A decade is a powerful length of time. It provides a natural reflecting point, both to look forward to what is to come, and to look back on what has – or has not – been achieved. The global development sector
frequently uses decades as a unit of measurement: for funding envelopes, development priorities, and
target setting. Perhaps this is because decades typically contain multiple political configurations,
international events, and scientific discoveries that change the world. At the same time, they pass soon
enough that we can imagine ourselves being a part of that change.
How are we landing here?
Entering into 2020, it was well-documented that progress in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was already uneven at best, and significant work was needed to achieve results. Between 2010-2020, critical gains have been made in global health and gender equality goals. The issue remains, however, that so many are still left behind:
- The average global maternal mortality ratio dropped by 2.9% annually in the last decade. That is less than half of the 6.4% annual decrease needed to realize the global target of no more than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
- The percent of women and girls of reproductive age whose need for family planning is satisfied with modern contraceptive methods increased by only 1.1% over 10 years. Today, more than 250 million women still have unmet contraceptive needs.
- The proportion of women who were married or in union before age 15 declined by only 2.5% in the last decade. The proportion of women in unions after 15 but before 18 declined by just 1.1%. At the start of this decade, one in five women globally is married before the age of 18.
Within this context, achieving the SDGs in this Decade of Action is a challenging proposition:
- We have 10 years left to achieve the 22 combined targets under SDG 3 and SDG 5.
- According to a UN review of countries, only 16% of respondents believed that their country was on track to achieving all or most of the SDGs.
- According to the SDG 2020 report, approximately one third of respondents believe that poor data and statistics are the main barriers to achieving the SDGs in their country.
