Farmer Najibullah is looking with satisfaction at the start of the dusty gravelled Imam Shashnoor road in Kabuli village that connects to the asphalted road to Herat City. “Thanks to the construction of this road, we are now making some 50 percent more profit as we now earn a minimum of AFN 500 (about $8.60) per day,” he says. Farmers, like Najibullah, have benefited the most from the construction of the 10-kilometer Imam Shashnoor road, which started in June 2013 and finished in February 2014. What was previously a two-hour journey by motor vehicle now takes only 20 minutes.

Disabilities are often consequences of poverty, and they deepen poverty. The sustainable development goals that will be defined by the United Nations should take the concerns of the people affected into account. The United Nations missed that chance when it set the agenda of the Millennium Development Goals 15 years ago.

The recognition of mutuality and interdependence drives much of the post-2015 development vision. Rather than an agenda dictated by rich countries to poor or conflict-affected countries, the post-2015 agenda is based on principles of universality. The goals, and the role that each nation plays in achieving them, are meant to be shared.