Governments and providers of development co-operation increasingly use Sustainable Development Goal indicators to guide their policies and practices. The close examination of three large recipients of development co-operation: Ethiopia, Kenya and Myanmar across the sectors of Education, Sanitation and Energy reveals four inter-related challenges in using SDG indicators at country level.

Achieving sustainable, equitable and resilient societies is humankind’s challenge for the 21st century. In pursuit of this ambition, the international development community needs a shared, universal framework, within which to work more closely together. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the obvious answer, but a number of technical, political and organisational challenges prevent development co-operation providers from using them as their common results framework.

The importance of development that provides for equitable economic growth and the sustainable use of natural resources has become increasingly apparent during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 has emphasized the need for a renewed focus on achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the global blueprint to ending poverty, protecting our planet, and ensuring prosperity. This publication provides an overview of SDG bonds as a mechanism to help mobilize the huge amount of financing required to meet the SDGs in developing Asia. It also proposes a new type of SDG bond that could contribute to accelerating sustainable development in the region.

This book focuses on the complex relationship between education and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights how important context is for both critiquing and achieving the Goals though education, given the critical role teachers, schools and curriculum play in young people’s lives. Readers will find examples of thinking and practice across the spectrum of education and training sectors, both formal and informal. The book adds to the increasing body of literature that recognises that education is, and must be, in its praxis, at the heart of all the SDGs. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, we have a clear understanding of the wicked and complex crises regarding the health of life on our planet, and we cannot ignore the high levels of anxiety our young people are experiencing about their future. Continuing in the direction of unsustainable exploitation of people and nature is no longer an option if life is to have a flourishing future. The book illustrates how SDGs are supported in and by education and training, showcasing the conditions necessary to ensure SDGs are fore fronted in policy reform. It includes real-world examples of SDGs in education and training contexts, as well as novel critiques of the SDGs in regard to their privileging of anthropocentrism and neoliberalism. This book is beneficial to academics, researchers, post graduate and tertiary students from all fields relating to education and training. It is also of interest to policy developers from across disciplines and government agencies who are interested in how the SDGs relate to education.

The aim of this report is to present an overview of the 17 Goals using data currently available to highlight the most significant gaps and challenges.

The multidimensional and intergenerational nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for integrated policies. Progress made in a particular social, economic or environmental area or individual goal may generate synergies and trade-offs across dimensions (spillover effects), and steps taken in one country could have positive or negative impacts beyond national borders (transboundary effects).