SDGs Explained to Young PeopleDecember 2015

Erika Bruzonic – Financing for Development MOOC

In July 2015, UN Member States reached a final agreement on the Global Goals. The aim of this agreement is to commit efforts towards ensuring that people around the world live better, without damaging the planet. States will work toward achieving them within the next 15 years, from 2015 to 2030. These Goals, which come after the Millennium Development Goals end, are known as the Sustainable Development Goals.

What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

How many SDGs are there and what are they?

1) End poverty in all its forms everywhere 2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 3) Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 5) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all

9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation 10) Reduce inequality within and among countries 11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Advertisement15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

Goals 9 thru 17…

Within the goals are 169 targets, to put a bit of meat on the bones.

Targets under goal one, for example, include reducing by at least half the number of people living in poverty by 2030, and eradicating extreme poverty

(people living on less than $1.25 a day).

The UN led an Open Working Group, comprised of Member States’ representatives, which met 13 times throughout 2013 and 2014. Accompanied by a team of technical experts on education, health, climate and other topics, this group discussed the most pressing issues facing people around the world and standing in the way of improving life for all people and the planet. They wrote a “Declaration” to introduce the Goals to the world, as well as some ideas on how the Goals would be put into practice, and how they would be monitored over the next 15 years to see if progress is being achieved.

How were the Global Goals Chosen?

The majority seem to be, but a handful of member states feel that an agenda consisting of 17 goals is too unwieldy to implement or sell to the public, and would prefer a narrower brief. Or so they say. Some believe the underlying reason is to get rid of some of the more uncomfortable goals, such as those relating to the environment.

Are governments happy about the

proposed 17 goals?

How will the goals be measured?

The indicators are still being thrashed out by an expert group. Each indicator is being assessed for its feasibility, suitability and relevance, and roughly two for each target are expected. The indicators are due to be finalised in March 2016.

Ah, Charlie Brown –that’s the trillion-dollar question! Public finance and aid would be central to support the implementation of the SDGs. But experts insist that money generated from the private sector, through tax reforms, and through a crackdown on illicit financial flows and corruption, is also vital.

Let me ask the Key Question: How will the goals be funded?

The SDGs have been officially adopted at a UN summit in New York in September 2015, and will become applicable from January 2016.

The deadline for the SDGS is 2030.

When will the new goals come into force?

Every dollar and economic activity has an impact on sustainable development – positive or negative. Businesses and financial markets are increasingly connecting economies and ecologies across borders through global value chains. They will need to have a much bigger role, not just in financing, but also in their impact on realising social goals, partnering with governments, working with civil society, and contributing ideas.

What role should the private sector have?

All assessments of the MDGs point to enormous material progress on average, and a decline in the share of extreme poor people by more than half worldwide since the MDGs were adopted in 2000. In fact, this progress is led by Asia, home to more than half of humanity. However, the MDGs agenda remains unfinished, as disparities are evident and serious challenges to people’s quality of life persist, while new challenges have emerged. The SDGs fold in the MDGs into a more comprehensive 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which includes the underlying causes and a clearer emphasis on the means of implementation under each goal, as well as overall.

Are the MDGs no longer relevant?

Do your part: Be kind to the Environment!

Thank you

Sources: The Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Movimiento Mundial por la Infancia de Latinoamérica y el Caribe What is Development? Jan Eliasson From Billions to Trillions: MDB Contributions to Financing for Development