Demystifying the Social Development Goals
By the Global People’s Summit
Imagine bringing 200 voices into one space and asking them to agree on a plan to radically address the world’s greatest challenges: poverty, food insecurity, unemployment, education gaps, climate change, conflict, inequality, and more. Would they all agree? Could they, despite their unique perspectives, come together to address these complex issues? Could they do so in a way that was systematic, effective, inclusive and sustainable?
In 2015, world leaders from 193 countries gathered at the United Nations (UN) and together, they agreed on a plan to achieve 17 extraordinary things by 2030 for people and the planet.
The Sustainable Development Goals are an action plan for global progress.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious set of 17 goals for creating a better, more just world. Each goal is divided into indicators, clear targets by which countries, organizations and people can measure and drive progress. At their core, the SDGs are roadmap to get from the world we know to the world we want to have, with an ambitious goal of “leaving no one behind”.
The SDGs can be summarized in 5 core themes:
People: The SDGs aim to ensure dignity and equality for all people by ending challenges like poverty and hunger. While great progress has been made (the number of people living below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day halved between 1999 and 2013) there is still much to do. People are unable to make important contributions to the world because they lack the support and access to resources they need to do so effectively. Economic losses from disasters are now reaching an average of $250 billion to $300 billion a year. Approximately 1.75 million refugee children are not in primary school. In 2015, 946 million people in the world still had no access to any kind of toilet putting them at a much higher risk of contracting life-threatening diseases. We need to work together to give people a fair chance to build a better world.
Prosperity: The SDGs envision a world where everyone has equal access to resources and live prosperous and fulfilling lives in harmony with nature. Inequalities hamper progress. With all of the creative possibility in the world, it is astounding that global unemployment has passed 200 million people.There are an estimated 10 million stateless people worldwide who have been denied a nationality and lack access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement. In Kenya, 2 million people are estimated to live in informal settlements in the country’s urban areas with illegal, unreliable, unsafe access to electricity. Evidence points to a rise in global wealth inequality — for example, in China, Europe and the United States of America the top 10% of earners in society own more than 70% of total wealth. The systems and social structures that shape our daily lives should support us.
Planet: The SDGs seek to protect natural resources and the climate for future generations. If everyone in the world lived the way people do in the United States, it would take five Earths to provide enough resources for everyone. Up to 40 percent of food in the United States is never eaten, yet one in eight Americans struggle to put enough food on the table. Most of this food waste is at household level. Just five countries in the world create over 50% of global CO2 emissions. Between 1990 and 2015, the world’s forest area diminished from 31.7 percent of the world’s total land mass to 30.7 per cent. We only have one earth and must sustain it for generations to come.
Peace: The SDGs advocate for peaceful and inclusive societies with fair justice systems. At least 1,019 human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists have been killed in 61 countries since 2015. This is equivalent to one person killed every day while working to build a world free from fear. Nearly 8 in 10 children aged 1 to 14 years were subjected to some form of psychological aggression and/or physical punishment on a regular basis at home in 81 countries, according to available data from 2005 to 2017. We live in a world where 1 person is forcibly displaced every two seconds because of conflict or persecution. Without peace, progress in every sector will be short-lived.
Partnerships: The SDGs can only be achieved when Governments, industry, civil society, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals work together. The SDGs are impossible to achieve without partnership and effective partnerships open up new opportunities for people to achieve their potential. Private funding and private capital hold great potential for growth yet only around 10 percent of current infrastructure investments come from the private sector. A recent report by the Business & Sustainable Development Commission estimates that achieving the SDGs could open up $12 trillion of market opportunities in food and agriculture, cities, energy and materials, and health and wellbeing alone. This would in turn could create 380 million new jobs by 2030. Partnerships help fill knowledge, infrastructure and systems gaps to deliver better results.
By supporting this 2030 Agenda and its 17 goals, the global community has made a commitment to practice sustainable development. What does that mean? It means working towards sustained and long-term economic growth. It means creating inclusive societies. It means taking proactive measures to protect the environment. Most importantly, since these goals cannot be achieved independently, it means taking collective action and pursuing these goals in partnership.
How can we achieve the SDGs?
We need to innovate for the better tomorrow we want. The Global People’s Summit’s theme this year is Reimagine Humanity, because we believe we need to think boldly and differently about the world’s problems. Innovations, technological and otherwise, that increase the efficiency, sustainability and scale of development solutions are critical to achieving change. We need to disrupt the status quo that’s holding back progress.
We need to collaborate across sectors to bridge critical knowledge gaps. Change will not happen in silos. Many of the SDGs intersect and must be addressed together. If we are not taking action to preserve our ecosystems (Goal 13), how will we sustain the agriculture necessary to reach food security and eliminate hunger (Goal 2)? If we are not providing a quality education to everyone (Goal 4), how will we promote equitable access to decent work opportunities (Goal 8)? By bringing sector experts together to find solutions, we encourage innovative thinking.
We need to prioritize local voices. When local people are involved in the changes that will improve their communities, the results are more sustainable and more culturally appropriate. Who better to inform the design of support systems than those who will use those systems?
We need strong, robust data to make informed decisions. Without reliable data, how can we measure our progress? How will be know what is left to be done?
At the Global People’s Summit, we explore new ways to achieve the SDGs and celebrate the people who are taking bold steps to realize them.
The Sustainable Development Goals are the People’s Goals.
What do you think about when you wake up in the morning? What are the dreams and aspirations that inspire you and propel you forward? Your goals are directly tied to the Sustainable Development Goals. There is an SDG for everyone because they were created with everyone in mind. They aim to improve our economies, our opportunities, our healthcare systems, our education, our governments, our food sources and the world around us.
Whether you come from the nonprofit space, civil society, government or for-profit sector, there are Sustainable Development Goals that are pertinent to your work. No matter where you live, there is room for growth in society. The SDGs are a framework to dream of that growth and to take concrete steps to achieve it.
In order to succeed, the Sustainable Development Goals must be the People’s Goals. The People’s Goals are our collective responsibility for global development.
Join us to learn more about how the Sustainable Development Goals can be the People’s Goals.
