The COVID-19 Pandemic not only Puts Challenges but also Opens
Opportunities for Sustainable Transformation
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected humankind worldwide, slowing down and
even reversing the progress made in achieving Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). It has negatively impacted most SDGs but with positive
impacts on a few. We discuss some initial impacts observed and explores
potential impacts on the achievement of SDGs for Nepal. The study
followed a knowledge co-creation process with experts from various
professional backgrounds, involving five steps: online survey, online
workshop, assessment of expert’s opinions, review and validation, and
revision and synthesis. The pandemic has restricting impacts on the
progress of most SDGs. However, it has also opened a window of
opportunity for sustainable transformation. Many of the negative impacts
may subside in the medium and long terms. The negative impacts on SDGs
resulted from factors linked to the pandemic or the measures taken to
control it. The key five impending factors are lockdowns,
underemployment and unemployment, closure of institutions and
facilities, diluted focus and funds for non-COVID-19 issues, and
anticipated reduced support from development partners. The generated
transformative opportunities are lessons learned for planning and
actions, socio-economic recovery plan, use of information and
communication technologies and impetus to the digital economy, reverse
migration and ‘brain gain,’ and local governments’ exercising
authorities. For sustainable transformation, the window to grasp these
opportunities is short-lived and will get narrow over time, i.e., before
rebounds occur following the past trajectories.