Transitioning from MDGs to SDGs at the UN
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
In July 2015, in the final year of the 15-year MDG period, the UN issued a report on the successes and shortcomings in achieving the MDGs. Despite many successes, there is much work still to be done. Significant gains have been made toward many of the MDG targets, but progress has been uneven. 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Conflicts continue to be a threat to human development, and conflict-affected countries remain the poorest. Though there is greater representation of women in parliaments and more girls are enrolled in primary school, gender inequality and discrimination persist in employment, access to resources, and participation in decision-making.
Read the full UN Report on the MDGs.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon summarized: “The MDGs have taught us how governments, business and civil society can work together to achieve transformational breakthroughs.”
The Post-2015 UN Development Agenda
Starting after the Rio+20 conference in June 2012, the UN undertook an interactive and participatory process to define goals and targets for global development after the MDGs expired in 2015. In mid-2015, the UN General Assembly announced the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs – an ambitious set of 17 goals to guide global efforts in the next fifteen years. The SDGs represent, in the words of the Summit document:
“A call for action to change our world … We resolve to build a better future for all people... We can be the first generation to succeed in ending poverty; just as we may be the last to have a chance of saving the planet. The world will be a better place in 2030 if we succeed in our objectives... As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.”
In August, the 193 UN Member States reached agreement on the post- 2015 development agenda described in the report: “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." The agreement commits the Member States to work collectively to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets, from 2016 until their 2030 deadline.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the UN Member States in September 2015 at a UN Summit in New York. The SDGs will replace the UN MDGs and serve as guidelines for governments' social policy formation until 2030. You can read the outcome document presented at the UN Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda here. FAWCO's New York UN NGO Reps attended briefings and events related to the Summit and reported on the outcomes.
One of the most striking differences between the SDGs and the MDGs is the prominence assigned to women’s empowerment in the new goals, reflecting the influence of women in diplomatic missions to the UN, at UN agencies and in civil society observer groups throughout the negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated at the opening of the Human Rights Council session in Geneva (September 2015): “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development constitutes universal recognition that the challenges faced by any one of us may swiftly become crises faced by all.. These challenges cannot effectively be met by tinkering around the edges of economic, social and political governance, but require a fundamental shift in the dominant development model in all countries. The new Agenda offers real hope for stability, prosperity and conflict prevention. It points to development that is sustainable, equitable for all, environmentally sound, and grounded in human rights. Its promises must be implemented.
Implementation of the SDGs will require major financial commitments from the developed world to support the developing countries. The Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa in July 2015 demonstrated that meaningful progress on financing the ‘means of implementation’ will remain problematic and contentious. Pope Francis addressed the UN General Assembly on September 25 at the beginning of the Sustainable Development Summit. He supported the goals of poverty eradication and environmental preservation, and called on wealthier countries to pay their fair share.
The most serious obstacle to achieving the SDGs is the hundreds of billions in aid necessary to enable developing nations to achieve the goals. Where will the resources come from to help all countries meet all the goals? The UN held a Financing for Development summit meeting in July in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which many participants hoped would provide a plan for underwriting the costs of implementing the SDGs. That did not happen.
Member States' commitments to the new development agenda are “voluntary,” the declaration emphasizes. However, “the element of peer pressure will be important,” the UN's Department of Public Information Donoghue told the press. “Don’t underestimate the power and impact of these goals and targets on governments around the world.”