Bryan Miller, ICAAD Board Member
New York, NY: I recently had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by UNICEF and The Guardian, during the United Nations General Assembly week, to get a better understanding of the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. David Miliband (President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee) and Amina J. Mohammed (Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning) were headlining the event with panel discussions following. The 2 panels included a number of executives and experts from the corporate, development, NGO and government sectors. Also joining the panel discussion on how innovation can help create a world we need was my fellow Board Member, Linda Raftree (co-founder of Kurante, convener of Technology Salon NYC).
For sake of clarity, 193 UN member states committed themselves to working tirelessly towards helping people, the planet, and prosperity by adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Within the Agenda, there are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 Targets that are in place to demonstrate the scale and ambition of the Agenda.
During the keynote speeches and throughout the panel discussions the theme of the event continuously made itself known: all SDGs are interrelated and require transdisciplinary approaches to fully achieve success. Meaning, these goals require new partnerships amongst sectors that typically wouldn’t work together. Now, the SDGs broaden the global framework so that private and public stakeholders can recognize their responsibility in addressing these goals – combining resources will prevent the wounds instead of putting a band-aids on them.
As an iNGO, ICAAD plays an integral role in helping governments and populations see these Goals and Targets are met, at the very least. Speaking truth to power, ICAAD has been using a transdisciplinary approach to change discriminatory systems since it’s creation in 2012. By working with data scientists, universities, lawyers and government officials, ICAAD is no longer addressing just 4 of the goals, it’s addressing 90% of them.
Let me illustrate. Due to the nature of ICAADs work, it creates widespread impact within and across the medical, legal, educational, economical and social systems that discriminate against women and girls. By recommending concrete actions to address gender equality issues (SDG 5), ICAAD is in fact also addressing:
- poverty alleviation (SDG 1);
- improved nutrition and food security (SDG 2);
- ensuring healthier lives (SDG 3);
- ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education (SDG 4);
- water sanitation (SDG 6);
- promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth for all (SDG 8);
- promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization (SDG 9);
- reducing inequality within and among countries (SDG 10);
- making cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11);
- taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts – women and girls’ vulnerability increases during environmental disasters (SDG 13);
- providing access to justice for all, building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (SDG 16).
All this to say, we need to work together, challenge our constituents, partners, audience, and governments to understand the SDGs and how it impacts our collective futures. By opening our minds to creative solutions for the SDGs, we’ll redefine success to be the only option.
Amina J. Mohammed, Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning
Below are some memorable comments I thought worth sharing from the panel discussions and keynote speeches. Although, my favorite comment came from Archana Patkar (Project Manager for the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council): “Women hold up half the sky, they need agency!“
Amina Mohammed (Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning) The 2030 agenda calls on everyone. Human Rights is at the core of our work. Instead of addressing the symptoms by putting a band-aid on it, we must eliminate the wounds. We will not do justice to the SDGs if we can’t address the problems in Nauru, the smallest UN member state.
Linda Raftree (co-founder of Kurante, convener of Technology Salon NYC) Technology should not be an isolated conversation. The communities need the skills, knowledge and critical thinking abilities to enable them to use technology to amplify their voices. Organizations have to be weary of thinking about technological innovation as a method to get funding.
Olav Kjørven (Director of Public Partnerships, UNICEF) We need to now take a holistic approach to creating relevant solutions to the problems we face. The equality agenda will deliver the results we need for our children.
Chris Williams (Executive Director for Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council) Focus on who is participating in your work, and what evidence you have to sustain your opinion. We need to integrate all NGOs to share experiences, data, and innovations in terms of scalability to take it from local to national to regional levels.
Ishmael Beah (Author and Advocate for Children of War, UNICEF) Accountability is needed, not just while the project is functioning but once the project ends — get local insight to help build a sustainable system which holds them responsible and allows them to take ownership after the project ends. The top down approach doesn’t work; focus on maintaining the changes you’re making.
Tara Nathan (Executive Director for International Development, MasterCard) From the outset, think about accountability and sustainability. How can data be used to sustain business models to address social issues, especially for women? Be creative when you introduce innovation into a new community – you may have an adverse reaction without expecting such.
Anthony Lake (Executive Director, UNICEF) Public-private partnerships are modern phenomena. Development needs to be less place-based and humanitarianism needs to be less population-based – focus on both. Meaning, don’t limit yourselves to a particular region or population. We need goals and floors to create sustainable impact.
Linda Raftree, ICAAD Board Member, and Kartik Sawhney, researcher in artificial intelligence at Stanford University
October 19, 2015
