Nowhere are the challenges of achieving sustainable development in the face of a changing climate more acute than in the Sahel. As the world prepares to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a unique opportunity to secure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the region. The first meeting of the Steering committee will seek to forge a positive, actionable agenda on the change of narrative, providing a supporting framework for all members. It will bring together a wide range of stakeholders from various sectors to discuss opportunities to galvanize solutions to the complexity of the political, socio-economic and security challenges across the Sahel, now compounded by the pandemic.