On 25 September 2015, 193 United Nations (UN) Member States adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the Sustainable Development Summit in New York. A range of factors play a major role in the adaptation of the global SDGs to the national context. For instance, the Government of Ukraine must incorporate the SDGs into Government Strategic Policy Papers (GSPPs) to the greatest extent possible and ensure their implementation. All sectors – i.e. public, private and civil – must be involved in the process, since the SDGs are comprehensive, covering environmental, economic and social areas, and in accordance with the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’. With the engagement of the wider public and foreign partners, the government prepared the national report "Sustainable Development Goals: Ukraine", which showed how global goals and targets were adapted to the Ukrainian context and the country’s specific needs. This inclusive process, with the extensive dissemination of SDG-related information, aims to unite society to address crucial challenges. This should ensure the best performance in terms of achieving the goals.

The next important phases of the process are to identify gaps in Ukrainian policy documents with regard to SDGs, highlight risks and detect systemic obstacles to meeting Ukraine’s goals. The present study aims to look at precisely these factors. It is based on UN methodology and the experience of the countries that have already undertaken this phase (Albania, Armenia, Bhutan, Kazakhstan,Tajikistan etc.), as well as on the personal contributions of researchers to the methodology based on the Ukrainian context.

The report includes comments and recommendations regarding the measures required to improve the incorporation of the SDGs adapted for Ukraine into government policies, as well as proposals for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international partners supporting the implementation of reform in Ukraine. This work was supported by UNDP in Ukraine and the Global Environment Fund (GEF).