Australia has responded well to the immediate COVID-19 crisis, but historically we have been less adept at tackling long-term ‘creeping crises’ like inequality, climate inaction and the need for economic diversification.
As Australia seeks to ‘build back better’ after COVID-19 we should seize the opportunity to address these creeping crises and put Australia on a surer footing for long term wellbeing.
To do this, policy makers designing our COVID-19 recovery will need to clearly understand how the country was performing before the pandemic and set objectives for what we want to achieve in the future.
A strategic global framework for policy making
The Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report 2020 Update (“Transforming Australia”) helps policy makers do that. It is a report card on Australia’s progress leading into the COVID-19 crisis using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a benchmark. The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of economic, social and environmental goals for 2030 which all countries including Australia have agreed at the United Nations. They provide a useful framework for ensuring that policy takes account of relevant economic, social and environmental factors.
Monash Sustainable Development Institute is looking for partners to help transform Australia
Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), which produced Transforming Australia, is keen to work with policy makers to use its findings and methods to assist in designing more effective COVID-19 recovery policies. MSDI can organise presentations or workshops about the report and how the Sustainable Development Goals can be used in strategy planning and policy making.
Transforming Australia can help policy makers in three ways:
- It provides data on Australia’s current performance against 56 economic, social and environmental indicators aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting challenges and flaws that need addressing.
- It assesses the effect of COVID-19 on Australia’s capacity to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, for example highlighting the need to take account of the unequal impact of the pandemic on women and those in insecure work.
- It can be used as a starting point for defining appropriate targets for post-pandemic recovery at a national, state or local level. Policy makers can use the target setting process as a framework for developing recovery strategies and as a way to engage with stakeholders and citizens in a conversation about the future.
Unexpected insights discovered through our unique approach
In MSDI’s work with businesses and government agencies we have found using the Sustainable Development Goals to assist with strategy setting has led to unexpected insights. It has helped organisations identify gaps in their strategies and consider a broader range of options and a longer timeframe. In other words, this approach helps organisations think ‘broader and longer.’
MSDI applies a four-step process:
- Mapping: we work with the organisation to map the positive or negative impact of the organisation on each of the Sustainable Development Goals taking account of the indicators in Transforming Australia. This helps develop priorities for action.
- Target setting: we support the organisation in setting targets aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals based on these priorities. This helps focus attention on the objectives of a program or strategy.
- Pathway identification: we help the organisation use processes like ‘backcasting’ and scenario planning to identify actions, pathways and policies that can achieve the objectives and targets.
- Review: We help develop a process for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on progress.
Breaking down organisational silos
Using Transforming Australia and the Sustainable Development Goals in strategy setting and policy making in this way can also help break down the silos and narrow thinking that exist in many organisations. By fostering a broad consideration of economic, social and environmental issues, the SDGs help people think outside the box enabling different and innovative options to come to the fore
Australia’s effective response to COVID-19 has demonstrated the value of data and evidence for improving decisions. Transforming Australia and the Sustainable Development Goals provide data and a framework to help us develop strategies that will enable Australia to build back better.
Contact us
To organise a presentation or workshop on how to use the Transforming Australia report and the SDGs in strategy planning and policy making please contact Monash Sustainable Development Institute or julie.boulton@monash.edu
