In 2013, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed high hopes for the post-2015 development agenda: “I want this to be the most inclusive global development process the world has ever known.”
And it looks like he got what he wanted. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, which were decided behind closed doors among a relatively small number of architects, the global goals set to be adopted this weekend at the U.N Sustainable Development Summit in New York City were a result of a participatory process that involved, among others, gathering the input of people from more than 190 countries, whether through face-to-face consultations or votes on global surveys like the U.N.’s own MyWorld.
It’s been a refreshing approach, but one that has also attracted criticism. For some observers, the fact that the 17 SDGs and their underlying 169 targets encompass views from all over the world reflects the sheer scale of setting global goals in the first place.
About the author
Anna Patricia Valerio
Anna Patricia Valerio is a former Manila-based development analyst who focused on writing innovative, in-the-know content for senior executives in the international development community. Before joining Devex, Patricia wrote and edited business, technology and health stories for BusinessWorld, a Manila-based business newspaper.
