Since plunging into a debt crisis in 2009, Greece has undergone a deep economic recession and severe reductions in social services. Several years later, it was hit by a second crisis as millions of refugees and migrants began arriving on Greece’s shores. But focusing only on debt relief and refugees misses a powerful story of citizen-led sustainability.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a platform to challenge this narrative by adopting a new approach to Greece’s crises—a “new recipe” for how to do things, one that is locally made and locally owned. Through a holistic approach to sustainable development, Greece can ensure inclusive economic growth that simultaneously contributes to building an inclusive and peaceful society.

This issue brief is part of the International Peace Institute’s (IPI) SDGs4Peace project, which seeks to understand how the 2030 Agenda is being rooted at the national and local levels and to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The project focuses on five case studies: the Gambia, Greece, Guatemala, Lebanon, and Myanmar. Implementation of the 2030 Agenda provides each of these countries an opportunity not only to buttress existing aspirations but also to build new partnerships that transcend traditional approaches.