By Cecilia Alemany, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change (ITfC).
"People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world, but the real problem is that they are too stupid and they’ve already taken the world." [fn] Domingos (2017), p. 286. [/fn]
“The Data Revolution” has been promoted as a vital tool to help to achieve the SDGs or, at least, to better measure progress. Having access to [...]
By Kavaljit Singh, Madhyam, with the support of Stefano Prato, Society for International Development (SID) [fn] This article is based on Singh (2018) and other opinion pieces by the author, integrated, harmonized and edited by Stefano Prato. [/fn]
The global financial crisis has critically exposed the vulnerabilities of a liberalized, privately focused financial system. Governments worldwide intervened in such a system, providing support with an unprecedented range of measures including bailouts, nationalization of distressed financial institutions, mergers and recapitalization. However [...]
By Roberto Bissio, Social Watch
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly identifies several issues, ranging from finances, to climate to trade, where global governance agreement is required. But actual decisions on these issues often run in the opposite direction. Non-accountable ‘clubs’ exercise de facto authority and raise obstacles to implementing the SDGs.
The 2030 Agenda claims to be “transformative” because it demands changes at national, regional and global levels. At the global level, some changes cannot be achieved by [...]
By Barbara Adams, Global Policy Forum
In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Member States pronounced their commitment to “reaching the furthest behind first”. What does it mean to apply this commitment to governance and related policies, budgets and institutions?
This chapter explores the implications for global governance of the promises of the 2030 Agenda, the practice of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) and the many and sometimes contradictory approaches and initiatives of the UN system and its ‘governors’ [...]
By Roberto Bissio, Social Watch
Trade and trade-related policies and international agreements are addressed explicitly in seven of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are identified as key to implementation of the 2030 Agenda and of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA). [fn] For an in-depth analysis see Bellmann/Tipping (2015). [/fn]
Market access is deemed essential to promote the graduation of the LDCs (targets 10.a, 17.11 and 17.12) and to improve the livelihood of small food producers (target 2.3) [...]
By Jesse Griffiths, Eurodad
Financialization has been described as the “process whereby financial markets, financial institutions and financial elites gain greater influence over economic policy and economic outcomes”. [fn] Palley (2007). [/fn] This means not only does the over-sized role of the financial sector in the global economy make us vulnerable to frequent crises, but also that the economy is not equipped to deliver the broad-based and sustainable prosperity that is needed to meet the SDGs. Instead, inequality is the [...]
By José Antonio Ocampo, Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) [fn] An earlier version of this text was originally published in International Union Rights, the journal of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights. [/fn]
The international system of taxing companies, which was designed in the early twentieth century by the developed world, has become obsolete in our current globalized world. These days, almost half of world trade takes place between parent companies and subsidiaries of [...]
New York, 19 July 2017: Despite soaring rhetoric, glossy reports and slick presentations, the fact remains that implementation on the ground is “stalled”, as highlighted in a series of civil society national reports as part of the global Spotlight Report initiative.
Increasingly, civil society is expressing concern that the SDGs are being used not as a roadmap for social, economic and environmental transformation, but as a vehicle to entrench inequitable power relations. In particular, as exhibited in many speeches at [...]
New York, 18 July 2017: During the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) of 44 countries at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, many civil society activists raised questions, criticizing government (in-)action as well as crippling framework conditions that slow down implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national level.
Ziad Abdel Samad, Director of Arab NGO Network for Development, highlighted the situation in his region: “Foreign occupation, armed conflicts and wars are key challenges, even before talking about [...]
New York, 17 July 2017: On Monday, 17 July, the sponsors of the High-Level Panel report on Women’s Economic Empowerment are presenting a panel on “Accelerating women’s economic empowerment to achieve the 2030 Agenda”, head-lined by the Secretary-General. They will be joined by a diverse Member State ‘group of champions for women’s economic empowerment’. Given the knowledge and expertise of the High-Level Panel and the national level experience of the group of champions, they will have many examples [...]
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