Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
“World leaders have an unprecedented opportunity this year to shift the world onto a path
of inclusive, sustainable and resilient development" - Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator.
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, world leaders adopted the
,
which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end
poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by
2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals, otherwise known as the
Global Goals, build on the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets that the world committed to
achieving by 2015. The MDGs, adopted in 2000, aimed at an array of
issues that included slashing poverty, hunger, disease, gender
inequality, and access to water and sanitation. Enormous progress has
been made on the MDGs, showing the value of a unifying agenda
underpinned by goals and targets. Despite this success, the indignity of
poverty has not been ended for all.
The new SDGs, and the broader sustainability agenda, go much further
than the MDGs, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal
need for development that works for all people.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark noted: "This agreement marks an
important milestone in putting our world on an inclusive and sustainable
course. If we all work together, we have a chance of meeting citizens’
aspirations for peace, prosperity, and wellbeing, and to preserve our
planet."
The
Sustainable Development Goals will now finish the job of the MDGs, and ensure that no one is left behind.
All 17 Sustainable Development Goals are connected to UNDP’s Strategic Plan focus areas:
. SDGs
UNDP supports countries in three different ways, through the MAPS approach: mainstreaming, acceleration and policy support.
- Providing support to governments to reflect the new global agenda in
national development plans and policies. This work is already underway
in many countries at national request;
- Supporting countries to accelerate progress on SDG targets. In this,
we will make use of our extensive experience over the past five years
with the MDG Acceleration Framework; and
- Making the UN’s policy expertise on sustainable development and
governance available to governments at all stages of implementation.
Collectively, all partners can support communication of the new
agenda, strengthening partnerships for implementation, and filling in
the gaps in available data for monitoring and review. As Co-Chair of the
UNDG Sustainable Development Working Group, UNDP will lead the
preparation of Guidelines for National SDG Reports which are relevant
and appropriate for the countries in which we work.
UNDP is deeply involved in all processes around the Sustainable
Development Goal roll out. We are bringing our extensive programming
experience to bear in supporting countries to develop their national SDG
efforts.
