WE EXPLORED SOME OF THE COMMON BARRIERS THAT PREVENT US FROM WORKING TOGETHER MORE CLOSELY TO PROGRESS TOWARDS THE SDGs.

The relatively brief history of ‘development assistance’ has brought us to a point where today’s development organizations are not equipped to address many of the challenges that the 21st century presents. In particular, the pace of recent geopolitical, economic and demographic changes has plainly left many institutions in its wake. And yet, we are also at an unprecedented point in the development chronicle: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – adopted by all the world’s governments in 2015 – provide a unique and strategic opportunity for comprehensive and inclusive development between now and 2030.

In this webinar, Dr Tim France (Managing Director at Inis Communication) outlined four significant barriers to working together more closely, which often block integrated approaches to development. He argued that more integrated ways of working are essential to achieving the SDGs – but that it will not happen until we collectively address these barriers. He also suggested how thinking laterally and 'joining the dots' in completely new ways are critical elements of success.

Participants joined the webinar from over 60 countries, and took part in straw polls to gauge their opinions about the barriers to more integrated approaches, and also the value of new information tools in addressing them. Towards the end of the session, they were also introduced to a new SDG-focused information platform called SDGinsights, an invaluable new information tool designed to tackle the fragmented nature of SDG-related content and introduce you to new ideas.