The Post-2015 Development Agenda

The United Nations is seeking to agree a set of global goals on poverty eradication and sustainable development for the period 2015 – 2030 to replace the Millennium Development Goals, a set of goals which were designed to address some of the most pressing issues affecting humanity. Ireland is playing a major role in that process.

Photo Credit: Photo by IISD/ENB

In October 2014, Mr Sam Kutesa, President of the UN General Assembly, announced the appointment of the Permanent Representatives of Ireland and Kenya to the UN to facilitate the international negotiations on a new global development agenda – known as the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda will be adopted at a Summit of world leaders in New York in September 2015. It will succeed the Millennium Development Goals, which have helped governments in the developing world to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and to advance on issues such as equal access to primary education, maternal mortality and halting the spread of HIV and Aids.

Progress on the MDGs, however, has varied greatly across regions and within countries and over one billion people still live in extreme poverty today. The Post-2015 Development Agenda must build on the lessons learned from the MDGs and galvanise efforts globally to both eradicate extreme poverty and promote sustainable development by 2030.

Preparing for the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Considerable work has already been undertaken in identifying the content of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Chief among the different inputs to date is a proposal of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals which was agreed following 18 months of inclusive inter-governmental negotiations. An Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing also produced a major report on how to mobilise resources around this ambitious agenda.

The UN has also organised consultations with people across the globe while a High Level Panel of Eminent Persons produced a comprehensive report on the Post-2015 Development Agenda in June 2013. Other actors including civil society organisations, private companies, research institutions and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network have also made valuable contributions to discussions to date.

The UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon also released a synthesis report, The Road to Dignity by 2030, which presents a vision for UN Member States to follow in their negotiations on the process.

Finalising the Post-2015 Development Agenda - Ireland’s role

Between now and September 2015, government representatives from around the world will work together to agree the details of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Ireland and Kenya have been appointed to lead this process and are tasked with bringing together all UN member states, civil society, the private sector and others with a view to negotiating an ambitious and transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda. We will do this by building on the work which has already been completed and by facilitating dedicated inter-governmental negotiations, the first of which were held in New York in January 2015. More information on the inter-governmental negotiations is available from the UN's Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.

Not all countries have the same capacity to implement this agenda and for this reason, the international community and all stakeholders will need to unite around a dedicated strategy to support the mobilisation of finance and other resources. The UN Ambassadors of Norway and Guyana are leading a process known as ‘Financing for Development’, to do just that. That process will culminate in an International Conference in Addis Ababa, 13-16 July 2015 and can be followed at the UN's dedicated Financing for Development page.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda must reflect the priorities of citizens around the world. For this reason, the United Nations has developed a survey to enable people around the world to tell world leaders what issues they think should be addressed by the Post-2015 Development Agenda. To add your voice to these post-2015 discussions complete the online survey - My World 2015

You can also follow the Post-2015 negotiation process on the UN Sustainable Development website.

DFAT Press release: https://www.dfa.ie/news-and-media/press-releases/press-release-archive/2014/october/ireland-new-global-development-agenda/