How to link a program to the SDG targets
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the 17 goals that UN member countries agreed on in 2015 for 2030, each with common targets and indicators. That is why many governments, agencies and funders ask programs to show which targets they link to.
Choose the SDG or SDGs
Choose the goals whose problem your program addresses. One or two at a time is recommended for a more effective analysis.
Read the targets and their indicators
Each goal is broken down into targets, and each target has one or more official indicators. Read each target and ask yourself: does my program say anything about this? Have I defined indicators to measure it?
See where the program covers each target
For each target, look for the passages in the document that talk about it, even if they don’t use the same words. A target with no passage is an absence: it may be a gap in the program or a topic that doesn’t apply to it.
Rate how fully the program covers each target
A target appearing doesn’t mean it is covered. Ask yourself whether there is a dedicated passage that covers everything it asks for, whether it leaves something out or whether it only touches on it, and rate it from 1 to 5.
Decide what is missing and what can be measured
The targets that don’t appear and the low-scoring ones are your work list: decide which ones the program should take on and look at the official indicator of each to see whether you could measure it. The next step is a results chain: how to build a logframe or theory of change.
Other ways to do it
You can do it by hand, with a spreadsheet with one row per target and a column for the passage and the page, starting from the UN’s official list.
HILO is a good fit when the program is already written and you want to see what it says about each target: it works in the browser, with nothing to install, and it brings the targets and indicators. Another approach is better if you need other frameworks that HILO doesn’t include or want to measure the program’s real effect, which HILO doesn’t assess.
Link your own program
Open the document, choose a goal and see which targets it covers and which it doesn’t.
References
- United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1). General Assembly.
- United Nations Statistics Division. Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals. Official list of indicators.
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