In-depth conversation: Are the SDGs relevant anymore? Devex editor Raj Kumar weighs in

Authors Vinod Rajasekaran & Kylie Adair
Kumar talks with Future of Goodโ€™s publisher about global development and aid โ€” does it even work? Are the SDGs achievable? Whatโ€™s changed since the pandemic began?

Why It Matters

Global inequality is at a high โ€” vaccine inequity is a salient example. As the Global North begins to recover, much of the Global South is still grappling with the pandemicโ€™s social, health, and economic devastation. How NGOs, agencies, and governments engage in global development will be crucial for global recovery.

Raj Kumar published a book about global aid โ€”ย The Business of Changing the World: How Billionaires, Tech Disrupters, and Social Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Aid Industry โ€” just before a global pandemic changed the way aid is done and the way the world thinks about aid.ย 

Kumar is also the founding president and editor in chief of Devex, a digital publication that covers humanitarian and international development work globally, which means heโ€™s had a front-row seat to these massive changes โ€”ย and the ways global inequality has heightened in devastating ways since the pandemic began, too.ย 

Whatโ€™s next after the SDGs? How has global aid changed since the pandemic began? And โ€”ย does aid even work? Future of Good CEO and Publisher Vinod Rajasekaran sat down with Kumar to dive in.

The following conversation has been edited for lengt

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