Sustainable Development Goals Diagnostics : An Application of Network Theory and Complexity Measures to Set Country Priorities

El-Maghrabi, M. H. ; Gable, S. ; Osorio-Rodarte, I. ; Verbeek, J.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: SDGs;    SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS;    NETWORK THEORY;    ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY;    PROXIMITY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8481
RP-ID  :  WPS8481

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The United Nations 2030 Agenda and theSustainable Development Goals are comprehensive and holisticin nature, as they includes 17 goals and 169 targetscovering economic, social, and environmental dimensions ofdevelopment. In this context, policy makers face thechallenge of translating the global agenda into feasible yetambitious development plans and policies. This paperpresents a methodology that can assist policy makers inprioritizing the targets of the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals within their development plans, given elements of pathdependency among the goals. The method used is based on thenotion that existing patterns of development outcomes canreveal information about the commonalities incountries' unobservable Sustainable Development Goaldelivery mechanisms. The ease with which capacities can beused between Sustainable Development Goals depends on theirdegree of commonality, conceptualized in the proximitybetween them. Related to this, the paper introducesSustainable Development Goal centrality as a measure ofconnectedness. In addition, it defines a country'sSustainable Development Goals density to indicate how closean "unsuccessful" Sustainable Development Goals isto those Sustainable Development Goals in which a country isperforming well. The paper concludes that countries shouldprioritize the Sustainable Development Goals that are withinreach (high density) and/or offer higher scope for successthrough redeployment of existing capacities (highcentrality). It applies the method to show how this can helpcountries prioritize implementation of the SustainableDevelopment Goals.