External publications

How to align national Covid-19 recoveries with the Sustainable Development Goals

Hege, Elisabeth / Niels Keijzer
External Publications (2021)

published on www.iddri.org, 16.06.2021

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The Covid-19 crisis encompasses multifaceted and interconnected risks and vulnerabilities, which extend to wide-ranging humanitarian, social, economic and environmental dimensions. The pandemic and its consequences also challenge the efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a holistic manner. As stated by the UNSG, Antonio Guterres, at the recent SDG Summit, “the 2030 Agenda is designed to address the very fragilities and shortcomings that the pandemic has exposed”. Almost one year later, what can be said about national recoveries and the extent to which these have used the transformative ambition and design of the 2030 Agenda? How can we ensure that recovery plans and investments do move us closer towards SDG achievements and not the other way round? These and many other questions were raised and discussed in a series of high-level dialogues jointly organized by IDDRI and the DIE (German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik) that brought together a group of government officials, specialized agencies and international organisations, as well as think tank representatives from all regions of the world. Some initial insights and takeaways are presented in this blog post.