Eight days down, two to go – is the end of the SDG road nigh?

Negotiations are in the final stages at the UN in New York, to agree the wording of an agenda that will steer development for the next fifteen years. 

Eight days down, two to go. These negotiations on the final make up of the Sustainable Development Goals framework in New York are nearly over so it’s a good time to step back and reflect on progress and flag up some obstacles that might still remain.

I’ve been to UN negotiations in the past but this time there is a different energy in the air. Firstly there is the heightened pressure from the imminent deadlines – by Friday there needs to be a document that everyone, everywhere can agree on and can be signed by the world’s leaders in New York on September 25th.  This is no small task after approximately 3 years of ‘discussions’, ‘consultations’ and ‘drafting’.

And there is also, unsurprisingly, a palpable sense of fatigue. You can see it on the faces of the member state negotiators and on the faces of civil society representatives like me who have been in this process for years. The coffee cups are getting bigger and the eyes more sunken from reading too many variations of the same document.

But fatigue and pressure can help to focus the mind.  And there is still much work to do. There is still no agreement for example about how the most controversial issues will be addressed. I have long since realised that the ‘controversial’ issues are not about the development objectives themselves – i.e. better healthcare for all, quality education, the need for decent jobs, protecting the planet etc. But rather the controversial issues are more about the who has biggest responsibility for the delivery of our development goals,  the relationship between the global north and the global south, how much any UN agreement can bind a national government to action?

Controversial issues include gender equality and the role of ‘the family’. As one government negotiator said this week, only the UN can take something as agreeable as the word ‘family’ and make it controversial. In this UN context, ‘the family’ is being used by some to restrict the realisation of women’s and girls’ rights to make their own decisions and gain meaningful equality. So what seems like an everyday word can actually have far reaching consequences if used in certain ways.

Once again the two co-facilitators of this laborious SDG process –Ambassadors Kamau of Kenya and Donoghue of Ireland – are trying to wade through various and often opposing calls from different UN member states whilst incorporating the opinions and expertise of civil society and other stakeholders.

The latest draft issued here in New York last Sunday evening represents a really exciting step towards a positive document. VSO is very pleased that people are clearly at the centre of this agenda, the draft includes much more specific references to being  ‘people centred’ and there is stronger emphasis on the participation of people –especially women and girls – in guiding development rather than just being passive beneficiaries.

Of course as always there are improvements that still need to be made – and urgently. The section on how progress on the goals will be assessed needs much more work. For it to compel action – by governments and all of us as stakeholders – it needs to specify that there will be national review processes at least every 4 years which takes on board inputs and contributions from civil society and people most affected by poverty. At the same time there must be strong processes for review at the regional level where there can be meaningful peer review and the global level also.

But as I write I am hearing rumours of another draft due out tonight plus people booking negotiation rooms for September, a sign that this conversation is far from finished!