Sustainable Development Goals

Posted: March 27th, 2020

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Sustainable Development Goals

The General Assembly of the United Nations was responsible for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 after a sequence of intergovernmental negotiations and consultations among stakeholders. Accordingly, the SDGs substituted the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by integrating the environmental and development objectives. The official implementation of the novel objectives activated a stage where the distribution of responsibility at disparate levels became centered. As far as the accomplishment of the SDGs is concerned, emphasis has been placed on the essence of leadership, specifically in ensuring effectiveness. Accordingly, the task involved in the accomplishment of the goals is rather convoluted considering the number of these goals as well as the key performance indicators that must be gratified in order to ensure that each aim has been attained in the long term. Presently, the SDGs that were integrated by the UN constitute 17 goals, which are focused on the elimination of poverty, inequity, and hunger, as well as imposing of resolutions for climate change and protection of natural environment. Besides that, the SDGs include the initiatives to enhance access to education and health as well as establishing sturdy partnerships and institutions. Nonetheless, in order to ensure that the SDGs are fulfilled, the organization should create a collaborative leadership framework that would embrace innovation and encourage participation.

Research Topic

The research subject mainly attempts to focus on the following questions:

• Is it feasible to implement the Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030?
• Are there changes in leadership frameworks and styles that should be revised and implemented in an effort to apply the Sustainable Development Goals effectively and within the respective schedule?

With the SDGs acting as a notable replacement for the MDGs, the main issue lies in the measures that will be applied to ensure that the goals – despite lack of studies addressing their feasibility – are accomplished

Overview of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations were a reasonable response to the failings of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were scheduled to expire at the end of the 2015. The Millennium Development Goals, which were implemented in 2000, focused primarily on the elimination of hunger, poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and diseases. The MDGs – eight in total – were specific, tangible, and measurable and assisted in the establishment of certain prioritized areas within the context of global development (Williams 59; United Nations 144). These goals simply concentrated on particular issues that ailed most states and encouraged countries to implement certain measures that would curb these problems. However, the specificity of the goals was one of the core reasons why the MDGs proved to be ineffective. Because of being very specific, the MDGs seemed to avoid other areas that were equally essential. This inability to cover other fundamental areas was based on the categorization of countries as developed and developing, hence, locking out some of them from receiving assistance (Rhazaoui, Grégoire, and Mellali 122). However, despite these downsides, considerable progress has been witnessed over the last 15 years in elimination of illiteracy and poverty.

Description of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a compilation of 17 international goals established by the United Nations. They mainly include:

• Eradication of Poverty
• Elimination of Hunger
• Promotion of Wellness and Good Health
• Provision of Quality Education
• Gender Equality
• Sanitation and Clean Water
• Accessibility to Clean Energy
• Work and Economic Growth
• Innovation, Industry, and Infrastructure
• Decreased Inequality
• Creation of Sustainable Communities and Cities
• Conscientious Production and Consumption
• Climate Action
• Aquatic Life
• Terrestrial Life
• Establishment of Institutions Centered on Peace and Justice
• Partnerships for Goal Accomplishment

Even though they are viewed as separate issues, the SDGs are expected to function as a holistic framework aimed at resolving the issues that affect most populations across the globe. However, for them to be effective, each SDG possesses a key set of indicators that must be fulfilled. Essentially, these indicators illustrate how the respective goals should work upon implementation. For instance, the first goal places emphasis on the total eradication of poverty across the globe. However, for this to be feasible, focus needs to shift towards the gratification of indicators or elements that consistently inflate the level of poverty. One of the indicators involves the presence of basic services such as education, healthcare, and security, which are essential in determining poverty (United Nations Environment Program 30). The fulfillment of the respective indicator is an illustration of how the SDGs are expected to function. However, in terms of feasibility, it may be too early to determine such a convoluted subject due to the extent to which each goal represents an issue that crosscuts with others listed under the SDG list.

The SDGs as a Response to MDGs’s Ineffectiveness

In fact, the MDGs proved effective in the elimination of poverty and enhancing literacy by increasing access to education. Furthermore, the MDGs were able to direct focus within the development sectors towards the achievement of certain priorities such as women’s privileges and child survival. Nonetheless, the progress in the implementation of MDGs was rather irregular, with improvements commonly illustrated in particular locations and among specific social groups. An evaluation performed by the UN on the performance of MDGs in 2015 illustrated that these initiatives had failed to assist a considerably high number of people in both developed and developing countries (UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda 56; Sørensen 77). The evaluation of MDGs progress has recurrently shown that the most disadvantaged and poor people are regularly oppressed due to such factors as age, gender, ethnicity, and disability status. Hence, it was essential to concentrate on addressing these problems by creating the SDGs. As a result, the SDGs are set to focus on a wide range of challenges, starting from climate change and ending with gender inequality. Interestingly, for these goals to be attained successfully, focus has also shifted towards the significance of leadership and cooperation.

Implementation of the SDGs

Indeed, the ability of any state to attain the SDGs depends considerably on the strength of its leadership. Strong leadership helps to establish effective programs and allocate resources efficiently to attain a certain goal. Leadership that is capable of exhibiting effectiveness transforms into the formulation as well as application of practical and informed public policy (Burns et al. 133). Aside from this, effective leadership also constitutes efficient service delivery, particularly across the public sector, in an effort to satisfy the demands and aspirations of all members of society, including those that are the most underprivileged and disadvantaged (Pick and Sirkin 78). As a result, accomplishment of the SDGs requires close collaboration of the government, the society, the business sector, and the state’s citizens. Furthermore, inventive leadership and management are essential for firms and organizations within all industries because they help to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into strategic frameworks and functional activities in order to realize the vision of the year 2030.

