Other publications

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 shows that since their adoption in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have delivered results at scale—expanding access to clean water, electricity, health care and digital connectivity for billions of people. With less than five years remaining to achieve the Goals, the report provides a candid assessment of progress: meaningful gains have been made across the SDGs, but they remain uneven and insufficient in the face of serious headwinds— from escalating conflicts, slowing global economic growth, climate change, rising debt burdens and declining official development assistance. Without a decisive push to rapidly scale up proven solutions, the promise of the 2030 Agenda risks slipping out of reach.

The report emphasizes that the SDGs remain the world’s shared blueprint for peace, prosperity and sustainability and must be urgently returned to the centre of global decision-making. It identifies the priority actions needed to accelerate progress, including increased investment, strengthened international cooperation, expanded access to technology and data, a faster energy transition, greater gender equality, and renewed commitments to peace. The report underscores that the choices made over the next four years will determine not only whether the Goals are achieved by 2030, but also the well-being of people and the planet for generations to come.

L’ARRICOD et Cités Unies France ont publié le “Guide sur l’Action internationale des collectivités territoriales en période pré-électorale – Repères essentiels”.

Ce guide, issu des ateliers organisés par CUF et l’ARRICOD les 23 septembre et 14 octobre 2025 vise à répondre aux interrogations des techniciens et élus de près de 70 collectivités françaises qui ont notamment répondu à un questionnaire transmis en amont et participé à ces échanges.

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 marks the tenth annual stocktaking of global progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the 2030 deadline only five years away, the report delivers a stark assessment: the Sustainable Development Goals have improved millions of lives, but the current pace of change is insufficient to fully achieve all the Goals by 2030.

The report reveals real and substantial development gains during the past decade. Since 2015, the world has made notable strides in expanding access to education, improving maternal and child health, and bridging the digital divide. Effective prevention efforts have significantly reduced the burdens of infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria. Access to electricity has continued to grow, and renewable energy is now the fastest-rising source of power worldwide.

This document aims to offer a set of guidelines to local councillors and staff for aligning development cooperation policy with international action during the strategic planning process. it shourl be adapted by eac local council according to the characteristics and priorities of the local area.

Intermediary cities play a key role in quality of life, innovation and development in their local communities, but they often face challenges in making their voice heard on the global stage. The study you hold in your hands analyses how these cities can overcome limitations in resources, knowledge or influence to project and position themselves in he international arena.

Through interviews with local representatives from 12 intermediary cities around the world, this study offers inspiring examples, trends and good practices that canserve as a guide for municipalities in the province of Barcelona. It shows how factors such as capital status, excellence in key sectors, cultural heritage and innovation can become pillars of global positioning and international impact.

With practical recommendations and tools to foster collaboration, optimise resources and communicate international action, we hope that this study will be a key reference tool for local governments wishin to successfully insert themselves in an increasingly interconnected world.

Find out how intermediary cities can lead global change from the local level.

The focus of the study “Good local governance | Practices and Initiatives from Ecuador” is on enhancing the competencies of public officials and politicians, as well as improving internal processes within local governments. It aims to foster cross-pollination between local governments and policymakers in Ecuador, Flanders, and beyond. This study is part of VVSG’s broader ‘GloBe’ program, which focuses on international municipal cooperation in seven countries: Belgium, Benin, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa. The program’s goal is to contribute to good local governance. We believe this study will serve as a valuable resource for local governments and policymakers, both in Ecuador and internationally, as they work toward more effective governance.

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024 details the significant challenges the world is facing in making substantial strides towards achieving the SDGs based on the latest data and estimates. It features areas with setbacks while also showcasing where tangible progress has been made, for instance, in reducing global child mortality, preventing HIV infection, and access to energy and mobile broadband. The report also highlights where action must accelerate, particularly in critical areas undermining SDG progress – climate change, peace and security, inequalities among and between countries, among others.

According to the report, with just six years remaining, current progress falls far short of what is required to meet the SDGs. Without massive investment and scaled up action, the achievement of the SDGs — the blueprint for a more resilient and prosperous world and the roadmap out of current global crises — will remain elusive. The lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating conflicts, geopolitical tensions and growing climate chaos have severely hindered progress. The report details the urgent priorities and areas needed for stronger and more effective action to ensure the 2030 promise to end poverty, protect the planet and leave no one behind.

