Leaving no one behind, poverty, human and social development

Sabina Alkire on eradicating multidimensional poverty

Ahead of the Second World Summit for Social Development 2025, in this video, Committee for Development Policy (CDP) member Sabina Alkire of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) ) talks about how some countries have made tremendous progress in reducing multidimensional poverty, which is feasible through simple, cost-effective policies. She also emphasizes the importance of investing in communities, that are at the heart of poverty eradication efforts.

Excerpts from Reports of the Committee for Development Policy

2025 CDP Report (E/2025/33) Convergence in human and social development
2021 CDP Report (E/2021/33) Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development
2020 CDP Report (E/2020/33) Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development
2019 CDP Report (E/2019/33) Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality
2018 CDP Report (E/2018/33) Leaving no one behind

CDP Issue Brief by Sabina Alkire: Eradicating poverty effectively: concise, strategic data to tackle the greatest global challenge (2025)

Eradicating poverty effectively: concise, strategic data to tackle the greatest global challenge (Sabina Alkire, May 2025)

CDP Background Papers

No. 60: Beyond GDP: what Multidimensional Measures of Poverty and Well-being add to Dashboards and Composite Indices, by Sabina Alkire, Maya Evans and James Foster
No. 48: Migration, Diasporas and the Sustainable Development Goals in Least Developed Countries By Keith Nurse
No. 47: ‘Leaving no one behind’ as a site of contestation and reinterpretation By Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and Thea Smaavik Hegstad
No. 45: International trade: Who is left behind and what to do about it By Ann Harrison
No. 44: Leaving no one behind: Some conceptual and empirical issues By Stephan Klasen and Marc Fleurbaey
No. 43: Push no one behind By Diane Elson
No. 42: Priority to the furthest behind By Marc Fleurbaey
No. 41: International tax cooperation and sovereign debt crisis resolution: reforming global governance to ensure no one is left behind By José Antonio Alonso
No. 40: Eradicating poverty by 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?) By Giovanni Andrea Cornia
No. 39: Development cooperation to ensure that none be left behind By José Antonio Alonso

What is holding back the implementation of the 2030 Agenda? Insights from the CDP (2019)

Ahead of the SDG Summit in September 2019, members of the CDP reflected on the factors that were holding back the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and what could be done about them.

Kori Udovicki highlights the insufficiency of mechanisms to channel capital and know-how to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Marc Fleurbaey argues that our main hope to get back to a track of progress on the SDGs is to enhance participatory mechanisms at all levels and in private as well as in public organizations.

Diane Elson argues that policies should be subject to the question: is this policy likely push some one behind, and if so, will this loss be mitigated or must it be prevented from happening in the first place?

Rolph van der Hoeven discusses inequality and how incomes are generated.

See all four one-pagers here.

The views and opinions expressed in these documents do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations Secretariat or the Committee for Development Policy. The designations and terminology employed may not conform to United Nations practice and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Organization.

Special issue of the Journal of Globalization and Development (December 2018)

The special issue on “Leaving no one behind” of the Journal of Globalization and Development contains a collection of papers by CDP members, examining both the underpinnings of the pledge to leave no one behind and the ways in which it can be pursued, including implications for reforms in policies and institutions at local and global levels.

The views and opinions expressed in these papers do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations Secretariat or the Committee for Development Policy. The designations and terminology employed may not conform to United Nations practice and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Organization.

2018 CDP open session on Leaving no one behind

Summaries and Key Messages of Papers Produced by the CDP Sub‐group on Leaving No One Behind: