by Ali Wright (MSGA ’20)
This two-part episode of Connecting the Dots features Joe Colombano, who as Director of the UN SDG office was instrumental in creating and coordinating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In part 1, we discuss Colombano’s position as the economic adviser to former United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. We touch on the architecture of goals and on their ambitious mandate to eradicate global poverty, hunger and much more. In part 2, we gain insight into Colombano’s unique professional journey as a curious young backpacker to a World Bank economic analyst and then to one of the most prestigious advisers in the world.
In Defense of Multilateralism
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set in 2012, are an ambitious agenda of peace and prosperity for humankind. Perhaps the most salient description of the SDGs from an outsider perspective is – in a word – ambitious. The agenda is comprised of seventeen goals to make the world a more sustainable place, including the eradication of poverty, hunger and gender inequality. For even the most enthusiastic libertarians, the prospect of meeting these targets by 2030 seems far fetched.
Global scrutiny of the SDGs, and of the value of the UN more generally, appear to have peaked in recent years. Rising nationalist tendencies around the world have caused world leaders to retrench from multilateral institutions, and the UN has been no exception. However, as global environmental and health crises metastasize beyond sovereign borders, world leaders have also recognized interstate collaboration as a precondition for their own survival.
Countries’ investment in the SDG agenda reflect a political will to deliver international policy changes with local impact. Joe Colombano, the economic adviser to former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon was instrumental in the collective effort to create the seventeen goals. In an interview with the NYU Center for Global Affairs, Colombano expressed that the SDGs represent a watershed moment for international cooperation.
Unlike the targets set out before it, the agenda is a mandate that has the power to translate ambitious global targets into tangible results at the grassroots level. Importantly, Colombano demonstrates that the SDGs are not just a “normative framework set out by a bunch of rich countries”, but rather a list of priorities set out by citizens affected by the issues. The goals apply across hemispheres and across economic divides. They belong just as much to the North as they do to the South, East and West – they belong to us all.
In a world plagued by global crises and pandemics, it is easy to blame the UN for its inefficiencies. It is undeniably bureaucratic, and with 193 unique stakeholders, the engine of global progress can be painfully slow moving. However, what some people fail to recognize is that UN projects like the SDGs are representative of a rare and valuable source of optimism. They symbolize a commitment to persevere through the toughest challenges, and the audacity to imagine a better world.
Another former UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjöld, famously said that the UN “was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell”. In today’s political climate, these words ring true. As fires burn and viruses spread, the UN reminds us that the international system is more than just a sum of its parts. Now is not the time for political isolationism. Now is the to leverage multilateralism and to develop cooperative solutions. Time is running out, and the world cannot afford to fail.