Despite progress made over the last 20 years to reduce the numbers of people living in extreme poverty1, inequality has been on the rise across the globe for several decades now. In January 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold) the UN warned2 that rising inequality was affecting more than two thirds of the globe as economic gaps have continued to grow at a disproportionate rate to the progress made to reduce extreme poverty. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic being shown to have pushed 119-124 million people back into poverty and chronic hunger3 it is clear, that the persistent challenge of inequality is not going anywhere. It is a complex situation, but one that we’d like to dedicate this first out of three blogs to and share insights from the progress that the SDGs highlight.