Tag Archive for: Sustainable Development Goals

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How Turkish Soccer Is Fighting Poverty

Fighting Poverty
The United Nations Development Programme has recently collaborated with the top Turkish soccer club, Galatasaray Sports Club, to help promote the Sustainable Development Goals, the world’s leading poverty eradication initiative.

After winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2000, the Turkish soccer club has kept worldwide support for its athletic ventures. With stars like Wesley Sneijder representing the team, fans of international competitions have taken their enthusiasm to the club scene. Galatasaray is able to add on an impressive domestic following with over 20 local league cup wins, and in addition, has established bases in Turkey’s biggest city, Istanbul.

Four of the iconic Galatasaray players, “captain Selçuk İnan of Turkey, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera of Uruguay, Aurélien Chedjou of Cameroon, and the Netherlands’ Wesley Sneijder,” starred in a video promoting the new partnership between the football club and the UNDP. In the video, the players stress the idea of “leave no one behind” in a world where many are forgotten in poverty.

Outside of the film room, the club continues to make its mark. Along with the UNDP, “Galatasaray will raise funds for a diversity of programmes to tackle poverty, inequalities and exclusion across the world,” according to a UNDP article.  Even so, this isn’t the first Turkish soccer club that has set humanitarian goals. In 2014 and 2015, the organization assisted with the relief of flooded communities and victims of mining disasters.

Soccer unites people despite language, geographic and political barriers. The World Cup is the single most watched sporting event in the world, with over 700 million viewers watching the 2010 final. Millions of children, and even adults, admire the stars that play on their favorite teams. It’s only natural that these spotlighted individuals should take the lead in the fight against global poverty.

France’s Zinedine Zidane and Brazil’s Ronaldo are two iconic examples of soccer stars joining the fight against poverty. Last year the duo, along with many other stars such as van de Sar and Seedorf, put together the 12th annual Match Against Poverty, in conjunction with the UNDP and EUFA, the European soccer authority. The money from the tickets which cost “from €8 to €12” went to “aid specific projects in different countries dealing with difficult challenges.”

With power and wealth on the line, soccer’s role models quickly become the hopes and dreams of children all around the world. Youth most affected by poverty in countries with glorified soccer stars use the potential for glory and riches as motivation to conquer their own situations. Sometimes, the stories of players they watch are not unlike their own.

In Brazil, Adriano and Ronaldo are just two of those kids that have climbed out of poverty with their skills on the ball. A talent scout for Flamengo, a local professional club, says, “For Brazilian kids growing up in some of the world’s roughest neighborhoods, soccer is a ray of hope amid violence and poverty.” Around 800 Brazilian kids are able to escape the country and poverty with professional soccer careers, which is not many when the population size is considered.

Professional soccer careers are not the logical solution to poverty, but the sport is promoting poverty’s eradication in ways like Galatasaray’s public service announcement, which is in association with the Sustainable Development Goals. Soccer’s far-reaching scope and enthusiastic following can increase awareness and support for the goals of ending poverty.

– Jacob Hess

Photo: Flickr

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The Life Sack: Providing Access to Improved Water Globally

Life-SackApproximately 63 million people do not have access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). To address this problem, industrial designers Jung Uk Park, Myeong Hoon Lee and Dae You Lee came up with the Life Sack.

The Life Sack functions as a water purifier that utilizes solar water disinfection process (SODIS) technology. UVA radiation and thermal treatment work together to kill toxic microorganisms and bacteria.

Typically, UVA radiation and thermal treatment are individually harmful to microorganisms and bacteria. The combined effect, therefore, increases the efficacy of the purification process. Moreover, the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composition lends the Life Sack a high sunlight penetration ratio and durability.

Fashioned as a backpack, the Life Sack also ensures ease of mobility, which is especially crucial for areas without sources of water. These areas rely on individuals to travel outside of the community to supply the water that they need.

Water purification is not the only way that the Life Sack can be used.

The designers were partly inspired by how nongovernmental organizations and other charities often sent their supplies, such as grain and other food staples, in sacks. The Life Sack can thus double as a storage unit, allowing users to easily store and transfer goods other than water when needed. According to CauseTech, some nongovernmental organizations now use the Life Sack rather than “conventional food bags” to send their goods.

Since the initial launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), great improvements have been made in global access to improved sources of drinking water. From 1990 to 2015, the percentage of the global population with access to improved sources of drinking water has risen from 76 percent to 91 percent.

