The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations, announces 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Such goals promote an action plan based on three main principles of the Agenda: respect for human dignity, sustainability and the pledge that “no one be left behind”.
Based on these principles, the implementation of actions and the realization of the transformative changes on policies and practices necessary to achieve the SDGs are encased by an intrinsic ethical dimension. This dimension of the Agenda provides a frame of reference to maintain the long-term commitments and actions. The ethical approach refers to values, and values many times are rooted in faith and a religious dimension which has a significant role in most of the global population.
In recent years, different studies and international practices have recognized the role that religious communities and Faith-based Organizations (FBO) play when addressing complex global challenges as corollary of their work in sustainable development, in extreme poverty situations, in natural disasters, in peace-building processes and in areas of violence and conflict. In the last decade, some literature on “religion and development” has flourished and so have the alliances between international development organizations, governments, international cooperation agencies and religious communities, especially to reach the development goals.