As representatives from nearly 200 countries gather in New York for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the development community will be watching closely to see where global development ranks in a world of competing priorities. But there’s some good news for advocates. This year, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – 17 ambitious targets UN member states have committed to reaching by 2030 – will take center stage more than once, giving SDG watchers plenty to look out for over the coming week:
Outside the official UN dialogue, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will also host its third annual Goalkeepers event—bringing together world leaders to discuss the 2019 Goalkeepers Report, an annual report card created by the Foundation to monitor the world’s progress toward the SDGs.
This year’s report, Examining Inequality, explores the ways in which factors like governance, fragility, geography, demographics, and socioeconomics contribute to global inequality and provides an update on the significant progress made toward achieving the SDGs.
Despite this progress, however, the report also warns that the fight is far from over. A new global progress indicator provides insight into how our investments today will determine our success on critical indicators in the year 2030.
The 2019 Goalkeepers report makes it clear that the stakes have never been higher when it comes to the SDGs, and this year’s UNGA schedule is a promising sign that world leaders might heed its warning.