Goal 8 - SDGs for All

Photo: Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Md Kamal Hossain visiting Rohingya camp Kutupalong. Credit: Md Mojibur Rahman Rana.

A Crisis Within a Crisis for the Rohingyas

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA, Bangladesh (IDN) – Despite a well-coordinated effort to address the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal town bordering Myanmar, some major challenges still need attention.

The local administration admits that with over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens arriving in such a short time, it is indeed difficult to manage the environmental damages and rising crime rates faced by the local people. (P16) | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 21 October 2018

Photo: Winners of the 'SDGs and Her Competition' awards: Lucy Odiwa, owner of Tanzania-based WomenChoice Industries (right); and Mukuru Clean Stoves of Kenya owner, Charlot Magay (left). Credit: Sumaya Agha/UNDP

Sustainable Development Award Winners Celebrated at UN

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.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 25 September 2018

Photo: SGI Vice President Hiromasa Ikeda (2nd from left) and Dr. Pérez Esquivel (2nd from right) with two youth representatives presenting joint appeal at a press conference at Rome’s Foreign Press Association on June 5, 2018. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

To the Youth of the World: An Appeal for Resilience and Hope

By Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Daisaku Ikeda

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda's son Hiramasa Ikeda, SGI Vice President presented this appeal at a press conference at Rome's Foreign Press Association on June 5. Together with five youth from different countries, Esquivel and Hiromasa Ikeda also presented the statement at a Youth Convention on the evening of June 6 at the popular Ex Dogana performance space in the city. Organized by the Italian affiliate of SERPAJ and Soka Gakkai Italy, it was attended by 800 young people of diverse faiths including representatives of the Young Jewish Union of Italy, the Italian Buddhist Union, the Catholic Church, the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Islamic community of Italy (COREIS) and other local institutions and NGOs. Participants enjoyed music from a traditional Afghan group, “Voice of Nature,” the Soka Millennium Ensemble and DJ Massimiliano Mascaro.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 22 August 2018

Photo: Mining impacts at least two of the 17 Goals: SDG9 (Infrastructure, Innovation, and Industrialization) and SDG8 (Employment and Economic Growth). Credit: Prossy Nandudu | IDN-INPS.

A Ugandan Brings Home The Value Of Neglected Minerals

By Prossy Nandudu

KAMPALA (ACP-IDN) – With the African population expected to increase by roughly 50 percent over the next 18 years to over 1.8 billion in 2035, demands for mineral resources will also climb sharply to meet the need for additional housing units, roads, energy and other urban infrastructure using development minerals, averred Dr Patrick Gomes, Secretary General of the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group of States.

"In most ACP countries, growth rates are recorded due to the construction, mining and transport sectors. Interventions in this sector may be an effective way to help countries achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030," he told a high-level ministerial meeting of the Group at the ACP Secretariat early this year in Brussels.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 02 May 2018

Photo: Opening session of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development. Credit: UN

Social Development Commission Stresses Global Goals

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – While progress has been achieved in realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has warned that "the drop in extreme poverty remains uneven across regions, within countries and between various social groups."

Addressing the opening of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD56), she however remarked: "At the global level, we have experienced impressive reductions in extreme poverty. Significant progress has also been made in improving access to schooling and healthcare, promoting the empowerment of women, youth, persons with disabilities, older persons and indigenous populations."

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 25 February 2018

Photo: Bangkok's Khaosan area at night, with street vendors. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Sustainable Livelihoods Behind Street Vending in Thailand

By Kalinga Seneviratne

KHAOSAN, Bangkok (IDN) – When people talk about sustainable development there is rarely any mention of the many street vendors who make a living on streets in Thailand, as across the rest of Asia.

Even attempts to stop them doing business – like the unsuccessful year-long attempt by the governor of Bangkok to clean the city’s streets of street vendors – passes unnoticed in the media.

“Street vending tends to attract tourists to Bangkok, it is part of Thai lifestyle and tourists want to experience that,” says Pattama Vilailert, a tourism consultant. “Some tourists come to Thailand (especially) to taste reasonable street food.” (P46) INDONESIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TAGALOG | THAI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 15 February 2018

Photo: Burundian student Mmane Alini, 17, takes notes in class at Hope Secondary School in Nduta refugee camp, Tanzania. © UNHCR/Georgina Goodwin

Refugees, Migrants Need Courageous European Leadership

Viewpoint by Idriss Jazairy

Ambassador Idriss Jazairy is the executive director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue and the former head of a UN specialised agency, IFAD. This article first appeared* in EURACTIV on February 5, 2018 and is being re-published with their permission.

GENEVA (IDN) – More people than ever are on the move under the centrifugal impulse of globalisation. Fifteen percent of the world’s population or one billion of the Earth’s seven billion people are considered as people on the move. Host developing countries or societies bear the brunt of those that flee from their homes.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 08 February 2018

Photo: Olivia Nankindu, 27, surveys the fruits of her labor in the waning afternoon sunlight on her farm near Kyotera, Uganda. Credit: Stephan Gladieu|World Bank

UN Calls for Keeping the Promises to the World's Poorest

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – Forty-seven countries, already the world's most disadvantaged, will fall short of achieving sustainable development goals set by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda unless urgent action is taken, a new study has warned.

Recognised as least developed countries (LDCs) in UN jargon, the 47 are known to be in need of special attention from the international community. They are mostly situated in Africa South of the Sahara. Forty of the LDCs belong, among others, to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of 79 States. (P45) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 07 February 2018

Photo: A worker sorts a green leaf tea before it reaches the main processing floor at the Kitabi Tea Processing Facility in Rwanda. Credit: A’Melody Lee / World Bank

Global Upturn Offers Prospects For Sustainable Growth

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Despite an upsurge in world economic growth, which has reached 3 per cent – the highest since 2011 – very few least developed countries (LDCs) are expected to reach the Sustainable Development Goal target for GDP growth of "at least 7 per cent" in the near term (SDG 8.1), says a new United Nations report.

Goal 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – with 169 targets – adopted in September 2015 by the international community envisages promoting "inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all". Its target 1 stresses the need to "sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries." (P36) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 14 December 2017

Photo: Silk weavers of Sualkuchi in Assam, Promode Das and Dipti Das. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

Traditional Silk Weavers in India Losing Out To New Comers

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SUALKUCHI, Assam, India (IDN) – Silk weaving is an intrinsic part of Assamese culture and the "weavers' village" of Sualkuchi is famous for its silk products, especially the Muga silk made from the golden thread of the assama caterpillar. Situated about 30 km from Gauhati, the state capital, tourist brochures describe this as a weavers' paradise. But this is far from reality for the local weavers.

"The cost of production is going up, especially with an increase in the price of thread. We cannot feed the family with our loom," said Ninola Boruah, a local weaver in her 40s. She was particularly critical of the entrepreneurs who have set up what the industry calls "cluster" operations. These consist of a virtual factory with 8 to 12 looms packed into a small hut employing weavers on daily wages.