In 2015, all members of the United Nations adopted an ambitious agenda known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals. The agenda consists of 17 development goals to be achieved by 2030. This report examines how government donor agencies encompass SDGs in international development cooperation, covering 20 of the 30 members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). It reviews how they propose to incorporate the SDGs at the level of strategy and policy, programs, and reporting of outputs and results. Eighteen of the 20 members (excepting the United States and the European Union) have produced at least one Voluntary National Review (VNR). Although principally aimed at reporting on national progress on the SDGs, some VNRs cover international development cooperation and so are specifically noted. This review is based on how each country presents its engagement with the SDGs and does not assess the extent to which those policies and plans are translated into practice.

All the government donors surveyed here have to varying degrees endorsed the SDGs at the level of policy and strategy, ranging from expression of support at a very general level to embedding the Global Goals in policies and strategies or building strategies around the goals. Some countries address commitments to the SDGs in a comprehensive manner with a single strategy covering both domestic activities and development cooperation, even as a unitary commitment, although distinguishing separate priorities for each. A number of countries follow the SDG pledge to “leave no one behind” and employ some or all of the “5 Ps”—People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership—that show the integrated nature of the goals.

At the program level, a few donors tie each program, and even budget levels, to the relevant goals but most use the SDGs only as a general reference point. Only a few donors actually report against the SDGs.

At least five countries have established a central government mechanism for policy coherence on Agenda 2030. In Germany, the Federal Chancellery has the lead on SDG implementation, with responsibility extending across the government and coherence provided through ministry secretaries serving on the State Secretaries’ Committee for Sustainable Development. In Finland, the prime minister’s office coordinates SDG implementation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is represented on the coordination secretariat. In New Zealand, the Treasury develops a Wellbeing Budget.

Read the full article about donor engagement and the SDGs by George Ingram and Helena Hlavaty at Brookings.