12 Toward a Multi-level Action Framework for Sustainable Development Goals Joyeeta Gupta and Måns Nilsson
The Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNGA 2015) go beyond the earlier Millennium Development Goals. They do not simply focus on taking action in the developing world supported by development cooperation agencies and development banks (Bello 2013; Sanwal 2012). Instead, the Sustainable Development Goals are meant to be universally relevant and aim at directing attention at developmental and environmental issues globally, “while taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities” (UN 2012). The process of developing Sustainable Development Goals has been a hybrid of four different approaches. First, inspired by the process of the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals reflect a top-down approach being centrally negotiated and adopted at the UN level. Second, the process has been informed and influenced by epistemic communities such as the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the International Council for Science. The goals also focus not just on halving the number of poor people or of people without access to basic resources, but at ending all poverty everywhere, thus reacting to the human rights critique on the Millennium Development Goals (Alston 2005; Redondo 2009; Robinson 2010; Dorsey et al. 2010). Third, at the same time the Sustainable Development Goals have also responded to social movements, as represented by civil society groups and nongovernmental organizations that have promoted the articulation of goals that then became adopted at global level. Fourth, many UN agencies have tried to solicit ideas about goals through a bottom-up process. The result of this hybrid approach has been a framework for Sustainable Development Goals that aspires to reflect the priorities and values of people and governments around the world. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNGA 2015) is an attempt to inspire, shape, and direct policies and implementation on the
