It’s impossible to meet all 169 SDG targets. Choose wisely
This week, government representatives and policy experts from south and south-west Asia will gather in Kathmandu to discuss the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This is a set of targets that determines how much of national governments’ and the international development community’s budgets will be spent between now and 2030. Since the targets were passed in 2015, policy-makers are finding it difficult to deliver the extensive list of 169 different well-meaning ambitions at once.
The sustainable development agenda was the result of a well-meaning but painfully inclusive process that lacked economic inputs. But it saw government representatives, regional blocs, NGOs, agencies and advocacy groups all tussling over which development goals should be given the UN’s stamp of approval.