Further improvements are still to be made. Of the 63 million without access to clean water, most are concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern and Southeast Asia.

A lack of access to clean water increases the propensity for water-borne diseases. Figures from WHO indicate that 760,000 children under five die of diarrheal diseases every year. More universal access to clean water would help in reducing this number.

Goal six of the United Nations’ 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addresses the need to “ensure access to water and sanitation for all” by 2030. Innovations like the Life Sack may support this effort toward increasing global access to improved water sources.

– Jocelyn Lim

Sources: Inhabitat, SODIS, Tuvie, The United Nations, UNICEF

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Heifer International: Donate a Cow for Economic Stability

Heifer_International
75 percent of the world’s poor make a living in rural areas and most people depend on agriculture for survival. The recently-implemented Sustainable Development Goals aim to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” by 2030.

Alleviating poverty in rural areas is the mission of Heifer International. The organization furthers agriculture by helping small-scale farms achieve empowerment and financial security.

When founder Dan West arrived in Spain to provide relief for refugees of the Spanish Civil War, he found families living off of a single cup of milk per day. West realized that in order for people to recover from the war, they needed more than a cup of milk. They needed the entire cow.

With the help of donors, Heifer International delivers livestock to rural areas, along with a team of volunteers to provide guidance and training. Animals such as cows, chickens and bees do double duty in the fight against global poverty because they provide both food and reliable income through agricultural products.

In less than 70 years, Heifer International has achieved widespread success. Participants give the first female offspring of their livestock to the next family in need, as well as share the training they received. Entire communities transform into thriving, self-sufficient farms within a few seasons.

Furthermore, reducing poverty in rural areas positively impacts education and women’s empowerment, which further reduces hunger. Educated farmers produce twice as many consumer goods as their non-educated counterparts, according to Farming First.

Likewise, if women had equal access to education and resources, malnutrition would decrease by as much as 17 percent.

With the holidays around the corner, now is the perfect time to donate in honor of a friend or loved one. In 2011, 79 percent of Americans reported that they would rather have a charitable donation in their name than receive a gift they probably won’t use. Why not consider donating a cow?

– Sarah Prellwitz

Sources: World Bank, Farming First, Heifer, Red Cross
Photo: Flickr

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Maternal Death Rates Plummet Worldwide

maternal_deaths
Maternal deaths have been cut nearly in half since 1990 according to a new report by the United Nations and World Bank. Thanks to increased access to reproductive and family planning health services, mortality rates have shrunk to 216 per 100,000 live births in 2015 from 385 in 1990.

East Asia made especially notable progress, reducing its mortality rate from 90 to 27. Nine countries: Bhutan, Cambodia, Cape Verde, East Timor, Iran, Laos, The Maldives, Mongolia and Rwanda have cut rates by up to 75-90 percent.

While optimistic, experts warn that progress has been inequitable among developing countries and has fallen well short of the Sustainable Development Goal to achieve a worldwide reduction of maternal deaths of 75 percent.

“Many countries will make little progress, or even fall behind, over the next 15 years if we don’t make a big push now,” said Executive Director for the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.

Nearly all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, 70 percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and most cases occur in rural and remote communities where women face inadequate access to medical care.maternal_death_rates

Common causes of maternal death include infections, severe bleeding, high blood pressure during pregnancy and complications during delivery – risks that health officials urge are entirely preventable.

That’s why the World Health Organization (WHO), within the framework of the newly launched UN Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health, has begun a vigorous campaign to address the disconnect between expectant mothers and well-trained healthcare providers in impoverished communities.

Under the mandate of the Global Strategy, the WHO will partner with local governments to ensure that every mother has access to prenatal and antenatal care, that health care providers are performing at globally set standards, and that healthcare systems are receiving the resources and funding they need to respond to the patient needs.

The organization has designed and implemented training materials and is offering public policy guidance and progress tracking programs.

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal, however, the U.N. and WHO acknowledge that their strategy will need to couple delivery of care with educational initiatives.

They will engage women in marginalized communities, teaching them practices to maintain their health and the health of their babies – lessons that the organizations believe will challenge traditional and cultural modes of thinking about healthcare.

The World Bank has expressed confidence in these efforts and has reported receiving increasingly reliable birthing data from local governments. “Ending maternal deaths by 2030 is an achievable goal if we redouble our efforts,” said World Bank Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population, Dr. Tim Evans.

