Leaving no-one behind: can the Sustainable Development Goals succeed where the Millennium Development Goals lacked?

This article considers what the Leave No-one Behind agenda means, and how it interacts with the gender equality agenda. It starts with a brief assessment of what the Millennium Development Goals have delivered for women and girls by way of comparison. We then go on to look at the Sustainable Development Goal framework, in relation to both gender equality and Leave No-one Behind. This is followed by an assessment of what is needed to put this rhetoric into practice, through national plans, policy changes, data, financing, and political will.