Submitted by: The Overseas Development Institute

Paper Ref: PSG0013

The Overseas Development Institute and its research on the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs and the ‘leave no one behind’ agenda

1. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is the UK’s leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. We have been conducting an extensive programme of research into the SDGs since 2011, producing an extensive range of research to further the Post-2015 discussions. We have also been a major convenor of relevant stakeholders in the UK, New York and elsewhere. Our substantial programme of analysis on the SDGs has helped to identify a number of areas that will require prioritisation by the UK at national and global levels to deliver on the goals.
    
2. ODI launched a project in September 2015 focusing on the first 1,000 days of the SDGs and the first steps needed to ensure the goals are met by 2030. This project initially identified those already ‘left behind’ by development and those at risk of being ‘left behind’ by the SDGs, and explored pathways to prioritise their progress. Previous outputs include: Leave no one behind: the real bottom billion,[1] Leaving no one behind: the impact of pro-poor growth,[2] and most recently Leaving no one behind: how the SDGs can bring about real change.[3]

What are the major global challenges facing the UK and the international community?

3. 2015/16 represented a triumph of multilateralism, with agreements made at the Sustainable Development Summit, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Humanitarian Summit. Yet implementation of the policy goals that the international community agreed will have to contend with significant political and economic challenges, including new fiscal crises.
    
4. The SDGs are an ambitious agenda which will require a change in magnitude in the resources needed for international development, from billions of dollars to trillions. Estimates suggest that ensuring all low and lower-middle income countries achieve the SDGs could cost at least an additional $1.4 trillion per year (2013 US$, Schmidt-Traub, 2015). The Third Financing for Development Conference, held in Addis Ababa in 2015, did not make specific financing commitments matching the high levels of ambition, raising concerns that policy commitments will not be met.[4]
    
5. Infrastructure for growth is facing a particular funding shortfall. In 2013, Africa’s annual infrastructure gap was estimated at $93 billion. New sources of financing will be required, such as Public-Private Partnerships and borrowing for investment.[5]
    
6. The SDGs make reference to the responsibilities of local governments in the delivery of the goals and the pressure they face through increasing urbanisation. Despite debates on the need to localise aid, it is still difficult for local governments in poor countries to access foreign aid, as this is often disbursed at national level.[6]

What should be the UK priorities for the new UN Secretary-General?

7. The UK, led by former Prime Minister David Cameron, played a key role in championing the universality of the SDGs and the ‘leave no one behind’ agenda. Despite this, a report published by the House of Commons International Development Select Committee called the government’s domestic implementation efforts ‘insufficient’ and highlighted a ‘worrying lack of engagement in the SDGs across government.’ While the MIllenium Development Goals were successful because developed countries offered to finance the goals in the form of aid, this time, the SDGs’ success will depend on soft power dynamics. The goals have to be seen as universal, and the UK – like other donor countries – needs to demonstrate that it is prepared to do things differently at home.[7]
    
8. While it was encouraging to see so many countries and non-state actors volunteer to review progress on the SDGs at the High Level Political Forum in July, a key challenge will be to make this platform as effective as possible. So far the reviews were substantive and allowed countries to discuss both their successes and failures. The challenge for the next Secretary-General will be to ensure this continues to be the case and that it does not become a place for superficial reporting from countries. What is needed is a genuine review of what hasn’t worked, as well as what has, ensuring there is course-correction wherever necessary.[8]
    
9. New leadership should also build on the inclusive process of the SDGs, in which more than 7 million people were consulted through the MYWorld survey. A very high bar has been set, meaning that the UN can never conduct its business without wide consultation again – this is the new norm. Through its regional and country offices, the UN can encourage similar ways of formulating and reviewing SDG implementation plans at regional and national levels. From open government partnerships to formal participation mechanisms in planning processes for non-state actors or participatory budgeting, there are a number of channels that can be used to make the planning and monitoring of the SDGs more inclusive at country level.[9]
    
10. Maintaining momentum and continuing to raise public awareness and political support for this agenda is an ongoing job. The Secretary-General’s office should play a key role in this by supporting communication campaigns. There have already been a number of successful efforts, such as the ‘Project Everyone’ campaign. Activities included: the ‘World’s Largest Lesson’, taught in over 160 countries and translated into 30 languages, with hundreds of millions of children learning that they have a key role in achieving SDGs; text messages about the goals sent by mobile operators reaching 5.2 billion customers; 1.3 million shares on social media with #globalgoals trending across the world; over 250 million people engaged via Radio Everyone in 75 countries with 600 radio partners, among many others.[10] 
     
