Relevance of International Collaborations in Promoting Sustainable Development: The Case of IU-Kenya Partnership

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal number 17 (SDG17) adopted from Millennium Development Goal number 8 (MDG 8) is specifically directed towards international cooperation and collaboration for development (United Nations, 2015b). Essentially, the SDG 17 boosts achievement of all other goals. This is by virtue of its emphasis on all aspects of developmental needs of the low and medium income countries and the support needed from developed countries and the international community in achieving all the other SDGs (Osborn, Cutter, & Ullah, 2015; United Nations, 2015a). The call for international collaborations is made in the context of shared vulnerability and shared future because crisis in one part of the world would have implication on another part no matter how discrete these parts are in terms of economic development and geographical location. For instance, a disease outbreak in Kenya can quickly spread to North America in hours. This is illustrated by the 2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa that quickly spread to Europe and America, in spite of interventions from humanitarian organization like Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-Doctors without Borders and International Organization for Migration (IOM).