Targeting the SDGs at a national level

Copyright: Andrew McConnell / Panos

By: Lou Del Bello

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Targeting the SDGs at a national level</h1>
<h4>By: Lou Del Bello</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><iframe loading="lazy" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/209827719%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-T78Av&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<em>If you are unable to listen to this audio, please update your browser or <a href="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/209827719/download?client_id=b45b1aa10f1ac2941910a7f0d10f8e28&oauth_token=1-16343-47894121-334d8206d82f348&secret_token=s-T78Av">click here to download the file</a> [4.4 MB]</em>.</p>
<p>The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect the world’s broad aspirations for a better future.</p>
<p>But these global goals may not match national priorities because the most pressing issues may be unique to individual countries, which may lack the resources to address them. <a href="http://www.odi.org/publications/9434-mind-gap-comparison-international-national-targets-sustainble-development-goal-agenda" rel="nofollow">A report by UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institut</a>e looks at how national targets compare with global goals, across 13 indicators likely to be included in the final version of the SDGs, due out in September.</p>
<p>In this audio interview, we speak to Andrew Scott, one of the authors of the report, who flags up the need for better analysis of what countries can realistically achieve, and how national targets should inform global planning before and after the goals are finalised.</p>
<hr />
<p><iframe loading="lazy" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="500" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" src="http://cf.datawrapper.de/zkDd5/1/" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="480"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<div class="related_widget"><h3 class="widgettitle">You might also like</h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/sdg-impractical-unrealistic-governance/">Single SDG targets are impractical and unrealistic</a></li><li><a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/column/gender-sdg-targets-sustainability-governance/">Focus on Gender: SDG targets are no such thing</a></li><li><a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/missing-millions-sdg-monitoring-data-mdg/">‘Missing millions’ could impair SDG monitoring efforts</a></li></ul></div>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/multimedia/targeting-sdgs-national-level/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/multimedia/targeting-sdgs-national-level/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

If you are unable to listen to this audio, please update your browser or click here to download the file [4.4 MB].

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect the world’s broad aspirations for a better future.

But these global goals may not match national priorities because the most pressing issues may be unique to individual countries, which may lack the resources to address them. A report by UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institute looks at how national targets compare with global goals, across 13 indicators likely to be included in the final version of the SDGs, due out in September.

In this audio interview, we speak to Andrew Scott, one of the authors of the report, who flags up the need for better analysis of what countries can realistically achieve, and how national targets should inform global planning before and after the goals are finalised.