WAKING UP IN 2030: Implications for Implementing the SDGs

The SDGs have been critiqued for being non-binding and voluntary, and therefore unenforceable. Yet the most daunting obstacle to the SDGs may be a resistance to the goals and a rejection of the spirit of global cooperation that they represent. This Handbook fills this gap in the literature by entering these debates, responding to these critiques, and demonstrating social work and social development’s role in supporting the SDGs. While the human right critiques are important, it should also be noted that human rights advocates were able to negotiate several key features of the SDGs. The contradictions within the SDGs between economic growth and environmental protection are indeed contradictions within the ambition of sustainable developments itself. In this respect, it has presented a global snapshot of social development in action. Most of the case studies indicated the essential role of civil society as a necessary moderator between market and state.