Giving Compass' Take:

• There are many ways for countries to align their existing programs with the SDGs. 

• How is your government aligning development work with the SDGs? How could existing programs be altered to better align with the goals?

• Find out what successes and setbacks early SDG adoptors encountered. 

Recent weeks have seen New Zealand’s new government lay-out their foreign policy agenda. Neither Prime Minister Ardern nor Foreign Affairs Minister Peters mentioned the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, there is no escaping the fact that the SDGs are the global framework for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. Other countries are streaks ahead of New Zealand, such as Australia and Samoa. What does New Zealand need to do to catch-up?

The SDGs are founded upon the principle of universalism, meaning that we – humanity – are in this all together. Each country is striving to improve their citizens’ well-being and prosperity, and in our ever more globalized world, we face significant challenges that can only be addressed through global collective action.

The scale of the SDGs need not be overwhelming. New Zealand is well-situated to embark on action to support partner countries to achieve the SDGs. The aid program has many opportunities to exploit.

The imperative to “leave no-one behind” is another key SDG principle. To enact this, New Zealand must put poverty and human rights analysis front and center in the aid program. Legislation, or at least a Cabinet decision, is needed to place poverty reduction as ODA’s paramount purpose.

On financing, hopefully Minister Peters will win the argument to increase Vote ODA, because New Zealand’s ODA is stagnating, and set to fall to a low of 0.21% by 2021.

Read the full article on New Zealand and the SDGs by Jo Spratt at Devpolicy