The Steering Effects of the SDGs on Environmental and Developmental NGOs in the Netherlands

Abstract

In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or global goals emerged as official successors to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the vision of development towards a safe, just, and sustainable space for all human beings. In response to this vision governments from all over the world, business, and NGOs committed themselves to a new global partnership based on goal setting as a key strategy. Existing research has examined how and in what ways NGOs can contribute to the attainment or progress of the SDGs. However, this thesis aims to fill a research gap as it focused on examining the ways in which the SDGs have influenced the work of environmental and developmental NGOs in the Netherlands. As a result, it aims to answer the research question, “what are the steering effects of the SDGs on environmental NGOs based in the Netherlands?”. To answer this question this thesis depended on the collection and analysis of official NGO information available online as well as interviews with experts and professionals working in the SDG and NGO fields. Collectively this information was discursively and interpretatively analyzed to (1) determine the discursive effects of the SDGs by NGOs and (2) to assess whether the SDGs further lead to normative effects in the work done by NGOs. Lastly, (3) it provided the opportunity to explain the degree of steering effects seen in each NGO sector. Ultimately this study argues that stronger steering effects, both discursive and normative, are experienced in the Netherlands by developmental NGOs. Furthermore, the lack of steering effects because of the SDGs by environmental NGOs are attributed two main categories of conditions or factors, namely due to political circumstances and the inherent characteristics of these organizations.