Australia is committed to leaving no one behind as per the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its domestic and international approach to leaving no one behind is a theme of its first (in 2018) Voluntary National Review on the 2030 Agenda. Australia believes that the universal, indivisible and inalienable nature of human rights and the focus of its aid policy framework – notably poverty reduction, gender, disability and indigenous peoples – are consistent with leaving no one behind.
Australia has integrated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into programme guidance including for its annual programme performance reports and aid investment plans. Its mapping of aid investments shows their relevance for several SDGs. For example, agriculture, fisheries and water investments contribute to at least seven SDGs.
Closing data gaps, targeting interventions for disadvantaged/vulnerable groups while addressing the multiple and intersecting forms of disadvantage across groups, and effectively mainstreaming leave no one behind in development co-operation, are key challenges it faces. It supports initiatives such as the Individual Deprivation Measure, is learning from gender mainstreaming, is looking at equity in programming, and is developing an inclusive growth and governance diagnostic tool to situate its country strategies for development co-operation firmly in the realities of the context.
