How Can Governments Strengthen Their Relationships with Society to Meet the Sustainable Development Goals? Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

With less than seven years left to the 2030 deadline, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been limited. But, at the SDG Summit in September 2023, Member States of the United Nations committed to bold, ambitious, accelerated, just and transformative actions to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For Governments, strengthening relationships and earning public trust is pivotal to realizing the changes required for more sustainable and resilient societies. While the COVID-19 pandemic significantly hindered advancement towards the Goals, and in some cases reversed progress, it also sparked innovation and experimentation in public institutions and in the way they interact with one another and broader society from which lessons can be drawn to reinvigorate efforts.