This 2023 Report on Decentralised Cooperation continues the process initiated in 2022 by eLankidetza – Basque Agency for Development Cooperation to improve the knowledge and appreciation of this cooperation modality with a monitoring system based on annual reports. As indicated in the first of these reports, despite the growing interest of international organisations and the publication of comprehensive studies on decentralised cooperation, these have not become institutionalised and there is no official international source that produces systematic and regular reports on the subject.

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition provides a powerful call to action, presenting a candid assessment of the SDGs based on the latest data and estimates. While highlighting the existing gaps and urging the world to redouble its efforts, the report also emphasizes the immense potential for success through strong political will and the utilization of available technologies, resources, and knowledge. Together, the global community can reignite progress towards achieving the SDGs and create a brighter future for all.

According to the report, the impacts of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, a weak global economy, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed weaknesses and hindered progress towards the Goals. The report further warns that while lack of progress is universal, it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable who are experiencing the worst effects of these unprecedented global challenges. It also points out areas that need urgent action to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030.

In the field of international cooperation and solidarity, cooperation promoted by sub-state governments, the so-called decentralised cooperation, is largely unknown. It has never enjoyed sufficient attention or appreciation. Undoubtedly, its great diversity of approaches and interventions have not made it easy to monitor, study and catalogue. […]

International development cooperation is undergoing a revision of its main parameters (objectives, agents, modalities, etc.) in light of current global problems for which the principles and vision of the traditional cooperation system appear inadequate.

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The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 provides a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, using the latest available data and estimates. It tracks the global and regional progress towards the 17 Goals with in-depth analyses of selected indicators for each Goal.

According to the Report, cascading and interlinked crises are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in grave danger, along with humanity’s very own survival. The Report highlights the severity and magnitude of the challenges before us. The confluence of crises, dominated by COVID-19, climate change, and conflicts, are creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Report details the reversal of years of progress in eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and education, providing basic services, and much more. It also points out areas that need urgent action in order to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030.

The global community is at a critical moment in its pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than a year into the global pandemic, millions of lives have been lost, the human and economic toll has been unprecedented, and recovery efforts so far have been uneven, inequitable and insufficiently geared towards achieving sustainable development. The current crisis is threatening decades of development gains, further delaying the urgent transition to greener, more inclusive economies, and throwing progress on the SDGs even further off track.

As the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, Georgia more or less successfully overcame the initial shock and combatted the first wave of the virus’s spread. Decisions taken by the Georgian government at that time were aimed at protecting both human health and economic development. The majority of its measures were implemented in the first half of 2020, most notably between March and May, when a state of emergency was declared in the country. By June, the Government had developed an anti-crisis plan and made amendments to the budget accordingly.

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This research examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economies of Georgian regions, particularly with respect to the macroeconomic environment, entrepreneurship, employment, and social conditions. According to the research findings, the impact on regions has varied, depending on their economic structure and the main economic activities therein. For example, the impact of the pandemic on international tourism-oriented regions has been profound, and this has flowed into other fields through the supply chain, affecting tourism-related production significantly. […]

By the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG).

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered radical changes around the world. It has affected all spheres of public life and escalated into the largest economic, social and health crisis of the last decade. The role of local self-governments, as the governing bodies closest to the population, has been highlighted in the measures taken against the spread of the virus and in overcoming the crisis. […] The findings of this study show that during the first wave of the pandemic, Georgian municipalities actively participated in the state-managed process of containment and management of the virus. They were keenly involved in the epidemiological research process, provided one-time food aid to the socially vulnerable, elderly and disabled, and enforced the quarantine regime. […]

By the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG).

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched in 2015 to end poverty and set the world on a path of peace, prosperity and opportunity for all on a healthy planet. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demand nothing short of a transformation of the financial, economic and political systems that govern our societies today to guarantee the human rights of all.

There are many ways to promote Local Economic Development (LED). Not necessarily better or worse ways, but different ways. This publication attempts to capitalise on this diversity, drawing on the experience VNG International and its partners gained in implementing ASPIRE in Somaliland, as well as the experience of other organisations and programmes in the same field. This  publication does not pretend to have all the answers. It is an aid to those districts that are striving to foster economic growth and opportunities for their communities, and offers different recipes and ingredients for putting the Territorial Approach to Local Development (TALD) into practice.