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View all search resultsWe’re not reaching the Global Goals. What now?
Despite record commitments from donors, one report recently found that the funding for the goals will be short at least US$10 trillion–$15 trillion each year for the rest of this decade.
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T
he Global Goals are a phenomenal idea. They are what happened when the United Nations came together and said: “Here are the world’s biggest problems, and here is how we are going to measure progress on them”. The 17 goals include promises to end extreme poverty and hunger, fix climate change and education and reduce inequality and corruption.
This year is the midpoint between the start of the goals in 2016 and 2030, when they are supposed to be accomplished – and while the goals have done a great deal of good, the world is falling short on nearly all of them. This is the perfect time to assess the Global Goals (also known as the Sustainable Development Goals), recognize what is working, admit what is not working and refine our approach so we can do the best for the people most in need.
Let us start with something that is working very well. The beauty of the goals is that they forced the world to agree on what matters and on the measures of progress. These agreements, in turn, are driving action: governments, foundations and other funders have made strong commitments in aid and other forms of support for the world’s poorest, using the goals to guide where they spend the money. As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets managed”.
Here is the problem: the Global Goals are too much of a good thing. The 17 commitments are accompanied by a huge number of targets – 169, to be exact.
Having so many targets would not necessarily be an issue if the world were stepping up to fund all of them. But it is not. Despite record commitments from donors, one report recently found that the funding for the goals will be short at least US$10 trillion–$15 trillion each year for the rest of this decade. That is roughly equivalent to all of the taxes collected by every government in the world.
This massive shortfall calls for a two-pronged approach. First, do whatever is possible to shrink the gap. Donors need to meet and even exceed their commitments to meeting the goals. Although overall foreign aid went up in 2022 for the fourth straight year, most of this increase amounted to refugee and humanitarian aid required by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Assistance for the least well-off countries actually declined.
There are some notable exceptions. France, the Netherlands, the United States and China have recently increased their funding for health in low-income countries. The Gates Foundation is on track to increase its total giving by 50 percent, to $9 billion a year by 2026, with a focus on health and development. We hope other funders follow suit.
