SDGs and private sector

Lalaguna, Paloma Durán y; Adesida, Babatomiwa

doi:10.18356/e92cb7fd-en

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“…This critique is captured most pointedly in the following statement in a document on policy innovations for transformative change where the authors note that ‘key aspects of the economy and wealth creation seem no longer to serve humanity’, going on to critique existing remedial approaches such a public-private partnerships, corporate social responsibility, social impact investment, among others as ‘piecemeal’ and asserting that they do not ‘fundamentally improve well-being, empower vulnerable groups or challenge the drivers of social exclusion and insecurity’ [ 56 ] (p. 116). Another document articulated the root causes of the problems embedded in the economic status quo as a ‘by-product of colonialism’ and ‘capitalist extractivism’ with an emphasis on the neglect towards segments of the population including women and indigenous populations [ 59 ]. It was noted in one document that ‘From the perspective of poverty eradication, equality and sustainable development, humanizing the economy is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the international development community’ (emphasis added) [ 56 ] (p. 116).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Framing policy objectives in the sustainable development goals: hierarchy, balance, or transformation?

2023

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Society continues to be confronted with the deep inadequacies of the current global order. Rampant income inequality between and within countries, dramatic disparities in access to resources, as seen during the COVID pandemic, persistent degradation of the environment, and numerous other problems are tied to existing systems of economy and government. Current global economic systems are implicated in perpetuating these problems. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were born out of the recognition that dramatic changes were needed to address these intersecting challenges. There is general recognition that transformation of global systems and the relationship between sectors is needed. We conduct a structured, theoretically-informed analysis of SDG documents produced by United Nations agencies with the aim of examining the framing of economic policy goals, a historically dominant domain of consideration in development policy, in relation to health, social and environmental goals. We apply a novel typology to categorize the framing of policy goals. This analysis identified that the formal discourse associated with the SDGs marks a notable change from the pre-SDG development discourse. The ‘transformational’ agenda issued in the SDG documents is in part situated in relation to a critique of previous and existing approaches to development that privilege economic goals over health, social and environmental goals, and position economic policy as the solution to societal concerns. At the same time, we find that there is tension between the aspiration of transformation and an overwhelming focus on economic goals. This work has implications for health governance, where we find that health goals are still often framed as a means to achieve economic policy goals. Health scholars and advocates can draw from our analysis to critically examine how health fits within the transformational development agenda and how sectoral policy goals can move beyond a crude emphasis on economic growth.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%