UN’s “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) has inspired many and there seems to be a global consensus on them beyond governments.
The efforts of various stakeholders need to be effectively coordinated for achieving better outcomes.
Why do we need large scale coordination?
SDGs have been observed to prominently figure in “business conferences, civil society organizations and government reports”.
The 17 SDGs fall into four groupings namely:
Human Development – “Poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality”.
Environment – “Water, energy, climate action, life below water, and life on land”.
Economy - “Decent work, economic progress, reduced inequalities, responsible consumption and production, and industry innovation”.
Structure Building - “peace, justice and strong institutions” and “partnerships for growth”.
Problems such as persistent poverty and inequality, poor health, and environmental degradation are systemic issues.
They have multiple interacting causes and can’t be solved by any one actor.
Hence, strong institutional partnership and cooperation as outlined in the last two SDGs are essential.
What are the current management challenges?
Philanthropists and corporates (through CSR) are giving back to society in programmes aligned with the SDGs.
Once they start, they realize the need for partnering NGOs who have local knowledge and have established community and government relationships.
While all stakeholders recognize the need for effective partnerships, effective management practices remain elusive.
But governments and CSR initiatives tend to construct centralized, top-down programmes to achieve scale and efficiency simultaneously,
Hence, there is inherent strain in deploying best managment practices and the typical “command and control” dynamics continue to dominate.
This approach works with a “one size fits all” mindset and also hinders effective ground coordination due to the complicated command structure.
Also, the ultimate beneficiaries aren’t adequately represented in this module and “people-centric design” takes a backseat.
How important is institution building in human progress?
SDGs are a realization that humanity cannot postpone much longer the development of new strategies for the management of the commons.
Humanity’s progress is a history of evolution of institutions that have enabled societies to achieve what they want.
Notably, the demand for increased sea trade saw the birth of new forms of business institutions such as the limited liability company in the 17th century.
Also, the idea of an equal society gave rise to elected parliaments world-over.
Hence, faster progress towards the SDGs will require new models of enterprises in which the people must have a much greater say in governance.
What kind of institutional changes are needed?
The very conception of SDGs requires institutions that enable large-scale people participation, which is in line with the democratic norms.
According to SDGs, every individual has fundamental needs such as health and education, and political rights in the governance.
But expenses are incurred for ensuring that all get access to these services.
Hence, this calls for building economically sustainable business modules like Co-operatives and Social Entrepreneurship.
