Is Policy Coherence Leaving No One Behind? Analyzing Gender Inequality in the Governance of the Sustainable Development Goals in India

The pledge to Leave No One Behind is central to the 2030 Agenda and cuts across all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To realize this cross-sectoral approach to inequality, policy coherence is considered an important tool. This article questions whether and how policy coherence leaves no one behind. We focus on the often-overlooked politics of policy coherence by studying gender inequalities in institutions, interests, and ideas in subnational governance processes for SDG implementation in India. Our findings show that policy coherence does not automatically reach the furthest behind in India. Despite ambitions to Leave No One Behind, SDG policy coherence processes are built around pre-existing, unequal and often siloed government structures, interests, and ideas. While this enhances national ownership, it also perpetuates inequalities in SDG policy coherence processes, including around gender. We argue that paradoxically, in seeking to implement all the SDGs equally for all, countries need to prioritize between competing goals in which historically prioritized institutions, interests, and ideas prevail over others. The article raises important questions about the universal applicability of policy coherence as means to achieve the SDGs and calls for further research on the synergies and trade-offs between policy coherence and Leave No One Behind in different (sub)national contexts.