World set to ‘finish the job’ of ending poverty in the next 15 years

From September 25-27, world leaders meet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to adopt a new development plan of action for ending poverty, dubbed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs — an ambitious set of 17 goals and 169 targets — are expected to build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were established in 2,000 and expire this year.

The eight MDGs (and 21 targets) placed people at the centre, and helped to improve the lives of many around the world. Yet despite the progress made, there are pockets of those that have been left behind, including poor women in rural areas and other vulnerable and marginalised groups.

READ: MDGs’ uneven success: Key gaps left unfilled

Consequently, the agenda of the SDGs is to “finish the job and leave no one behind,” over the next 15 years, on three interconnected fronts — ending extreme poverty; fighting inequality and injustice; and fixing climate change.

By bringing together the three elements, the SDGs go further than the MDGs — which focused primarily on the social agenda — and for this reason the UN is optimistic they will achieve better results over the next 15 years.

“We must invest in the unfinished work of the Millennium Development Goals, and use them as a springboard into the future we want, a future free from poverty and built on human rights, equality and sustainability,” said UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

“This is our duty, and it must be the legacy we strive to leave for our children.”

Particularly, the SDGs address the root causes of poverty and rally behind the promise of inclusion. They are also to be applied universally, not just to the developing world, as was the case with the MDGs. They also recognise the key role of the private sector in financing sustainable development, in partnership with governments and civil society.

“For the first time, we’re not putting a band-aid on the problem, we’re looking at the root causes and not only the symptoms,” said Amina J Mohammed, the Secretary General’s special adviser on post-2015 development planning.

At the heart of attaining the SDGs, is tackling climate change and protecting the environment. Research has shown that there is a strong link between climate change and the SDGs. In line with this, a new a global climate agreement is set to be adopted in December.

“The level of ambition of the new climate agreement will have a significant impact on the world’s ability to achieve the SDGs,” notes the Climate and Development Knowledge Network, which helps decision-makers in developing countries design and deliver climate compatible development.

Developing nations that depend on natural resources and have a limited capacity to adapt to a changing climate are the most vulnerable, mainly affecting their ability to achieve targets on poverty and energy.

Governments came up with the idea of the SDGs in 2012, at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil. An open working group of the UN General Assembly was established to develop a set of goals.

After a year of negotiations involving member states, experts and other civil society stakeholders, they were trimmed to 17. This is another point of departure from the MDGS, which were produced by a group of experts behind closed doors.
In early August this year, the 193 member states of the UN reached consensus on the outcome document of the new agenda, Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In December, the UN Secretary-General released the report, The Road to Dignity, which summarises the inputs into the final document and charts the road map to achieving dignity by 2030.

Ms Mohammed said that the process of developing the goals had been the most transparent and broadest that has ever taken place within the UN.

“Civil society, businesses and parliamentarians have all been involved in developing the economic, social and environmental agendas’ said Ms Mohammed.

“So if there is anything that we are taking away from this report, it is that by 2030 we can end poverty, we can transform lives and we can find ways to protect the planet while doing that.”

OP The East African