Poverty & SDGs

From Irregular Migrant to Graduate Lawyer: One Woman’s Journey to Success

By Mikaila Issa
Masters of Laws student Khoudia Ndiaye will graduate from Senegal’s University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) next year. The 24-year-old, who specialised in notarial law and dreams of becoming a notary, wants to bring justice closer to local communities like those in her local district of Hann Bel-Air, in Senegal’s capital Dakar, where she rarely sees female lawyers.

Pakistan: Food Security and Reducing the Price of Wheat

By Ahmed Raza and Daud Khan
Robert W. Fogel, the 1993 Nobel Prize Laureate for Economics, through his work on “efficiency wages”, pointed out that hungry and undernourished workers are not as productive as well fed and healthy workers.   At the level of an individual firm, it would thus make sense for an employer to pay wages that are high enough to allow workers access to food and other necessities – even if such wages are higher than the going market rate.

Costa Rica: First Country to Protect Sustainable Fisheries of Large Pelagics Species

By Kifah Sasa
Twelve years ago, in a restaurant in Puntarenas on the pacific coast of Costa Rica, a group of long line fishermen met with three UNDP conservation specialists.

Political Commitment Key to Health for All

By Ban Ki-moon
One of my proudest accomplishments as the former UN secretary-general was playing a part in the ambitious global agenda for sustainable development (SDGs), including the goal of universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030.

“No to the pact of Marrakech!”

By Houda Hasswane
At the same time more than 160 countries adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), on the streets of Marrakech pro-migration groups and activists gathered in the city centre to chant: “No to the pact of Marrakech!”

A Migrant Turned Saviour of Others

By El Mahdi Hannane
Seven years ago, when Cameroon began experiencing inter-regional conflict, Armand Loughy, a 55-year old Cameroonian psychiatrist, strapped her youngest child on her back and with her five other children embarked on the dangerous Journey from Cameroon towards Rabat, Morocco’s capital. They fled the deteriorating security situation in Cameroon, looking for a better life.

Migration and the Economy—an Inseparable Pairing

By Alie Dior Ndour
On the streets of Casablanca there is only one thought on the mind of Ibrahima, a young Senegalese migrant.

Big Business Capturing UN SDG Agenda?

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
Over the last two decades since the Global Compact, the United Nations has increasingly embraced the corporate sector, most recently to raise finance needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), i.e., for Agenda 2030. But growing big business influence has also compromised analyses, recommendations, policies and programme implementation, undermining the SDGs.

Migrant’s Compact Mischaracterized for Political Reasons

By Alice Thomas
The fact that a handful of countries have indicated their intention not to come to Marrakesh to endorse the compact signifies how the issue of migration has been politicized and become a political flashpoint.

US Blasts Migrant’s Compact – Even as 180+ Countries Embrace it

By Thalif Deen
As UN delegates met in Morocco to adopt a global compact to protect the rights and safety of refugees and migrants (GCM), the Trump administration launched a blistering attack condemning it as a violation of national sovereignty.

Water, an Environmental Product of Agriculture in Brazil

By Mario Osava
For the first time in her life, retired physical education teacher Elizabeth Ribeiro planted a tree, thorny papaya, native to Brazil's central savanna.

A UN Conference Undermined by 11th Hour Withdrawals

By Thalif Deen
When the long-awaited UN conference focusing on the rights and safety of migrants and refugees takes off in Morocco, it will be a rare, if not an unprecedented meeting, for one reason: the withdrawal of at least seven member states almost at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour.

The Revolution of Renewable Energy Needs Political Leadership

By Rachel Kyte
The cost of renewable energy is low, and at times, less than fossil fuels. What are the barriers to switching to renewables?Where current energy systems exist, they will need to be upgraded to be able to draw power from modern renewables and to exploit storage solutions that they require.

Thermal Houses Keep People Warm in Peru’s Highlands

By Mariela Jara
Thirty families from a rural community more than 4,300 meters above sea level will have warm houses that will protect them from the freezing temperatures that each year cause deaths and diseases among children and older adults in this region of the southeastern Peruvian Andes.

Watering the Paris Agreement at COP24

By Maggie White
Most people will experience climate change in the form of water – higher frequency and intensity of floods and droughts, an increase in waterborne diseases, and overloaded sewage systems that are unable to cope with new demands.

Mothers of Drug War Victims Demand Justice in the Philippines

By Yonna Waltersson
Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs has claimed tens of thousand of lives. Lorena Villanueva and Emy Pagaduan lost their sons. Now they are demanding that the President of the Philippines be held responsible for the killings.

Climate Action Should be a Global Priority for World Leaders

By Patricia Espinosa
The IPCC report says that it is not impossible to limit climate change to 1.5͒C? Do you think we can realistically achieve that? Politically, what needs to happen?History shows that when the human race decides to pursue a challenging goal, we can achieve great things. From ridding the world of smallpox to prohibiting slavery and other ancient abuses through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have proven that by joining together we can create a better world.

Get Ready for COP24: Transition to a Sustainable Future

By Manuela Matthess
COP24 is the time for governments to act and increase their pledges to prevent global warming ensuring a just transition that leaves no one behind.

Strengthening extension and rural advisory services to contribute to reaching the 2030 Development Agenda: What works in Rural Advisory Services?

By Karim Hussein
In mid-2018 the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) that brings together key development partners  and 17 multistakeholder Regional Networks and country fora across six continents, published a new book :  What Works in Rural Advisory Services: Global Good Practice Notes .

Limiting Climate Change to 1.5 C is not Impossible, Says IPCC Chair

By Lee Hoesung
When governments set a target in December 2015 of limiting global warming to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to hold it at 1.5ºC, they invited the IPCC to prepare a report to provide information on this Goal.

Blue Fashion Steals the Show at Nairobi Conference

By Sam Olukoya
The fashion industry is the second largest polluting industry in the world. Pesticides and insecticides used on crops grown for fabrics together with the chemicals used in the production of fabrics cause enormous damage to the environment.
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