The Global Goals: 5 Years On

Over the last 5 years, we have accomplished incredible feats around the world in making the Global Goals for Sustainable Development highly identifiable and well-known. Of course, this is the first step in the achievement of any agenda — to have a majority of people on board.

However, as we enter the third-way point of this 15-year agenda, it is time to buckle down in what is being called “The Decade of Action”.

The Global Goals were signed up to by all 193 United Nation member states on what some affectionately refer to as Global Goal Day, September 25, 2015. The Agenda ‘officially’ runs from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2030; however, due to the United Nations General Assembly being held in New York each year during September, a lot of the reporting centres around this time of year.

Much like if you showed up at school every single day with a positive attitude but didn’t apply yourself to the study, the Global Goals will not be achieved unless we make some big sacrifices in society. We have all been ‘showing up at school’ over the last five years, tweeting and Instagramming the Global Goals, sharing them with our colleagues, family and friends, plastering them on walls, buses, major landmarks… but all of this needs to come with an actionable plan.