Delicate Places

In September 2015 world leaders adopted the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda includes a new set of goals to provide a 15-year pathway to reduce poverty and facilitate sustainable economic and social development globally. These goals are a significant international milestone. As a bookend to the December 2015 climate agreement in Paris, they provide both recognition of how far we have come in improving the quality of life and how far we still have to go. Globally, one billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since 1990, but 2.4 billion people still lack access to basic sanitation and almost a billion people are illiterate.

Implementing the 2030 Agenda will drive domestic and international investments in development by governments, civil society and the private sector for years to come. It will demand a major transformation in approaches to official aid and private investment, including new partnerships and a range of...