This month, the 193 member states of the UN will agree a new sustainable development agenda. This ambitious agenda, with 17 new sustainable development goals (SDGs), aims to end poverty, promote prosperity and peoples well-being, while protecting the environment, by 2030.
To put into perspective the aims of the new SDGs, we should reflect on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the targets set in 2000, to be reached in 2015. The global mobilisation behind the MDGs has produced the most successful anti-poverty movement to date. That framework has helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, and to enable more girls to attend school than ever before.
The MDGs galvanised public opinion and showed the value of setting ambitious targets. Yet inequalities persist and progress has been uneven, with, in 2011, 60% of one billion extremely poor people living in just five countries. Unlike their predecessors, the SDGs are universal in nature, meaning that all countries and not just developing nations are committed to their implementation.
Much has been achieved with tangible progress evident in every developing country, but much remains to be done if the ambition to eradicate poverty is to be realised. Despite many successes, the poorest and the most vulnerable are still being left behind, especially the poorest and those disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability, ethnicity, or location.
Despite enormous progress, even today some 800m people still live in extreme poverty and suffer from hunger. Over 160 million children under the age of five are stunted through malnutrition. 16,000 children die each day before celebrating their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable diseases.
The SDGs represent a real advance in how we will view success in “getting to zero” on extreme poverty and preventable child deaths. The SDGs offer wins at some of the most progressive limits of development, in areas of governance, gender, sexual and reproductive health, of ending violence against children, of equity and climate change.
The UK Government should now embody an integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development. While the MDGs were judged on what they have achieved for some, the new SDGs will be judged on what they achieve for all. Which begs the question, how will the SDGs be judged, and who will do the judging?
It is clear that the only body that carries the mandate from a nation’s electorate over development and State expenditure, is their democratically elected parliament. The only body that should carry the authority to monitor, approve and ratify State development programmes. Only parliaments can insist on transparency, accountability, and probity from the executive branch of government, taken on behalf of the people.
Parliaments have a clear role in monitoring and holding governments to account for the international, regional, and national commitments they have made. Parliaments must become leaders in domestic accountability, with parliamentary reviews helping to ensure that adequate funding is allocated. Development partners too, must recognise the crucial role of parliaments and provide them with direct support.