Publication

Paths to SDG Acceleration- 2020 Annual Report

annual report 2020

The United Nations Joint Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Fund is an innovative instrument that identifies and promotes transformative policy solutions and catalyses strategic investments required to accelerate the progress to meet the 17 SDGs by 2030. The Joint Fund is also a key component of the UN Development System (UNDS) reform, serving as the “muscle” for the new generation of UN Resident Coordinators (RCs) and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) to enhance UN coherence, efficiency, and delivering as one for SDG acceleration at the country level.

In 2020, the world experienced an unprecedent global crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused extensive disruptions to SDG progress. Recent reports by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that some 71 million people are expected to be pushed back into extreme poverty in 2020, the first rise in global poverty since 1998. Lost incomes, limited social protection, and reduction of fiscal space are especially having detrimental impact for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, especially women and children.