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Paper short abstract

Moving beyond technical implementation gaps, the paper employs a post-colonial perspective to analyse the progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. It explores whose values are prioritised, and how neocolonial patterns continue to influence the contemporary development trajectory.

Paper long abstract

The SDGs are an ambitious, universal framework designed to address the world’s challenges of poverty and climate change through 17 integrated goals that balance economic, social, and environmental dimensions. However, with just five years to go before the 2030 target, more than half of African countries are off track to achieve the SDGs. Despite a decade of efforts to achieve the SDGs, African countries face acute challenges, with overlapping issues of debt burdens, climate emergencies, and historical structural inequalities that have hampered progress. As such, the implementation of SDGs raises fundamental questions about power, knowledge, and agency in the development enterprise. The central research question of this paper addresses whether the SDGs represent a neo-colonial agenda that perpetuates Global North hegemony and ascertains the opportunities for authentic African agency and alternative development pathways. This paper employs a post-colonial discourse analysis to critically examine the implementation of SDGs in Africa. While the SDGs aim to universalise sustainable development, their conceptual framework, operational mechanisms, and underlying assumptions require scrutiny through the lens of coloniality and power relations. The research analyses how the SDGs often perpetuate neo-colonial dynamics through universalised standards, epistemic hierarchies, and economic structures that marginalise African agency. Conversely, it also explores spaces for resistance and adaptation through frameworks like Agenda 2063. Findings reveal substantial tensions between the SDG transformations and their potential to reinforce Global North hegemony. The paper suggests decolonising development practice by centring African knowledge systems and priorities.