What Does the World Really Want from the Next Global Development Goals?

Leo, B. & Tram, Khai Hoan. ONE Campaign

Over three years before they are due to take effect, the quest to establish the next round of global development goals has begun. It will have a profound effect on the lives of the world’s poorest people. At a UN Heads of State Summit in September 2013, the direction of and process for finalizing the new goals will be agreed. Between now and then, a group of international policymakers, politicians, and technocrats have been effectively deputized to take this monumental effort forward. Against this backdrop, there is a growing list of recommendations, with different groups arguing that the focus of a new development agenda should be on jobs and growth, or governance, or environmental sustainability, or the maintenance of the existing goals. In many ways, the debate is driven by fundamentally different views about the value and role of global goals.

Over three years before they are due to take effect, the quest to establish the next round of global development goals has begun. It will have a profound effect on the lives of the world’s poorest people. At a UN Heads of State Summit in September 2013, the direction of and process for finalizing the new goals will be agreed. Between now and then, a group of international policymakers, politicians, and technocrats have been effectively deputized to take this monumental effort forward. Against this backdrop, there is a growing list of recommendations, with different groups arguing that the focus of a new development agenda should be on jobs and growth, or governance, or environmental sustainability, or the maintenance of the existing goals. In many ways, the debate is driven by fundamentally different views about the value and role of global goals.