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| Big goals for global well-being | | | Miniya Chatterji | 10/7/2015 11:16:29 PM |
| The return on investment on anyone's time and intelligence dedicated to the world's development problems, is far more when we ourselves act upon solutions in our own small or big way rather than constantly lament the lack of initiative in the world to do so
At a time when the world is facing a financial crisis and grappling with a refugee problem, the adoption of Global Goals by 193 countries at the United Nations headquarters in New York has a lofty aim to end poverty and hunger, fight inequality and achieve gender equality, all by 2030.
Replacing the simpler and less ambitious Millennium Development Goal, the Global Goals has a list of 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets. The progress made by the Millennium Development Goals has been uneven, and as the Global Goals take forward the mantle with a pressing deadline, this writer can count at least 14 of the 17 Global Goals where achieving them will be a highly daunting challenge.
I am by no means a sceptic. My opinion, however, is that only an exceptional action plan especially on the part of Governments, private companies as well as individuals can ensure that the Global Goals are actually achieved. A great deal of emphasis by the UN has been on publicity for the Global Goals. Also the UN has made it clear that private finance has to be the solution to the world's development problems. Further, plenty of other forums have been tied in to support the implementation of the Global Goals.
For instance, the recent Financing for Development summit held in Addis Ababa laid out ways in which countries can pay for implementing the Global Goals; in December this year, the COP21 meeting in Paris will generate consensus amongst countries to cut carbon emissions; and a meeting in March 2016 has already been scheduled for monitoring the progress made on each of the 17 Global Goals. There has been some cognizance too of the various factors that hampered the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. All this is good and necessary to keep 193 countries glued to the same gameplan. But it is by no means revolutionary, which is precisely what is needed to see the world hunger-and-poverty-free, with equality and justice for all in the next 15 years.
The world's largest problems today can still only be truly solved by responsible Government policies. Be it the refugee crisis, or the likes of the Israel-Palestine and India-Pakistan issues, civil society can provide support, but it is Governments that hold the key to change.
This is why it is imperative that the 193 countries that have signed off on the 17 Global Goals need to get into action early towards achieving them. One crucial action agenda for all countries must be to immediately integrate the Global Goals into their respective National Policies. Thereafter, the consistency in the implementation of those policies will be just as important. Despite all its virtues, democracy may not be the best-suited governance system for implementing consistent development plans. Different political parties in Government have their own development agenda, often depending on the election manifesto and party ideology. This may be more so in immature democracies or even in some developing countries where the gaps to fill are so many. Therefore, an extraordinary commitment across all political parties within a country to achieve the Global Goals, is important.
Second, we need a paradigm shift towards adopting an inclusive approach to achieving the Global Goals. This means that we do not need to divide the world into, say, developed versus developing countries, or men versus women, or even donor versus aid-recipient countries, in order to achieve the well-being of all. As a concrete example, in order to achieve gender parity amongst the 10,000 employees worldwide in the company that I work at, we aim to be inclusive of all diverse perspectives coming from employees who may be younger, older, local or foreign residents, having various educational backgrounds, men and women employees. This is proving to be a far more efficient way of increasing the numbers of employee groups which are in minority, ensuring that their individuality is preserved and not flattened out to match the dominant majority group, and that every perspective, no matter how different, is heard.
My point here is that inclusivity goes beyond being a head-count issue, and so the approach to achieving it needs to be holistic as well. A fatal lapse in the implementation plan of the Millennium Development Goals was that it focused on donor achievements rather than on development success. This is why, across all regions of the world, there are wider health gaps between men and women today than there were a decade ago, and 126 million young people in the world cannot read or write as the donor funding for education has, in fact, decreased since 2010. We must remove the barriers between the haves and the have-nots, and instead focus on achieving equal development of all.
A third imperative is that each individual in the world needs to be an agent of positive change. If the solution to achieving the Global Goals needs to be revolutionary then this is where the revolution must begin. There are still 58 million children out of school today, of which 30 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. CO2 emissions globally in the period of 2000-2011 is 48.9 per cent more than in the period of 1990-2000. Thirteen million hectares of forest land in the world is still lost each year. And, according to UN Women, if we continue with the current approach to reforms, then it will take us 50 years to achieve gender parity in Parliament and 80 years in economic participation.
There is so much to be done to bring the state of the world to the level at which the Global Goals aspire it to be. So, besides raising awareness of the Global Goals amongst people, we need to emphasise on the action taken by one and all to achieve them. We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and reflect. If we say that politics can really solve the world's greatest problems, then what is stopping every country's top talent to take on politics as a career?
The return on investment on anyone's time and intelligence dedicated to the world's development problems, is far more when we ourselves act upon solutions in our own small or big way, rather than lament the lack of initiative in the world to do so.
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