SDG17 (Rethinking) Partnerships for the Goals

It could be argued that SDG17 (Partnerships for the Goals) is the most important of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The complex and interdependent nature of the challenges we face in the world will not be solved by any one individual, organization, or government alone.

There is not a single solution that can be scaled or a transformative public policy to be implemented that can get us to where we need to be. As the voices of the People’s Climate Movement have been crying out for years: “To change everything, it takes everyone.” Achieving the Global Goals and meeting the ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda will require strong partnerships and collective actions that bridge across traditional boundaries such as race, religion, class, gender, and geography. It also required recognition that not all partnerships have been created equally.

What “Response” looks like

Two very active schools that we support have gathered supplies and are now making masks, soap, and hand-sanitizer. Another is pooling resources to distribute food to migrant families.

Another partner is translating COVID-19 information into multiple languages so that the thousands of people that must cross the border back into Myanmar will know what to do when they get to their villages–and marginalized ethnic communities in Myanmar (who don’t speak Burmese) will know about the virus.

A fifth partner is distributing food parcels to thousands of Refugee families along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border as the lockdown is extended.

With many international aid workers no longer in-country, we are seeing clearly what we have long believed to be true–that the most effective response to a crisis is a local response.

This is exactly why Partners Asia supports local leaders. We walk alongside our partners, so that they can do the things they need in order to pivot, respond, and protect the most vulnerable members of their communities.

This pandemic has underscored why we promote their wisdom in responding to changing needs. Feel free to ask us more about what we do and what’s happening right now. We have a lot to share.

Patty Curran
Executive Director