The United Nations is currently debating the shape and content of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the means of financing these ambitious aims.. Discussions on financing the goal of eliminating gender inequality, however, are ignoring what may be the most critical aspect: women’s need for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). […]
At the upcoming Third International Conference on Financing for Development, world leaders face the formidable task of funding the post-2015 development agenda. Experience with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) demonstrated that tax revenue is central to funding development. According to Government Spending Watch 2015, the MDGs are already being funded two-thirds by tax revenue, one-sixth […]
The paltry sums paid in tax by some of the world’s largest companies have made headlines and provoked outrage in recent years, not least among cash-strapped governments and ordinary taxpayers in rich countries. Tax avoidance has evoked intense international debate. Major steps are being taken by G-20 and OECD members to increase cross-border information sharing […]
Today the world is more prosperous and peaceful than at any other time in human history. The multilateral system has been central to the success stories behind this progress, from the post-war reconstruction of Europe to the eradication of smallpox and the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS and malaria. Though there are deficiencies in the multilateral […]
The new “final draft” agreement for the Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development includes a seminal affirmation of the post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDGs) as “global in nature and universally applicable to all countries,” while taking into account each country’s unique context, policies, and priorities. This builds on the Group of Seven’s recent summit […]
In July, in Addis Ababa, the world’s States will define a financing strategy to meet the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The resources allocated to development by developed countries will not be sufficient to finance this new agenda. There is one solution in order to achieve the SDGs: use part of ODA to […]
Six years of strong global economic growth preceded the 2008 financial crisis. The ongoing and lasting impacts of the crisis reflect the unsustainability of growth in that period. This was a period in which developing countries were financing consumption in developed countries by holding reserves in the latter’s currencies. As pointed out in UN reports […]
The Third International Conference on Financing for Development hosted by the Government of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa in mid-July is not only the penultimate gathering of the global education community in its quest for consensus on the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also a moment of truth for the purpose we profess to share, and […]
Worldwide savings and capital markets can play a key role in helping to close the trillion dollar investment gap to fund the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but there is a lack of good investment opportunities and investable projects at the scale needed to help close the gap. At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation we […]
When you are operating at the negotiating coal-face it can be easy to forget what’s at stake in summit diplomacy. In the case of July’s Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development, the stakes could hardly be higher. Skim the first paragraph of the draft outcome document and you get a reminder of the ambition. […]
