An overview of the 2030 Agenda (Dan Banik)
Readings:
- United Nations General Assembly (2015) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1): 1-14.
Reflection:
- How important are such ambitious agendas for international development?
- Development is a contested notion. Are such contestations addressed in the 2030 Agenda?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.
Introducing the SDGs (Dan Banik)
Readings:
- United Nations (undated) "About the Sustainable Development Goals", un.org.
- Sachs, J. (2012) “From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals”, Lancet (379): 2206–2211.
- Le Blanc, D. (2015) “The Sustainable Development Goals as a network of targets”, Sustainable Development 23: 176-187.
Reflection:
- What are the unique aspects of the SDGs? Are they too many?
- Are there some issues that have been left out of this ambitious global agenda? if so, what?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.
Core principles (Dan Banik)
Readings:
- Nilsson, M., D. Griggs & M. Visbeck (2017) “Policy: map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals”, Nature 534: 320–322.
- Stafford-Smith, M. et al. (2017) “Integration: The key to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals”, Sustainability Science and Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals 12: 911-919.
Reflection:
- Which of these principles do you consider to be the most important? Why?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.
Measuring progress (Dan Banik)
Readings:
- McNeill, D. (2019) "What happens when the SDGs get translated into indicators?", Oslo SDG Blog.
- SDSN (2015) "Indicators and a Monitoring Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals", SDG Knowledge Platform.
- OECD (undated) "Measuring Distance to the SDG Targets", oecd.org.
- FAO (2019) "Measuring the SDGs Improving country data for monitoring SDG achievements and informing policy decisions".
- Anderson, K. (2015) "We have SDGs now, but how do we measure them?", The Brookings Institute.
- Fukuda-Parr, S. and McNeill, D. (eds.) (2019) "Special Issue: Knowledge and Politics in Setting and Measuring SDGs", 10(S1), Global Policy Journal.
Reflection:
- Do some aspects get lost in translation during the measurement process? If so, what?
- Is the availability of good quality data in your country or region a major problem?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.
Partnership for the SDGs (Dan Banik)
Readings:
- Agarwal, A., Gneiting, U. and Mhlanga, R. (2017) "Raising the Bar: Rethinking the role of business in the Sustainable Development Goals", Oxfam Discussion Papers.
- UNDESA (2019) "Maximizing the impact of partnerships for the SDGs".
Reflection:
- What would you characterize as the most productive forms of partnerships that are required for achieving sustainable development? What could be potential barriers?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.
Response for and against (Dan Banik)
Readings:
- Easterly, W. (2015) “The SDGs Should stand for Senseless, Dreamy, Garbled”, Foreign Policy.
- Pogge, T. and Sengupta, A. K. (2015) “The Sustainable Development Goals: A Plan for Building a Better World?”, Journal of Global Ethics 11(1): 56-64.
- Hickel, J. (2015) "Five reasons to think twice about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals", LSE blog.
- Hickel, H. (2015) "The Problem with Saving the World", Jacobin magazine.
- Langford, M. (2016) “Lost in Transformation? The Politics of the Sustainable Development Goals”, Ethics & International Affairs 30(2): 167–176.
- Kumar, R. (2017) "Critics of the Sustainable Development Goals were wrong. Here's why", weforum.org
- McArthur, J. and Muggah, R. (2019) "In an era of global uncertainty, the SDGs can be our guide", weforum.org.
Reflection:
- Do you agree with the arguments in support and against the SDGs?
- Which argument did you find to be the most persuasive?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.
How do the SDGs differ from the MDGs (Desmond McNeill)
Readings:
- UNDP (2016) "Transitioning from the MDGs to the SDGs".
- SDG Fund (undated) "From MDGs to SDGs".
- Vandemoortele, J. (2015) "Are the SDGs a major reboot or a sequel to the MDGs?", oecd.org
- Attaran, A. (2005) "An Immeasurable Crisis? A Criticism of the Millennium Development Goals and Why They Cannot Be Measured", PLoS Medicine.
Reflection:
- What are the main areas of commonality between the MDGs and the SDGs?
Continue the conversation on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. Please use the hashtag #UiOSDG if you wish to respond to or reflect on any of the issues raised in the lectures.