Arguing for an Organic Leadership Framework for SDGs

Leadership for the attainment of sustainable development primarily advocates for a more organic framework instead of a paradigm based entirely on physical processes. Organic structures place emphasis on notions of adaptation and flexibility towards change and dynamic processes – an aspect that is absent in mechanistic structures (Robbins and Judge 68). Consequently, convoluted living processes depict sustainable patterns as well as elements that are able to propose strategies and tactics for effective leadership. After all, the aspects that constitute these processes involve inventiveness, ability to adapt, flexibility, relationships and interactions, as well as awareness (Burns et al. 138). Considering that the global environment is naturally illogical, that various realities exist, and that human beings acclimatize towards their surroundings, it is essential to ensure that leadership is capable of being resilient, adaptive, learning, renewing, and intelligent. Such attributes are pertinent for effective leadership since they constitute dimensions that can only be evidenced within living structures. Undeniably, the emphasis on an organic-oriented leadership is called for due to the inconsistencies that plagued the achievement of MDGs over the past 15 years.

The challenges that are faced in the present environment are complex, related, and necessitate a collaborative approach towards the creation of a sustainable tomorrow as far as the accomplishment of sustainable development is concerned. Consequently, it is imperative for leaders to focus on the implementation of frameworks and structures that concentrate on the needs and aspirations of the people rather than offer rigid and inflexible solutions. Accordingly, leadership should focus on the establishment of structures that provide opportunities for individuals to actually cooperate with one another and create their answers (Cooper and Nirenberg 135). This explains why the SDGs focus on the recognition of all countries under a single economic lens rather than categorizations of them as developed and developing economies. As a result, the SDG agenda is capable of integrating other issues – mostly connected to global environmental challenges. SDGs also address the structural and economic reasons of the issues that were emphasized by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Through collaborative relationships, it will be possible for leaders to promote creative engagement even in situations marred with emergencies, disorder, and insecurity.

Leadership Recommendations Tailored for Implementation of SDGs

1. Leadership at organizational and national levels must focus on the adoption of leadership styles that actually stimulate or prompt an idea of mutual responsibility towards the accomplishment of the SDGs.
2. One of these styles may focus on the attainment of long-term resolutions; thus, such leaders would implement frameworks that recurrently guarantee the pursuit of goals in future (Burns et al. 136).
3. Consequently, leaders should be aware of the importance of collaboration between organizational and national levels towards the accomplishment of the SDGs.
4. It is also important for leaders to be willing to learn continuously and implement innovative practices.
5. The leadership style and practices should be ethical, hence, influencing followers to act and respond in the same manner.
6. States and organizations that are involved in the achievement of SDGs must harmonize and implement integrative strategies that would focus on inclusivity, hence, allowing them to concentrate on all issues captured by the 17 goals.
7. Leadership at the national and organizational levels must also collaborate in order to ensure holistic implementation of SDGs.
8. Focus should also lie on the attainment of key indicators regarding the issues that mostly affect all persons within the developed and developing states.
9. Local and global stakeholders – especially international organizations – also need to cooperate with state and organization leaders in an effort to enable effective implementation.
10. Transformational patterns of leadership should also be implemented across national and organizational levels for effective application of the SDGs.

Conclusion

To this end, the attainment of the SDGs greatly depends on the form and style of leadership. By understanding the importance of collaboration – formed out of an organic system – leaders must ensure that they are capable of managing resources, pursuing the vision, upholding ethical standards, and concentrating on the achievement of objectives. By adopting a more transformational style of leadership, it will be possible to improve economic competence, environmental responsibility, and social integration as well as unity. Essentially, a clear plan of implementation, sturdy leadership, and cooperation among all international and local stakeholders will be pertinent in guaranteeing the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) locally and globally.

Works Cited

Burns, Heather, et al. “Leadership for Sustainability: Theoretical Foundations and Pedagogical Practices that Foster Change.” International Journal of Leadership Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2015, pp. 131-143.

Cooper, J. F., and J. Nirenberg. Leadership Effectiveness. Sage, 2012.

Pick, de W. S, and Jenna Sirkin. Breaking the Poverty Cycle: The Human Basis for Sustainable Development. Oxford University Press, 2017.

Rhazaoui, Ahmed, Luc-Joël Grégoire, and Soraya Mellali. Africa and the Millennium Development Goals. Economica, 2015.

Robbins, Stephen P., and Timothy A. Judge. Organizational Behavior. Pearson, 2015.

Sørensen, Bent. Energy, Resources and Welfare: Exploration of Social Frameworks for Sustainable Development. Elsevier, 2016.

United Nations Environment Program. Policy Coherence of the Sustainable Development Goals: A Natural Resource Perspective. International Panel Resource Secretariat, 2015.

United Nations System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda. Review of the Contributions of the MDG Agenda to Foster Development: Lessons for the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda. United Nations, 2015.

United Nations. Trends in Sustainable Development. New York: United Nations, 2016. Print.

Williams, Oliver F. Sustainable Development: The UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the Common Good. University of Notre Dame Press, 2014.