"We are the first generation that can put an end to poverty and we are the last generation that can put an end to climate change", said former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, adding the following exhortation: To get rid of poverty and make a better life possible for all, each and every one of us must make a contribution to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Alongside the Austrian Development Agency and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (MFA), many different federal ministries, federal states and also municipalities, civil-society organisations and enterprises in Austria are concerned with development cooperation.