ABSTRACT
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a major departure from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were particularly helpful in communicating a clear purpose of development aid to mobilize public support. MDGs were drafted by technocrats who undertook limited consultations with other sources of knowledge and expertise, a process widely acknowledged as a major weakness. The SDGs also include “means of implementation” as a goal of its own and as targets for each goal, recognizing the need to change policies and institutions if transformative change is to take place. The broader agenda of the SDGs reflects not only a shift in priorities but a reversal of the MDG approach to goal setting. The MDGs communicated a simplified concept of development as meeting basic needs, stripped of the challenges of inclusions and sustainability, and remained silent on the need to reform institutions.