– Ron Minard

Sources: Reuters, UN, WHO, World Bank
Photo: Pixabay, Flickr

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Why Foreign Aid is Important for the SDGs

SDGs
The recent announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September creates a shift in the mentality towards foreign aid and international development.

While the previous United Nations (U.N.) initiative for development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused strictly on improving the conditions for those in developing countries, the SDGs apply to every country.

The SDGs include 17 target goals on various issues such as climate change, economic growth, women’s rights, equality and health. This is an expansion from the MDGs, which included eight goals.

Furthermore, by making SDGs relevant to every country that ratifies them, the SDGs blur binaries such as developing/developed, global north/global south and first world/third world.

As Professor Heinrietta Moore, director of the UCL Global Prosperity Institute, said in an op-ed published in The Guardian, “we are all developing countries from now on.”

The U.N. is hopeful that this shift in mentality will promote teamwork, collaboration and partnerships between countries across boundaries. Furthermore, the SDGs create a list of goals that all countries must work towards. No country has already completed the SDGs.

While all countries must strive to complete the SDGs, some countries are more equipped to do this than others. Funding will be critical to achieving the SDGs. Currently, it costs $30 billion per year to eradicate global hunger and another $66 billion per year to provide a social safety net to help those in extreme poverty.SDGs

However, the most critical goal is implementing long-term positive change to meet the SDGs. According to Dr. Kohona, a former chief of the U.N. Treaty Section, building and maintaining the infrastructure required will come at an astronomical price.

He roughly estimates that annual investments to infrastructure will cost $7 trillion per year. These investments will be crucial to meeting SDGs targets on water, electricity, agriculture and transportation.

Naturally, this $7 trillion cost must be shared, but how it will be shared has yet to be fully determined. The development assistance commitment made by developed countries to share 0.7 percent of their GNP with developing countries would be a great start.

Presently, this commitment is not fulfilled by all countries. The U.S., for example, invests less than 0.2 percent. On average, countries who have agreed to share 0.7 percent of their GNP send about 0.3 percent.

Funding this investment in infrastructure could also be supported through other initiatives on a national level. U.S. legislation, such as the Electrify Africa Act and the Reach Every Mother and Child Act, if ratified, would fit under this category.

In a recent letter received by the author from President Obama regarding foreign policy states “ultimately, we will brighten America’s future and the lives of countless women and men by growing the ranks of prosperous, capable, and democratic states that can work with us in the decades ahead.”

Hopefully, our intentions are matched by our actions, and this is done on a global level. While incredibly ambitious, every bit of progress made towards the SDGs indicates an improvement in someone’s livelihood.

– Priscilla McCelvey

Sources: The Borgen Project, The Guardian, IPS News, Personal letter from the President
Photo: Flickr, Wikipedia

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MDG Failures

MDG Failures MDGs
As 2015 comes to a close and the world takes a look at the progress that has been made, it is clear that while much has been accomplished — with more than a billion people having been lifted out of poverty — many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were not complete successes, and some failed outright. Discussed below are the MDG failures and their implications.

Shortcomings: Assessing the MDG Failures

One of the major MDG failures is the fact that the success of the goals was not experienced equally across the globe; this in itself is a major defeat. Consider a few of these statistics from different countries concerning the same MDGs.

Extreme Poverty 50 Percent Reduction Rate:

  1. Southeastern Asia exceeded the goal for extreme poverty reduction by 16 percent
  2. Southern Asia exceeded the goal by 12.5 percent
  3. Northern Africa scraped by at about 1.2 percent
  4. Sub-Saharan Africa was by far the most behind. It did not even meet the goal for extreme poverty reduction and was 12.5 percent away from doing so.

The extreme poverty reduction goal of at least a 50 percent reduction in those living on $1.25 a day arguably had the best statistics for each country; from there it goes steadily downhill. This trend can be seen throughout the different Millennium Development Goals. Sub-Saharan Africa was far from reaching its goals, and not one country achieved the goal set for maternal mortality rate reduction.MDG_failures

Gender inequality was also a focus of the MDGs, but unfortunately, according to the United Nations, “gender inequality persists in spite of more representation of women in parliament and more girls going to school. Women continue to face discrimination in access to work, economic assets and participation in private and public decision-making.”

Although there were huge successes achieved through the MDGs, it is important to note that more than 800 million people continue to live in extreme poverty.

According to the U.N., “children from the poorest 20 percent of households are more than twice as likely to be stunted as those from the wealthiest 20 percent and are also four times as likely to be out of school. In countries affected by conflict, the proportion of out-of-school children increased from 30 percent in 1999 to 36 percent in 2012.”

