On 25 September 2015 all 193 UN Member States committed to a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, which were largely top-down in planning and reflected the priorities of donor countries, the Sustainable Development Goals were created to be implemented through locally driven plans that take into account global complexity and uncertainty and yet reflect the priorities and contexts of individual UN Member States.

There is a concern that many DAC-List aid recipient countries will struggle to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals unless they develop credible and fundable plans for growing their economies that are inclusive and environmentally responsible. Many low-income countries across the Global South, including former heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC’s), are seeking to manage the forces of globalisation and to guide their own development through a set of processes, policies and practices that can be termed ‘New National Development Planning’.

A cross-disciplinary network of scholars, practitioners and policy makers was established to analyse and gain an improved understanding of this re-emergence of National Development Planning in the Global South.

The main findings of the network were published in World Development, as an open access paper. The ‘New’ national development planning and global development goals: Processes and partnerships, is based on an analysis of 107 national development plans and draws insights from 10 case study countries. The research analyses current national development planning and identifies the types and content of the plans, and their implications for the sustainable development agenda.

• Download the open access paper, published in World Development.
• Watch Admos Chimhowu discuss the key findings in the video below:

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