Economic Transformation Strategy

CHAPTER 2 / BROAD STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND STRATEGIES GOAL 1: THE ATTAINMENT OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF HEALTH AND WELLBEING Health is a fundamental human right, and the pursuit of better health is both a personal and a societal endeavour. The goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages (SDG3) reflects the central position of health in sustainable development, and underscores the fact that health status is the result of many social determinants. In turn, investment in health influences the attainment of other SDGs, and good health is also key to human capital development. Strategies 1.1 Pursue effective health protection and promote empowerment and personal and societal responsibility for holistic health. It is necessary to coordinate national initiatives to increase and strengthen health promotion and disease prevention programmes, with the continued focus on keeping people healthy. The annual "My health, my responsibi- lity" campaign recognises that individuals and the community at large need to be engaged and empowered to choose healthy behaviours and lifestyles. It is also important to educate people on the benefits of private medical insurance and encourage them to invest in this. 1.2 Build a high-quality integrated healthcare system with a focus on people-centred care. The objective is to improve the quality of care and ensure that the services are directed at meeting the changing needs of individuals who use them. Moreover, within the health sector there should be closer interaction and partnerships between public and private service providers to improve a range of health services. GOAL 2: EDUCATED, EMPOWERED AND RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS ENGAGED IN BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE, INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE SOCIETY. Investing in education leads to significant development benefits. However, to achieve sustainable development, it is not enough to provide access to education, but central to the de- velopment of human capital is the quality of education provided. This is in line with the achievement of SDG 4 which is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all. It is therefore recognised that the quality of the education system is a critical determinant in sustaining the future of the country. Addi- tionally, a culture of learning should be encouraged to ensure that education is valued by all. Strategies 2.1 Promote greater and more effective inclusiveness in education and lifelong learning for every age group. Seychelles recognises that sustainable development also means "leaving no one behind". For education, this means everyone receiving equitable access to learning opportunities and thus entails broadening the access to high-quality education and skills development to the whole population regardless of their gender, race, religious beliefs, social status or any other individualities. Moreover, a holistic approach involving all stakeholders needs to be adopted to ensure that lifelong learning opportunities are provided to everyone. This will ensure that people will be provided with the relevant skills for employability and also encourage the development of engaged citizens. 2.2 Reform the education system for the realities of Seychelles today and for the future. The education system in Seychelles needs to be reformed in order to ensure that it is more responsive to the needs of the economy, both in terms of content and quality. Examples of how this can be done includes adapting the curriculum to emphasise acquiring skills that will be needed for the socioeconomic transformation agenda of the country. Moreover, the education system will provide learners with the complete set of skills needed i.e. academic, soft, and vocational skills. There is a need to embrace new technologies as drivers of improvements in education outcomes and in ensuring more engaged citizenry in the education system. 54

View entire presentation