In addition, the numbers for global emissions of carbon dioxide as well as water scarcity are disheartening. There has been a 50 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions and water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the world in comparison to 1990 statistics.

Although there have been failures in trying to implement the goals, all hope is not lost. Progress in the form of the Sustainable Development Goals is already being made.

Global leaders are regrouping, and as the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, “The emerging post-2015 development agenda, including the set of Sustainable Development Goals, strives to build on our successes and put all countries, together, firmly on track towards a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable world.”

– Drusilla Gibbs

Sources: IRIN News, UN
Photo: Flickr, Pixabay

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How War Impacts the Poor

war impacts the poor
The introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) marked a deadline: the world has 15 years to eradicate global poverty. However, in order to achieve this goal, the causes of global poverty must be carefully analyzed. One such factor is how war impacts those who are living in poverty.

Afghanistan, Iran, Sub-Saharan Africa, Syria and others continue to be plagued with war and violence, and many individuals fall into what is known as a “poverty trap.” While peaceful countries are escaping poverty and violence, corrupt government leadership often leads to war which pushes societies into poverty.

Researchers from Stanford University studied the correlation between war and poverty and found four criteria that explain how war affects the poor.

Low GDP

Statistical research on poverty and conflict suggests that countries within the 50th percentile for income have a 7-11 percent risk of experiencing civil conflict. On the other hand, countries within the 10th percentile have a risk that rises to 15-18 percent.

For example, according to the World Bank, the Middle East has experienced a 30 percent decrease in GDP per capita since 1999. According to Stanford’s research, a 1 percent increase in GDP growth could reduce the risk of internal conflict by roughly 1 percent.

Large Youth Population

Almost 60 percent of the world’s poor are under the age of 25. With high youth populations, research shows that parents have more children in developing countries to cope with the lack of environmental resources in impoverished areas.

“[Long-term] demographic and economic data indicate that high fertility raises absolute levels of poverty by slowing economic growth, reducing the poverty reduction that growth would have helped deliver, and skewing the distribution of consumption against the poor,” The UN Population Fund reports.

Poor Education Systems

Compared to the national secondary school net enrollment of 92 percent between 2000 and 2004, developing countries had a mere 30 percent secondary school enrollment. By increasing schools’ enrollment by 10 percent, the average risk of conflict can drop 3 percent.

Dependence on Natural Resources

Natural resource dependence has been linked to both rebellion and a weak government. Previous research by Stanford University showed that only high-value, easily extracted resources including agriculture and diamonds further increase the likelihood of war.

Thus, from understanding these four criteria, it is clear that global leaders will have to collaborate and find solutions for people who are trapped in poverty due to war.

– Alexandra Korman

Sources: The Brookings Institution, The Economist
Photo: Rescue.Org

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How Farmers Following The SDGs Can Help End Hunger

Farmers_Following_the_SDGs
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been officially chosen and released with a target date of 2030. According to Farming First, “agriculture accounts for 37 percent of employment, 34 percent of land use, 70 percent of water use and up to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.”

If agriculture can be made more efficient, we may have a shot at feeding everyone in the world, a number that will reach 9 billion in 2050.

Farmers following the SDGs can help end poverty and hunger, consequently reducing negative effects caused by these problems. They can also help fight climate change globally. Farming First talked to farmers to see what they had to say about what they needed most to help them reach goals that were attainable for them.

In Bangladesh, Anwar Hosen had been selling seed, fertilizer and crop protection without any formal kind of training. The Feed the Future initiative taught Anwar about high-quality agricultural inputs and was given more readily available access to these inputs. Anwar now understands the difference that high-quality seeds and fertilizer can make, as his clients have reported a higher crop yield.

In Cambodia, Chieng Sophat is a bean and cucumber farmer in the province of Battambang. Sophat has been farming since the 1980s and has always had trouble making money due to flooding that can often destroy an entire crop yield. Sophat notes that things are getting worse as climate change all over the globe intensifies.

Thanks to the project Cambodia HARVEST, Sophat has been shown ways to better manage the water on his farm. Through methods like raised plant beds and drip irrigation, which help get his crops through the dry season, Sophat has seen notable success.

He now has extra income from his higher crop yield that he is able to use to “pay for his children’s school and household improvements,” according to Impatient Optimists. Most of the world’s farmers live in developing countries, and growing agriculture has been proven to be twice as effective in reducing poverty compared to the growth of any other sector.

