Will the new Sustainable Development Goals Transform our World?

The recent agreement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, under the auspicious title ‘Transforming our World’, was greeted with a lot of fan fair and backslapping. After more than two years of being locked in intense deliberations, the exuberance of the negotiators was understandable. But the over-riding question on the minds of many people that were not part of the celebration was, ‘so what?’ How do the words of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets agreed in the in air-conditioned halls of the UN, make any difference to a small scale subsistence farmer on my home continent of Africa?

The truth is these goals won’t transform the world. Only united and motivated people can do that. And goals are one of the most powerful ways of uniting and motivating people. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals contain the agreed commitments of 193 nations to literally transform the world as we know it. It is now up to the citizens of these countries to take ownership of these goals and hold their governments to account for their delivery. The role of Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organisations in popularising the Sustainable Development Goals and mobilising citizens will be one of the most crucial success factors of this agenda.

A global agenda like none before

Never before has there been a global agenda of this nature. This agenda takes us into terra incognito of global ambition for two reasons.

Firstly, this is a universal agenda. Where the Millennium Development Goals were mainly a transactional arrangement of the global North funding the global South to tackle development issues; the 2030 Agenda takes a universal and systemic approach towards intractable problems such as poverty, inequity and environmental degradation. All nations – the global North and South - will be responsible for delivering these new goals.

Secondly, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development brings together two long time adversaries – environment and development – into an integrated global agenda for the first time. Despite a very clear understanding of the inter-related nature of the environment and development in many parts of the developing world, mainstream economic development thinking has selfishly pitted them against each other for several decades.

Too Many Goals?

Developing a truly universal and integrated agenda is complicated. We live in a very diverse world, and the people’s needs are different in different parts of the world. It is our diversity that is our strongest asset. However, this diversity has resulted in an Agenda which may be more complex than some had anticipated. In short, many have argued that 17 Goals and 169 targets are too many and that negotiators should have aimed for a sharper and more memorable outcome. In my own view, the success of this agenda will not lie in whether ordinary people can remember all the goals, but rather to what degree governments can make sense and integrate this agenda into their own development plans. No government will be able to implement all 17 goals in a neatly compartmentalised manner, as they stand in the 2030 Agenda. Governments and regional economic communities will need to meld these goals into their own development planning and policy processes. Jeff Waage, of the London International Development Centre, makes an interesting observation that the 17 goals could fall into three nested spheres: the Natural Environment (the outer sphere), Infrastructure (the middle sphere) and Well-being (the inner sphere). This approach may work for some governments; others will find different ways for integration.

Financing the Goals

An easy ‘go-to’ criticism for any cynic of the Sustainable Development Goals will be the financial viability of this Agenda. Its scale and ambition is both its strength and weakness. If costed out, it will literally take trillions of dollars each year to finance. However, herein lies the flaw in logic; this is not an Agenda of the global North funding the South. This is an integrated agenda that seeks to address the systemic issues related to sustainable development. Official Development Assistance (ODA) will still play a critical role in some least developed countries, and it is therefore important that it is maintained. However, in most developing countries today, ODA or Foreign Aid is a minor player compared to other sources of finance for development. Most funding available for development in developing countries, comes from domestic investment. The picture for inward flows of finance is no different. In Africa, more than 70% of inward financial flows are from private sources. It is therefore important that we do not take a myopic accountant’s view on financing this agenda from Foreign Aid, and rather seek to address the systemic issues related to the conditions under which finances flow into development.

Will the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Transform our World? I am not sure, but it’s the best chance we have, and more importantly, it is the last chance we have. The stage has been set, and success will depend on two critical factors: Firstly, the ability of national governments and regional economic communities to integrate these goals and targets into their own development plans and policies. Secondly, it will depend on ordinary citizens, like you and me, to own this agenda, to hold their governments accountable for their commitments, and to form partnerships with governments and the private sector that contribute to the delivery of these goals.