11 / 74
[
]9
J
ust
, P
e aceful
and
I
nclusi v e
S
ocieties
Importantly, SDG16 requires action to establish the effec-
tive, transparent, and inclusive institutions needed to enable
all people to access the services and public goods they need
to live better lives, make informed choices and contribute to
their communities.
SDG16 is thus not only a valuable and important aspira-
tion in its own right, it is also an important enabling goal for
the entire sustainable development agenda: “if SDG16 were
universally achieved, the conflicts we see destroying lives and
hopes and driving so many desperate and dangerous jour-
neys to other lands could become a challenge of the past.”
4
Focusing on SDG16 and its relations to other goals is
therefore an important strategy for achieving progress on
the whole SDG Agenda, and this for four reasons:
First, governance issues related to peaceful, just and inclu-
sive societies are woven throughout the 2030 Agenda. They
also appear, explicitly or implicitly in a further 24 targets,
from seven other goals.
5
SDG16 thus offers an opportunity
to make significant progress as part of a truly integrated
agenda that considers not only the social, economic and
environmental aspects of development, but also its political
dimensions, recognizing that “good governance” and institu-
tional performance do matter for human development.
Second, without peace, there will be no progress on many
of the other goals and targets in the agenda. Peace enables
progress on all aspects of human development, from educa-
tion and health, to infrastructure and decent jobs.
Third, to achieve each goal of the agenda we need insti-
tutions that can provide quality public goods and services.
Whether it relates to land tenure under SDG 1, provision of
vaccines under SDG 3, universal and equitable access to safe
and affordable drinking water under SDG 6, energy under
SDG 7, making cities resilient, safe and sustainable through
SDG11, or women’s equal opportunities for leadership under
SDG 5, it is evident that achievement of these targets will be
difficult without the presence of effective, accountable and
transparent institutions at all levels (Goal 16.6).
Fourth, when asked what it will take to create the “World
we Want”, many governments and people all over the world
identified the cluster of issues included in peaceful, just and
inclusive societies as being critical to creating the transform-
ative change that the 2030 Agenda calls for.
6
Countries as
diverse as El Salvador, Georgia, Qatar, Sierra Leone, South
Africa, Tunisia or Uruguay give a high priority to SDG 16
within their SDG roadmaps and strategies.
How does UNDP promote and support progress on SDG 16?
Many of the Goal 16 targets are directly related to the work
UNDP has been undertaking over the years as part of its
democratic governance, gender, conflict prevention, rule
of law and peacebuilding mandate. For example, UNDP’s
support to parliamentary capacity development on the
SDGs resulted in MPs more than doubling India’s 2020
renewable energy target
7
and expenditure on renewables
8
.
A woman greets Members of the Technical Committee of the TSC during their field visit to Mugunga IDP camp near Goma, May 2014
Image: UNDP