In order for us to be able to end global poverty and be able to feed 9 billion people by 2050, we must ensure that farmers have access to the knowledge and training that will allow them to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of their crops while using sustainable methods.

– Drusilla Gibbs

Sources: Farming First, Impatient Optimists
Photo: Pixabay

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Impact of #LightTheWay on Sustainable Development Goals

Light-The-Way
On Sept. 24, at sundown, thousands of candles, flashlights and lanterns were raised to the sky in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Sustainable Development Goals

These 17 goals, which would be announced by world leaders in New York the following day, range from ending poverty to protecting marine life and providing quality education.

Each country would decide whether or not to commit to the fifteen-year agenda to “end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.”

The Sustainable Development Goals were designed to build upon their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, implemented from 2000 to 2015, targeted the eradication of poverty, disease and hunger.

Now nations hope that the SDGs will finish the deal by directly addressing issues that promote poverty, such as unsanitary water and social inequality.

“This agreement marks an important milestone in putting our world on an inclusive and sustainable course,” says Helen Clark, the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

The biggest challenge now is ensuring that these goals remain on track and leaders exercise vigilance in carrying them out. This is where #LightTheWay steps in.

#LightTheWay For a Better Planet

#LightTheWay was founded by action/2015, one of the largest civil society campaigns. The idea was to “call on leaders to light the way to a better future for people and planet.”

#LightTheWay, described by Our Voices as “a tidal wave of humanity,” ensured that the Sustainable Development Goals will not be quickly forgotten. It tells leaders “we’ll be watching every step of the way to ensure they are met.”

Over 100,000 people in cities across the globe organized vigils in both public and private settings to send a message to world leaders that their citizens support the Sustainable Development Goals.

Organizations such as Our Voice and action/2015 encouraged participants to post pictures and videos of the vigils on social media with the caption “#Lighttheway.”

Some world leaders see the enthusiasm and determination as a promise of a better future and fully support their citizens’ efforts in #LightTheWay.

A Global Effort

After more than 150 people gathered on the Millennium Bridge in Dublin, Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins, said, “It is my hope that by 2030, we will look back on the 25 September 2015 as a decisive moment in global history.”

Even prominent figures such as Stephen Hawking and Malala Yousafzai participated in #LightTheWay to show their desire for a safer and more stable world.

Said UN Youth Delegate Eoin O’Liathain, “These new goals are lighting the way forward, everyone must work to make them a reality.”

– Sarah Prellwitz

Sources: Action 2015/span>, Our Voices, UNDP, UN , Development Education Programme
Photo: Action 2015

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UN Sustainable Development Summit Highlights Women’s Rights

Sustainable_Development_Summit
Global economics, health and sustainability are some of the usual discussion points at the United Nations. However, at the recently held U.N. Sustainable Development Summit, Ban Ki-moon, the U.N.’s secretary-general, put the spotlight on women’s empowerment.

“We cannot achieve our 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development without full and equal rights for half of the world’s population, in law and in practice. We cannot effectively respond to humanitarian emergencies without ensuring women and girls are protected and their needs prioritized,” said Ban Ki-moon during an event hosted by U.N. Women and China.

The Sustainable Development Summit discussed the Sustainable Development Goals, which are a follow-up to the Millennium Development goals created in 2000. These Sustainable Development Goals include the goal to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

To this end, Ban Ki-moon asked leaders to commit to ending gender inequality, pointing to “This means urgently addressing structural barriers, such as unequal pay.” He also discussed other gender inequalities, such as the importance of women’s bodily autonomy, gender violence and the encouragement of women’s participation in the workforce.

The United Nations, founded in 1945, began addressing gender inequalities prior to this summit. In 2010, The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or U.N. Women, began. U.N. Women helps to streamline the U.N.’s efforts in advancing gender equality in all member states.

This past summer, the United Nations Security Council condemned the use of sexual violence during wartime, in reference to Syria and Iraq.

To help encourage gender equality to reality by 2030, businesses pledged millions of dollars At the Business and Philanthropy Leader’s Forum, co-hosted by U.N. Women, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Alibaba Group.

Now global citizens wait to see how many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals will become a reality. With the recent attention to women’s rights, the United Nations starts the journey to make gender equality a reality within member states.

– Rachelle Kredentser

Sources: UN 1, UN 2, UN 3, UN Women, UN 4, UN 5
Photo: Pixabay