Culture in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda: A report by the Culture 2030 Goal Campaign

Leading up to the adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, several global cultural networks campaigned under the banner “The Future We Want Includes Culture” for the inclusion of one specific goal devoted to culture, or for the integration of cultural aspects across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This campaign was also known as the #culture2015goal campaign. In the final document of this campaign (23 September 2015: “Culture in the SDG Outcome Document: Progress Made, but Important Steps Remain Ahead”), the networks committed to keep their cooperation active.

Building on this commitment, the members of the campaign have taken the occasion of the first UN SDG Summit that takes place in New York on 24-25 September 2019 as a perfect opportunity to re-energise the campaign, now updated as #culture2030goal. Through this, they will underline key messages on the role that culture is playing (and should play) in the implementation of the SDGs, with this report, entitled “Culture
in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda”.

The report takes stock of the first four years of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda, from the perspective of culture. It provides an analysis of the presence of culture and associated concepts in the annual progress reviews for the SDGs, focusing on the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) submitted by State Parties to the UN for the High Level Political Forums (HLPFs) in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Download report here

The nine networks involved in this campaign were (alphabetical order): Arterial Network, Culture Action Europe (CAE), International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), International Music Council (IMC), Latin American Network of Arts for Social Transformation, and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Culture Committee (Agenda 21 for culture/ AC21).