GLOBAL REPORT

ON THE STATE OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

by Southern Voice

23 January 2020, Geneva, Switzerland

Many thanks to Southern Voice for the invitation for my participation in this important review of the State of the SDGs. I have to congratulate you and your researchers for the quality and relevance of your findings, your participatory methods which reflect the social inclusion values that are important to our Shared Societies project at the WLA-Club de Madrid, and the importance of your recommendations from a Global South perspective for transcending the many challenges for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

I have been tasked with sharing how we might accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. No small task indeed, but one which I will attempt to humbly add value, based on my experience as a Prime Minister and also later in my work as a Professor of Governance, Institutions and Internationalization at the Erasmus University in Corporate Responsibility.

I will try not to disappoint you, as I have been grappling with these issues since trying to link our economic stimulus efforts to sustainability challenges while in government.

More than a decade ago the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) developed Ten Commitments for governments to achieve a Shared Societies vision in which all individuals and identity groups can contribute to and be recognized as part of the societies in which they live. In accordance with the idea that social inclusion is a critical factor for responsive and effective democracy, the WLA-CdM has examined the challenges to and opportunities presented in terms of inclusive economies, gender equity, inclusive education, environmental sustainability and the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

However, analyzing specific issue-areas of social inclusion does not guarantee success. Likewise, making gains on specific SDGs is commendable but does not guarantee sustainable development. Many of the findings presented by Southern Voice validate this need for an integrated, more holistic approach to both social inclusion and human development.

For example, your findings on Bolivia demonstrate that significant increases in access to education, progress on SDG 4, while certainly commendable, has not translated into greater employment, reduced social or gender inequality or reduced poverty.

This is partly due to systemic international factors beyond the control of national government, in this case fluctuating commodity prices, which Southern Voices rightly points out require a different level of international cooperation. It is also due to Bolivia’s failure to transform its economy beyond primary materials. Your report contextualizes the Bolivian challenge by indicating the need for educational strategies to include vocational and on the job training, and I am pleased that it mentions a number of private-sector efforts to do so.

The Club de Madrid has developed a specific Shared Societies strategy for Inclusive Economies, which remains relevant for transforming our current framework and institutions into ones which are more responsive to the human and social development aspects of the economy, will strengthen economic well-being for all of society, and point out the role of the private sector in contributing to a socially inclusive outcome.

Shared societies imply shared responsibilities – not just government responsibilities but also the responsibilities of the private sector. In my post-political career, I have been fortunate to work with CEOs committed to achieving sustainability in their business practice, who are increasingly asking what have we contributed to society and our world beyond making a profit? And they are increasingly adapting business models and practices to make them more sustainable.

As Michael Porter points out, business must create shared value, meaning social value beyond economic value. Shared value in the value chain means a need for new alliances for business, which are relevant for the shared challenges of the environment, labour rights and long-term perspectives, another way of saying sustainability (both in the business and SDG senses). The private sector has much to learn, and compliance with international standards has not always been seamless, as we have learned from extractive industries in the global north not always respecting standards for free and fair consultations in the global south. This point is also not lost in your findings of how technological transformations impact unskilled women workers in the Sri Lankan apparel industry.

But I am encouraged by signs that the private sector is increasingly engaged in sustainability. The multilateral institutions have also understood the importance of this partnership, as the UN Global Compact and many instruments to ensure effective collaboration with the private sector and SDGs evidence. I would refer you to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Business Call to Action to develop inclusive business models to engage people at the base of the economic pyramid and  SDG Standards for Private Equity Funds, designed to better channel SDG-enabling investments, for example.

I remain deeply concerned, however, about the myriad ways in which identifiable groups are still being left behind, despite the global progress being made under the auspices of the SDGs. Your findings hit hard in this regard. The continued realities of the gender gap in education in Peru due to social norms and safety conditions in public spaces limiting female participation in the labour market; or educational exclusion in Nigeria, particularly for groups like nomads, women, the disabled and displaced; or the exclusion of rural populations from clean energy in Ghana, are particularly stark given that these are all groups we are fully aware require social inclusion efforts.

I agree with your findings that we are in grave danger in failing to achieve the human development envisioned in the SDGs by continuing to work in silos. But this may be the intellectual legacy of trying to implement 17 Goals with 232 indicators which we will have to address through more holistic analysis like the kind offered here by Southern Voice. But there is more that must be highlighted: I believe there is also a case to be made for the value of respect for diversity in the plural societies in which virtually all of us inhabit, and that requires addressing the social inclusion challenges inherent in the SDGs.

So the question at hand is not just accelerating achievement of the SDGs but integrating them across issue-areas into quality outcomes which serve the diverse populations of our societies, and which truly focus on those we know have not been included to date.

At the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where I have served as a professor, we call this inclusive prosperity, sharing the benefits of development fairly and sustainably for all people around the world. Like Southern Voice, we have tried to conduct cross-disciplinary research that detects the linkages needed for success on pragmatic issues, and build coalitions across government, business and civil society for more integrated solutions.

As seasoned political leaders we at the Club de Madrid believe a Shared Societies perspective offers a viable way forward. It is not an exclusive vision, and it simply must be contextualized and integrated across issue-areas as your reports attest. But we must also re-double our efforts, as you have also done, to focus on the groups that have been historically excluded. At the global level, the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals are perhaps among our last, best bet to develop responses to the gamut of challenges that face humanity and the planet.

Thank you.