Think tank sur les politiques publiques dans le secteur agricole et rural en Afrique de l’Ouest

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Global State of the SDGs 2019 : The Report

Publié le 12 mars 2020

Southern Voice looks at the state of the Sustainable Development Goals around the world. With this analysis, experienced researchers from the Global South fill an existing knowledge gap. They enrich the development discussion with evidence-based analysis.


About the initiative

Southern Voice’s “State of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” (SVSS) is a conceptually innovative, policy-relevant, empirical research initiative. It is not a typical review of the 2030 Agenda from an implementation perspective or a traditional exercise in tracking SDG goals and targets. Rather, it is a bottom-up exposé of a holistic and complex global agenda.

The SVSS initiative unpacks some of the critical relationships underpinning the 2030 Agenda. The aim is to identify those who are “left behind” across a diverse range of contexts, to reveal the complex relationship of trade-offs and synergies among specific goals of the 2030 Agenda, and to explore the global governance-related factors affecting implementation within countries.

Our conceptual and empirical analysis focuses on a number of specific issues concerning three of the SDGs : quality education (SDG 4), access to decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and affordable and clean energy (SDG 7). Of course, the common thread of revitalising the global partnership (SDG 17) runs throughout the research as well. These goals and their interlinked relationships and consequences were explored in six countries from the Global South. We chose two from Asia, two from Africa and two from Latin America, namely Bolivia, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Peru, and Sri Lanka.

The empirical evidence emerging from the country case studies reveals a set of shared experiences. However, the evidence also shows the diversity and unique circumstances across the six countries. These findings demonstrate that the SDGs demand a “common but differentiated” approach at the country level. Our case studies underscore the importance of global governance in implementing this approach.

With this research, Southern Voice hopes to move away from the traditional discourse on the SDGs. Based on ground-level realities, we want to encourage a more rigorous discussion on relatively understated issues of SDG delivery.

The full set of research outputs of the SVSS initiative also includes three regional surveys and a global report looking at thematic issues, such as the principle of “Leave No One Behind”, the impact of Global Systemic Issues on the national level and the interaction of Synergies & Trade-Offs between SDGs.

We are pleased to make available summaries of all country case studies, the regional reports and the global report on this microsite. You will also find additional interactive material, like videos on all subjects and interviews with our researchers. I welcome you to explore.

Clic here for more information about the Initiative.