March 28, 2026
By Elvis Kintu Nsonyi
New York City
When the Hon. Winnie Byanyima recently reaffirmed UNAIDS’ commitment to ending AIDS by 2030, her message underscored a truth many prefer to ignore. The Agenda 2030 deadline is almost here, yet global action still moves at a snail pace. This raises a familiar question, were the Sustainable Development Goals simply too ambitious?
After years engaging with the UN system and working directly in communities from HIV research in rural sub-saharan Africa under the Uganda Virus Research Institute/Medical Research Council to global policy discussions at the UN General Assembly, I can say confidently that the goals were not the problem. Our follow through was.
I saw this disconnect firsthand. At the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), I joined Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago who is a founding Board Member of the Mayors Migration Council. This a global Mayoral led body which addresses the plight of refugees, urban displacement and the ability of host communities to handle the same.
I had another opportunity to attend the UNGA session on Global Road Safety in 2022. Here, I realized that global commitments flowed easily, but implementation remains elusive.
Before these engagements, I had already internalized SDG 11 which is about making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. I thank Lukwago’s relentless advocacy for a functional Kampala.
And through my HIV/AIDS research with the Uganda Virus Research Institute and the Medical Research Council, I witnessed firsthand the challenges rural communities face in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
So the real question is not whether the UN overreached. It is, what have governments, leaders and communities done or failed to do to meet these goals? With all these experiences, I have had one lesson, the SDGs were not too ambitious, our implementation has been too complacent.
Fifteen years was enough time for meaningful progress. Many countries have transformed entire sectors in less than a decade. What has stalled the SDGs is not ambition, it is leadership that treats them as mere slogans rather than obligations.
It is evident that corruption drained resources meant for clinics, schools and climate adaptation. Several grandiose policies have been drafted but remain shelved. They are rarely enforced. The development plans were written in capital cities with little input from the communities they were meant to serve. And at the local level, resistance to behavior change especially around issues like HIV stigma slowed progress further.
In areas where leadership aligned with community action, results were undeniable. There is expanded access to HIV treatment, improved food security through cooperative farming, increased women’s representation in local government and youth driven climate initiatives that forced national conversations.
These successes prove that SDGs were achievable. What they required and still require is integrity, accountability and genuine community ownership.
As 2030 approaches, the world must shift from declarations to delivery, empower local governments, enforce consequences for corruption, ensure funding reaches people and not paperwork!
The SDGs were bold because the world needed boldness. They failed only where our commitment did. The question now is not whether the goals were realistic, it is whether we are finally ready to act at the scale they demand.
We should all know that ambition without action is merely aspiration. As the deadline approaches, the question is no longer whether the goals were realistic, it is whether we are willing to do the hard work required to realize them.
Therefore, the 2030 Agenda was not too ambitious. If anything, it was a necessary wake up call for a world in crisis where everyone had a role and still has a pivotal role to play.
