What the World Learned Setting Development Goals

This policy brief by the International Institute for Sustainable Development examines the evolution of global development goals, from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs). It analyzes the lessons learned from the MDGs, the expanded scope of the SDGs, and how the 2030 Agenda can serve as a framework for recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established that a measurement framework for development improves monitoring and accountability, leading to an increase in total official development assistance from USD 71 billion in 2000 to USD 124 billion in 2014.
• The MDGs had significant limitations, including a failure to recognize the multidimensional nature of poverty or address root causes such as war, political instability, corruption, and environmental factors. Progress was also uneven, with extreme poverty and underweight children not declining as significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
• The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda represent a broader, universal, and integrated approach compared to the MDGs, incorporating human rights, governance, and justice. The first six SDGs expand on MDG targets, while Goals 7-10 address root causes of inequality and Goals 11-15 focus on human impact on the natural environment.
• The 2030 Agenda relies on two critical external frameworks: the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) for financing development and the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as climate change is viewed as a major threat to the achievement of the SDGs.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress in education, healthcare, hunger, and poverty, specifically impacting women and children. This includes 70 countries reporting disruptions to childhood vaccinations and 370 million children missing school meals.
• The 2030 Agenda is positioned as a roadmap for COVID-19 recovery, emphasizing that focusing on SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) alongside goals for reduced inequality and ecological health can mitigate future zoonotic pandemics.
• A critical lesson from the MDGs is that "what gets measured gets done," but the 2030 Agenda requires more timely and disaggregated data—such as by age and gender—to avoid relying on national averages that hide specific challenges.

APA

Bettelli,, P. (2021). What the World Learned Setting Development Goals. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/what-world-learned-setting-development-goals

Chicago

Bettelli,, Paola. What the World Learned Setting Development Goals. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/what-world-learned-setting-development-goals.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bettelli, |first1=Paola |title=What the World Learned Setting Development Goals |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=29 January 2021 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/what-world-learned-setting-development-goals |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bettelli2021what, author = {Bettelli,, Paola}, title = {{What the World Learned Setting Development Goals}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/what-world-learned-setting-development-goals}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }