The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Recharging Multilateral Cooperation for the Post‐2015 Era
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12352 |
| Author | Kristinn Sv. Helgason |
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development: Recharging Multilateral
Cooperation for the Post-2015 Era
Kristinn Sv. Helgason
Rutgers University, New York
Abstract
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, the new sustainable development goals, will constitute a differ-
ent mission for United Nations Development than the previous one driven by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Unlike the MDG agenda, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to integrate the economic, social and environmental
pillars of sustainable development, while emphasizing global challenges to a greater extent. The growing interconnection
between local and global development challenges will be a key feature of the SDGs. This article argues that the current gover-
nance arrangements of UN Development impose a significant constraint on the organization’s ability to meet the integration
requirements of the SDGs. It proposes three policy options to address the governance demands of the 2030 Agenda. In mak-
ing governance of UN Development ‘fit-for-purpose’, Member States would fundamentally recharge multilateral cooperation,
whose appeal is withering, despite the reality of growing interconnectedness, complexity and uncertainty in today’s globaliz-
ing world.
1. Introduction
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 26
September 2015, represents a remarkable transformation in
the evolution of international cooperation for development
in the 70 years since the organization was established in the
aftermath of World War II. The 2030 Agenda recognizes that
in a rapidly interconnected world, development goals and
threats are increasingly a shared responsibility of Member
States and need to be addressed through international
cooperation.
The 2030 Agenda, composed, in particular, of sustainable
development goals (SDGs) and targets, will place greater
emphasis on global development challenges and the inter-
connection between country and global action than has
been the case in the era of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). Significant interlinkages and mutual depen-
dency also characterize the SDGs and targets. This means
that impact and cost-effectiveness of development action
can be enhanced if activities are delivered in combination
rather than one at a time.
The needs of the 2030 Agenda for greater horizontal
cooperation across sectors and actors in programme deliv-
ery will pose a special challenge for United Nations Develop-
ment –the 34 funds, programmes and specialized agencies
which role it is to promote development cooperation
among Member States. This is mainly due to vertically ori-
ented governance, accountability and operational lines of
UN entities that continue to remain strongly influenced by a
development cooperation vision that was fundamentally dif-
ferent as discussed later.
The purpose of this article is to examine the implica-
tions of the new 2030 Agenda and other development
challenges and threats emanating from accelerating
globalization and interconnectedness of countries for
governance of UN Development, particularly the capacity
to coordinate the work of the various entities. It first
briefly examines how these functions have evolved over
the past 70 years during a time of major growth in oper-
ational activities of the organization. The article then dis-
cusses how the development needs and priorities of
Member States are changing and why this necessitates
further strengthening of the governance capacity of UN
Development. The review concludes by recommending
three governance options for consideration of Member
States.
2. UN Development and the challenge of
coordination
A functional approach applied to original design of the
organization
A recurrent theme in deliberations of Member States on UN
Development over the past 70 years has been how to make
the individual parts of the organization work together more
effectively, without weakening the independence of individ-
ual entities, including their governing bodies. This quest for
improved coordination has become even more critical over
Global Policy (2016) 7:3 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12352 ©2016 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Global Policy Volume 7 . Issue 3 . September 2016 431
Special Section Article
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