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Reporting the underreported about the plan of action for People, Planet and Prosperity, and efforts to make the promise of the SDGs a reality.
A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.


SGI Soka Gakkai International

 

Photo: With the lockdown to fend off the spread of COVID-19, many Southern Africans, have lost their jobs and switched to vending on the streets where they engage in cat and mouse games with police enforcing lockdown rules. Consequently, the game to survive still remains tough for most Africans as they battle to support their children amid schools closure. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | INPS-IDN

By Jeffrey Moyo

MUSINA, South Africa (IDN) – His three teenage children play home-made paper ball on the dusty streets of Musina, exercise books scattered on the veranda of their rented home in the South African border town with Zimbabwe. Yet Gerald Gava, the children's 47-year old father, lies on a reed mat spread on the veranda, apparently with nothing to do after he stopped working three months ago as the lockdown took toll on the construction company that employed him.

Gava, who is a migrant from Zimbabwe, said even his children have had to remain home as schools also shut down, thanks to the coronavirus that has pounded the entire globe. (P13) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

Project Articles

Photo: Zimbabwe school children | UNICEF/UN050424/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Zimbabwe is experimenting with a bold attempt to make parents prioritize education and bring down drop-out rates.

Harare has amended its laws to make the first 12 years of schooling compulsory. Children are now required by law to stay in school for an extra five years to 16 years of age.

It is also now an offence to expel children on the grounds of pregnancy or non-payment of fees.

Goal 4

Photo: Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Chair of the LLDCs Group, speaking at at the Ambassadorial level First 2020 Meeting of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries on 22 Januray. Credit: Kazakhstan Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

By Ambassador Kairat Umarov

Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) on 8 January for the period 2020-2021. The following are extensive excerpts from the statement of LLDC Chair Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York, at the First 2020 Meeting of the LLDCs at the Ambassadorial level.

Goal 4

Photo: An adolescent girl conducts an experiment during a chemistry class in Kamulanga Secondary School in Lusaka, Zambia. Credit: UNICEF Photo/UN0145554/Karin Schermbrucker

Viewpoint by Michael W. Lodge

The writer is Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. ISA headquarters are in Kingston, Jamaica.

Goal 4

Photo: Young women return home after classes in the town of Bol in Chad. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

By Kwame Buist

NEW YORK (IDN) – “Without education, we cannot achieve any of the SDGs,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned a meeting held at United Nations headquarters to mark International Day of Education.

And yet, with 2030 – the year set by the United Nations for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – looming on the horizon, the world is lagging behind, prompting the UN Secretary-General to issue a global call for a Decade of Action to accelerate their implementation.

Goal 4

Photo: Main Building of the Peoples Friendship University in Moscow. Courtesy of PFUR University.

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

MOSCOW (IDN) – If education is the ultimate gift one can give a child, then, the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia has given that gift to more than 150,000 deserving young men and women from many countries around the world – who otherwise would never have had the opportunity to receive higher education — especially in a foreign country.

Goal 4

Photo: Children raise their hands to answer a question in class at a UNICEF learning space in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (8 July 2019). Credit: UNICEF Patrick Brown

By Sean Buchanan

NEW YORK (IDN) – Although there have been historic gains over the last 30 years in improving children’s lives, urgent action is needed if the poorest children are to feel the impact, warns a new UN report.

The report, published on November 18 by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and released ahead of World Children’s Day on November 20, calls on countries to recommit to promises made under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989.

Goal 4

Photo: Ambassador Chowdhury speaking on 2 October 2019 at the Soka University of America (SUA). Credit: Courtesy of SUA photographers.

Viewpoint by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury *

The writer is the founder of The Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP), former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations.

ALISO VIEJO, California, USA (IDN-INPS) – My life’s experience has taught me to value peace and equality as the essential components of our existence. They unleash the positive forces of good that are so needed for human progress. Peace is integral to human existence — in everything we do, in everything we say, and in every thought, we have, there is a place for peace. We should not isolate peace as something separate. It is important to realize that the absence of peace takes away the opportunities that we need to better ourselves, to prepare ourselves, to empower ourselves to face the challenges of our lives, individually and collectively.

Goal 4

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres launched Youth 2030, the United Nations Youth Strategy, at a high-level Event held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, 24 September 2018. Credit: Mark Garten/UN Photo ​

By Jayathma Wickramanayake

The writer is UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Following are extensive excerpts from her article in July 2019 issue of the UN Chronicle. The views expressed do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – At the end of May this year, I visited the Gaza Strip for the first time in my life. I was there to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) with their work on advocacy, policy influencing and resource mobilization. While visiting a school, I met two young people, Deema and Kareem, who were kind enough to show me around. Deema, Kareem and their friends dream of becoming teachers, doctors or engineers.

Goal 4

  1. ‘Green Tickets’ for First Ever UN Youth Climate Summit
  2. Rohingya Refugee Children Want to Learn, Says UNICEF
  3. Transforming Education for a New Generation of Leaders
  4. Afghani Teenager in Kyrgyzstan Plunges into Learning
  5. Nigeria Restores the Study of History in Public Schools

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