11. With the ‘leave no one behind’ principles, one of the most salient outcomes of the SDGs, the focus of development progress can no longer be on national averages – it must now be on closing the gaps between different social groups. There are a number of ways to ensure that ‘leave no one behind’ stays high on policymakers’ agendas. To start with, the UN Secretary-General could recommend that by the end of the first 1,000 days of the SDGs, governments identify their marginalised populations, develop a leave no one behind strategy, and begin its implementation. This could be overseen by a cross-ministerial leave no one behind working group. Of course, the first 1,000 days are just the beginning. They need to be followed by sustained action until 2030 to address the systemic barriers to the progress of marginalised groups.[11]
     
12. In addition, a high-level summit could be convened in September 2019, to coincide with the High Level Political Forum Head of States meeting, to share learning, change direction if necessary and monitor progress of this agenda. The UN system could recommend that progress is monitored by a series of ‘stepping stone’ targets, set every three to five years, aiming to ensure that any disparities in progress are narrowing fast enough to leave no one behind.[12]
     
13. Data has been neglected for years by the international community, but if the promises made in this area by the SDGs are delivered under a new Secretary-General, it won’t be again. The scale of the challenge is huge: current assessments show that data is missing for about 50% of the SDG targets. In particular, disaggregation for different social groups and lower geographies, fundamental to tracking progress on ‘leave no one behind’, is often missing as household samples are not big enough to be representative for these groups.[13]
     
14. Going forward, initiatives like the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data represent an opportunity to draw on untapped sources of data produced by different sectors, such as the private sector and civil society organisations. Big data and the use of new technologies will also be new key areas of focus. However, further work is still needed on how to guarantee data privacy protection and the quality standards of these new different data sources and non-official data producers. Collecting new data (e.g. including new modules where data is missing) or existing data for new groups (e.g. by oversampling for marginalised groups), and improving the use and quality of census and administrative data should help fill some of the major data gaps.[14]
     
15. Women worldwide experience huge economic disparities, with their chances of participating in the labour market almost 27% lower than men’s.[15] Efforts to speed up women’s economic empowerment need to be boosted if the SDGs are to be achieved by 2030. The next Secretary-General should continue to support the work of the newly-created High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment and encourage a move away from a compartmentalised ‘business as usual’ approach to tackle this cross-cutting and multi-dimensional issue.[16]
     
16. The SDGs aim to ensure that by 2030 all girls and boys have access to free, equitable, high-quality primary and secondary education. In 2015 alone nearly 75 million school-aged children (3-18 years old) across 35 crisis-affected countries had their education disrupted. An additional $8.5 billion per year is needed to close the gap. The UN Secretary-General’s report, One Humanity: Shared Responsibility, prepared for the World Humanitarian Summit 2016, calls for the international community to unite together to resolve differences, accept individual and collective responsibilities, and confront the challenges of our time. The next Secretary-General should continue to push on this agenda by supporting Education Cannot Wait, a new education crisis platform, created in conjunction with UNICEF and a range of stakeholders, which shows how a new approach could transform the global education sectors, joining up governments, humanitarian actors and development efforts to deliver a more collaborative, agile and rapid response to fulfil the right to education of children and young people affected by crises.[17]
     
17. At the launch of the MDGs in 2001, it was assumed that foreign aid would finance these efforts, driven by governments and supported by NGOs. Yet, almost by happenstance, business ended up playing a key role in poverty reduction, largely through job creation in China and India. Businesses have also been paying taxes and investing, which in turn has helped to reduce poverty. In Africa, corporate taxes account for almost a third of all taxes, contributing to 15% of total government revenue. The private sector provides two thirds of fixed capital investment in low-income countries, and in sub-Saharan Africa the share is over 70%. Similarly, the private sector – particularly the world’s 100,000 multinational corporations – will be the main actor, alongside government, capable of delivering the goals. The UN Secretary-General should make private sector engagement a priority, and support the work of bodies like the Business and Sustainable Development Commission in promoting the SDGs as the most significant opportunity for market transformation and inclusive growth.[18]

Submitted: 05 Aug 2016