed by institutions than under an authoritarian government, or when civil-military rule alternates. Bangladesh broke from military rule three decades ago, but because democracy does not happen overnight, Bangladesh's sputtering and relatively short record of democracy, that too typified for a large span by a 'caretaker government', suggests democracy is still a work in progress to immediately claim 'institutional maturity'.
Once the country's foundational institutions take roots (such as the constitution playing out fully), we can be more confident of other institutions (in business, culture, environment, governance, society, and so forth) not only sprouting, but also blossoming. Many institutions have been mandated only recently, and for urgent reasons. Climate-change and SDG-supervision belong to this group. Until the imperatives these developments entail become a part and parcel of Main Street vocabulary and actions, we just have to keep working on the targets. SDG 16's two-fold targets include increasing the under-5 proportion of children being registered at birth to 100 per cent; and allowing the proportion of complaints against cases being settled to reach at least 60 per cent, as per National Human Rights Commission measurement.
Attaining both of these assumes a level of confidence among the public that their grievances will be heard, and action will be taken fairly and squarely. Bangladeshis need to work on this constantly: economic growth lubricates the atmosphere, but pandemic pressures and inflationary jolts also have to be stabilised so the larger more strategic national confidence level does not dip. The country's work is all cut out for it to do; and the plate is full.
Just as we see how the indirectly impacting SDG 16 can shape the moods and minds needed to nurture a 'developing' or 'developed' country, so too must we give SDG 17 its own spot in the developmental sun. 'Partnership building' is an idea whose time has come: diversifying the economy beyond the RMG business is a key 'graduation' need. That does not mean burying RMG industries or production. It means finding and building other industries to lighten the RMG load. Though we are placing a lot of emphasis on assembling automobiles, ships, and ICT exports, the clincher will not be found in the domestic market.
Bangladesh must negotiate free-trade agreements (FTAs), and fill new export markets with new products to break the ice. Finding new markets and building FTA flows go hand-in-hand. A variety of South Asian arrangements exist, but without making a dent. Only when our assiduous negotiations with Southeast Asian countries bear fruits would we get the much-needed breakthrough. Many of them also compete with Bangladesh RMG exports, as Vietnam does for the #2 exporter position after China. Looking outside the RMG domain opens the widest windows into a resilient future economic profile for the country than any other options. And no other region can substitute this presently. In fact, our chances elsewhere brighten only if we stand upon Southeast Asian experiences, credentials, and exchanges.
In a nutshell, then, even the three SDG imperatives farthest from the country's 'graduation' efforts reinforce the net 'developing' country entry-efforts so much that we should all be harnessing their natural springboards and cultivating past practices evoking them.
To conclude, earlier discussions of the pandemic altering our educational platform should also be relevant for SDG 16 and SDG 17: since automation knocks on all doors to change the landscape of economic, political, and thereby social development, those countries with more 'institutional maturity' and 'partnership building' capacity will likely seize any opportunity before others, showing how laissez-faire choice outdoes action under compulsion.
Imtiaz A. Hussain is Professor, Department of Global Studies & Governance, Independent University, Bangladesh
