SDGs for All is a joint media project of the global news organization International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It aims to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets. It offers in-depth news and analyses of local, national, regional and global action for people, planet and prosperity. This project website is also a reference point for discussions, decisions and substantive actions related to 17 goals and 169 targets to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.
Viewpoint by Graça Machel
The author, who writes this piece following the recent publication of the Africa Report on Child Wellbeing and the African Child-Friendliness Index, is the widow of Nelson Mandela and former First Lady of both South Africa and Mozambique. She is Chair of the International Board of Trustees of the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF).
ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Nelson Mandela famously said “History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.”
By Devendra Kamarajan
ACCRA (IDN) – A young inventor, Frank Darko, has designed a water cycle to help Ghanaian children living in villages throughout the Volta region reach schools. Currently, they must swim or wade through at least one river every day to get to the nearest school. This is particularly dangerous during the rainy season, three months a year.
Frank Darko, a 27-year-old Ghanaian man, was moved to action in 2017, after seeing a documentary and news reports about the children’s plight, reports Raluca Besliu in YaleGlobal. He invented a water bicycle to help children and others living in river regions to cross bodies of water.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – Worldwide movements and corporate walk-outs have exposed the magnitude of violence against women and girls and highlighted how often such violence is normalized. Research shows that violence against women and girls affects one in three women worldwide and that no country is immune to this pandemic. Yet instead of holding perpetrators accountable, women and girls who experience violence are often blamed and their testimonies systematically called into question.
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE (IDN) – In 2013, Kalpana Saroj, Chairperson of the Mumbai-based Kamani Tubes Ltd. (KTL), was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest honour for civilians, for her achievements in the fields of Trade and Industry.
Saroj was successful in turning around the fortunes of KTL, a manufacturing company producing quality copper and copper alloy pipes and tubes. She succeeded where others, including well-networked, male corporate honchos, failed. (P14) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | TURKISH
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) – The Social Forum of the UN Human Rights Council serves since 2008 as a unique space for open and interactive dialogue between civil society actors, representatives of Member States, and intergovernmental organizations, on a theme chosen by the Council each year. The 2018 Social Forum, with Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez as the Chairperson-Rapporteur, distinguished itself in more than one way.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK(IDN) – Tanzania-based WomenChoice Industries and Mukuru Clean Stoves of Kenya are the global winners of the SDGs and Her Competition that seeks to increase knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their potential impact on women, as well as to encourage private sector partners and share best practices and innovative ideas.
They were celebrated at a side-event on September 24, 2018 during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly. The contest – co-sponsored by the World Bank Group, UNDP, UN Women, and the Wharton School Zicklin Center – showcases women micro-entrepreneurs who are helping to achieve the SDGs through their businesses.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) – A new United Nations report warns that "in a wide variety of countries," both physical violence and legal prosecution are used against Indigenous Peoples defending their rights and lands. They are "criminalized".
The report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to the UN Human Rights Council describes how private sector interests collude with governments in coveting the lands of Indigenous Peoples for economic development projects.
She was Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 2005 to 2010, and actively engaged in drafting and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.
By Julia Payne
MARRAKECH (IDN) – As a society, we have hopes and dreams for the future; for our children, our countries, and the global community. These aspirations rest on the shoulders of the young generation. August 12, 2018 marked the 18th celebration of the UN's annual International Youth Day.
This awareness day was a unique opportunity to reflect on youth's challenges and to celebrate and support the world’s future leaders. This year’s theme, 'Safe Spaces for Youth' highlighted the importance of youth’s engagement, participation, and freedom of thought.
Viewpoint by Katherine O’Neill*
MARRAKECH (IDN) – The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has the lowest female employment rate of anywhere in the world. Though most countries in the MENA region, including Libya and Iran, have seen gradually increasing rates of working women, Morocco’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate has actually decreased since 1999, now sitting at 26 percent, according to Brookings.
This decline not only contradicts global and regional trends, but also comes despite significant efforts both by the Moroccan government and NGOs to increase women’s education, in hopes of improving their employment opportunities. The World Bank estimates that higher FLFP rates could result in a 25 percent average increase in household income, something which would dramatically improve the lives of men, women, and youth in the region.
By Shanta Roy
NEW YORK (IDN) – When the United Nations commemorated World Youth Skills Day on July 16, there was one strong underlying theme that overshadowed the event.
Despite marked progress in the role of youth in a society increasingly characterized by high technology and artificial intelligence, the new generation, particularly in the developing world, was still lagging far behind in the fast-moving digital world.
Addressing a High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on July 16, the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed pointed out a realistically depressing fact: globally, over 291 million children attend primary schools without any electricity.
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