This dissertation explored how humanitarian organisations have supported Georgia to achieve the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of 2015, in particular the Planet Goals. It has proven difficult for Member States to turn the SDGs into national policy. Middle-income countries face challenges to focus on all goals simultaneously, while balancing economic development needs and environmental protection ambitions. Humanitarian organisations play a prominent role supporting the implementation of the SDGs. Therefore, this dissertation aims to answer the research question: How has humanitarian organisations been effective in supporting the implementation of the SDGs, particularly the Planet Goals, in Georgia?The theoretical backing to the research is based Arhin (2016), who studied humanitarian organisations and SDGs in Ghana. Arhin outlined three main roles of organisations in SDG work namely, implementation, advocacy, and facilitation. In addition, theories concerning the operational space of organisations as well as the SDGs as a system was used. A conceptual framework was created to guide the data collection and the analysis.The research was conducted as a qualitative case study, through interviews and documents. Nine interviews were conducted, along with a review of external aid reports, Voluntary National Reviews for 2016 and 2020 and the European Union-Georgia Association Agreement. The material was analysed using critical discourse theory, using a programme called ATLAS.ti.The results found that Georgia’s development agenda has an explicit focus on economic growth rather than environmental sustainability. There is a large disparity in society with substantial urban-rural divides. A part of the population needs basic necessities, typically in rural areas, whereas cities are more developed. The European Union-Georgia Association Agreement has had a large influence on the development focus and agenda in Georgia, and the Government prioritises policies to meet the requirements under this agreement to advance its European Union aspirations. The research concluded that there is no organised work towards implementing the SDGs in Georgia. Organisations designing and implementing projects align with the obligations under the European Union Association Agreement, and subsequently align project objectives and impact with the SDGs, as long as there is a natural fit between the set project objectives and the SDGs. Thus, SDGs do not guide the objective setting for projects. There is barely any advocacy of the 2030 Agenda in Georgia. In terms of facilitation, the SDGs are addressed at institutional level, which is somewhat politicised. The adoption of the SDGs can be considered a political manoeuvre to confirm Georgia’s commitment as a member of the global order, whereas the true focus of Georgia’s development agenda focuses on economic growth under the European Union-Georgia Association Agreement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-488492 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Bjorlin Hansen, Maiken Sofia |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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