Since Wheresnewmo launched many of you have asked for more information about The Sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs, and the Global Goals. They are all one in the same and I am more than happy to oblige and let you know you are probably already engaged and working to resolve at least one of the goals and don't even realize it.
The SDGs are who we aspire to be as a human race living on planet earth. I think it's safe to say that we all do care about our future and at least one of the Goals speaks to us personally. The seventeen Goals are ambitious, but we need to start somewhere and have hope that improvements in all these areas is possible. These Goals are about efforts to make the impossibly seem possible or at least moving in the direction of completely solving the global issue represented in the Goal or moving towards a more sustainable future. We probably won't eradicate extreme poverty in every country on every continent by the Goal deadline of 2030, but if our governments and their citizens focus our energies and resources, even if just one more child, one more village, one more country gets basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information, then we have succeeded. When we put our minds to it, and our youth start thinking outside the box, it is truly amazing what projects are started that creatively and effectively work to solve a problem.
So take a look, watch the link to a rap, TED talk, and other informational sites listed at the end of this post, and make a personal commitment to one goal, focusing your efforts to make a difference in your self, community and the world. No effort is too big or too small. You alone or with family and friends, your school or business, your government or with strangers can make an impact to sustain life on earth and extend basic human rights to everyone. And if you really want to go deeper, realized each goal has a set of Targets (on the left side of this link) and there are hundreds of Indicators (on the right side of this link) outlined for each Goal that go into specific details about the Goals and suggest practical starting points for resolving the issues.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
— The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
Throughout my sabbatical I will be visiting schools and conferences around the world and will post here stories about how our global youth are specifically and substantially working to support the SDGs. Their projects are inspiring and give me tremendous hope for a brighter future for humanity. Now that's something we need a little more of today in a world filled with doom and gloom and negativity!!!!
Here is just one example of how our Model United Nations students are supporting the SDGs. I hope this story, and many more to come in these blogs, will inspire you to focus on a goal or two:
HELA - Hope in Education and Leadership in Afghanistan
I met the most amazing group of five high school students from Kabul, Afghanistan at an MUN conference in Doha in 2015. Growing up in a world of injustices and daily threats on their lives from the Taliban, these students came together to write resolutions promoting global peace. Four years later they are an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) promoting MUN in their city and many of the provinces in their country. They also participate in global conferences and summit meetings, specifically in The Hague, Vienna, NY and Doha. This is a brilliant example of SDG 4 and 5 in that HELA is ensuring that boys and girls have access to quality education and training in their programs that potentially will lead to developing relevant skills for employment, decent jobs, entrepreneurship and global citizenship. In a country where a very small percentage of women are educated, HELA empowers women with leadership training and works tirelessly to ensure equal representation as Delegates and Chairs in their meetings. From a candle-light room with no heat and less than a dozen participants to running conferences at Universities with hundreds of students, HELA is most certainly making a global impact, supporting the SDGs and is a
foundation to improving people’s lives.
SDG's Explained on UN Website: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org
A 3-minute rap explaining the SDG's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGcrYkHwE80
TED Talk on the SDG's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o08ykAqLOxk
Short Course by Microsoft to Learn the SDG's: https://preview.education.microsoft.com/c…/72e17f8d/overview
Tracker Measuring Progress on each SDG: https://sdg-tracker.org/
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