A number of happenings over the last few weeks have got me thinking about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that more than 190 world leaders adopted at the United Nations general assembly meeting last year to replace the expired Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). First, the award the Ghana Journalists Association gave me as the best reporter in SDGs reporting for the year 2015.

The goals don’t work like African gods. Nor do they work like prayer. We must roll up our sleeves and dirty our hands if we want them to come into fruition.

Then, a chat I had with Abigail Larbi of the Media Foundation for West Africa about her organisation’s plan to fund journalists to report on SDG related subjects. And thirdly, a seminar on the SDGs I attended at the Institute for African Development of the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State where I am participating in a fellowship programme.

Just a brief background. A UN General Assembly meeting of world leaders in the year 2000 adopted 8 ambitious international development goals that basically had the objective of eradicating extreme poverty and accelerating development within a 15 year time frame. The goals, christened Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had specific targets on various areas including health, education, and environmental sustainability. The life span of the MDGs ended without some of the goals being achieved, and so on 25th September 2015, a new set of 17 goals with another 15 year life span christened Sustainable Development Goals was announced.