Sustainable Development Goals Teach-In Randolph HS

Sustainable DevelopmentGoals Teach-In

Thursday January 14, 2016

Facilitated by Martin S. Edwards

Associate Professor Director, Center for UNand Global Governance

Studies

martin.edwards@shu.edu

• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG

Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered

Questions• What Can We Do?• Bigger Lessons

Agenda:

• Inspiring external evaluation: • Integrated Commission on Multilateralism• Commission on Global Security, Justice,

and Governance• Inspiring UN internal appraisals:• 1325 Review• HIPPO Panel

• Inspiring policymaking:• Financing for Development (July)• Post 2015 Development Agenda Summit

(September)• Paris Climate Change Summit (Nov-Dec)• World Humanitarian Summit (May)

The UN at 70:

• Unveiled the Sustainable Development Goals• Goals and Targets• Means of Implementation• Follow-Up and Review Process

• The SDGs are the follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which have been completed

• The SDGs are intended to guide global policymaking until 2030

The September summit

• Several places, actually!• OECD DAC, which created

International Development Goals in 1996

• UN, which held a Millennium Assembly in September 2000

• Intensive follow-ups to produce a composite list of goals, targets, and indicators

Where did the MDGs come from?

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG

Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered

Questions• What Can We Do?• Bigger Lessons

Agenda:

• A good overview is at the link below, but this is not without problems: • http://

mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2015/Progress_E.pdf

Recapping the MDG Experience

• Answering the “Did the MDGs work?” question isn’t easy:• Counterfactual: What would

countries have done had the MDGs not existed?

• Respecting the baseline: These goals were ambitious!

• Implementation: The pathway from goal to outcome is complex

Recapping the MDG Experience

• Whether targets were met varies regionally:• Target 1a (Halve, between 1990 and

2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day) was met globally, but not in SSA

• Child mortality (Target 4a) has been cut considerably, but progress in Oceania has been especially difficult• Again, the target was a 2/3

reduction. We’re at more than 50% globally.

Here’s what we know:

• Domestic conditions matter:• In conflict-affected countries, the

proportion of out-of-school children has increased since 1999

• Urban-rural divides in developing countries make progress on child and maternal mortality difficult

• Progress on many targets hampered by global recession

• Lack of data is also a barrier to policymaking

Here’s what we know:

• More countries produce better data: • The percentage of developing countries

that had two or more data points for at least 16 of the 22 MDG indicators rose from 2% in 2003 to 79% in 2014.

• Domestic reforms do make a difference:• A forthcoming UNDP-commissioned

study of 50 countries found that 2/3 of them developed national strategies for reaching the MDGs.

Here’s what we know:

• Need to change the process and make it more inclusive

• Need to change the focus to the world as a whole

• Need to change the goals themselves to focus on improving states too

• Need to rethink monitoring of the goals to make sure they’re met

• Need to strengthen data architecture so that countries measure what counts

Lessons from the MDG Experience

• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG

Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered

Questions• What Can We Do?• Bigger Lessons

Agenda:

• Key Document: Rio + 20 Summit Declaration (2012)• SD has three dimensions:

Economic, Social, and Environmental

• Called for the formation of an Open Working Group and extensive civil society involvement in creating the goals

From MDGs to SDGs

• Technology provided another input to the goals• World We Want survey: 7 ½ million

people voted worldwide on priorities for their families

• Top two priorities: education and health

• But note! The next two priorities are not in MDGs:• Better job opportunities• Honest and responsive

government

From MDGs to SDGs

Does the MyWorld survey suggest the US is different?

Top US Priorities1. A good education2. An honest and responsive

government3. Access to clean water and

sanitation4. Affordable and nutritious

food5. Better healthcare6. Freedom from

discrimination and persecution

Global Priorities1. A good education2. Better healthcare3. Better job opportunities4. An honest and responsive

government5. Affordable and nutritious

food6. Protection against crime

and violence

• Open Working Group• Originally had 30 members, then

moved to 70• US shared a seat with Canada and

Israel • 2 co-chairs appointed: Perm Reps

from Hungary and Kenya• Civil Society offered advice

through 9 Major Groups and other stakeholders

From MDGs to SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

• Consistent Themes: • Poverty, Hunger, Health, Education,

Gender, Environment• Some New Wrinkles:• Access to Energy• Infrastructure• Growth and Employment• Inequality• Cities• Governance• Climate Change*

Comparing the Lists

• The goals are more ambitious for those that ‘carried over’• Poverty: Eliminate extreme poverty

($1.25/day)• Hunger: End malnutrition• Health: End preventable deaths of

newborns and children under 5• Gender: End discrimination, VAW,

and child marriage, forced marriage and FGM.

Comparing the Lists

• MDGs had eight goals (such as “Improve Maternal Health”) and 18 targets (“Reduce under-five mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015”)

• By contrast, the SDGs have 17 goals and 169 targets

• Put another way: the SDGs are the MDGs on steroids!

Key Difference: Scale

• The sheer number of goals and targets has invited criticism.

• It is hard to imagine the alternatives.

• We committed to a public process based on an expansive view of SD, and this was the outcome.

• The SG’s attempt to reframe the goals by grouping them under six headings failed to catch on.

Too Big to Work?

• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG

Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered

Questions• What Can We Do?• Bigger Lessons

Agenda:

• Indicator Overload• Follow up and review• Footing the Bill for Post-2015• Post-2015 in the US

Some Unanswered Questions

• With more goals and targets, there are more indicators, which places a strain on state capacity. Indicators are to be completed next year.

• At present, only 17% of the 300+ proposed indicators are feasible by National Statistical Offices

Indicator Overload

• Needs to be substantive to be consequential

• Example that’s often referenced is Universal Periodic Review

• Three questions• Is the review process going to name

and shame?• How will it avoid burdening

countries?• How will national and regional level

reviews work?

Follow up and review

• Financing for Development (FfD) talks held over the summer in Addis

• States are paying their own way through creating stronger tax systems• Para 51: “We encourage ODA

providers to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to LDCs.”

Footing the Bill for Post-2015

• It’s not surprising that FfD agreement was more ambiguous than SDGs• States negotiate harder over $!

Financing for Development (FfD)

• Ambiguity!• What makes the SDGs work is

their clarity. • FfD outcome document far

from this standard• Agreement language doesn’t

obligate states• Doesn’t outline benchmarks

Key difference between SDGs and FfD

• In the US, even soft forms of governance like Agenda 21 have been portrayed as threats to American sovereignty.

• Some parts of the country are not going to like the SDGs. How can we fix this?

Post-2015 Agenda in the US

• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG

Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered

Questions• What Can We Do?• Bigger Lessons

Agenda:

• In covering all of this ground this afternoon, it can be daunting to figure out how YOU can contribute to this development agenda

• One way that you can make a difference is by getting engaged.

What Can We Do?

• Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth: • un.org/youthenvoy• @AhmadAlhendawi

• UNA-USA: • genun.unausa.org

What Can We Do?

• Another way that you can make a difference is by writing about it.

• It’s imperative that we create new voices to take part in the global conversation

• Can’t create the world we want without better informed citizens!

• …

What Can We Do?

• Helps you practice writing clearly.

• Helps get your ideas into the public sphere.

• Helps your resume/college application stand out.

• Simple writing sample for employers.

Why do this?

• A = Argument• B = Brevity• C = Current Events

• H = Humility

Some ABCs (and an H)

• The “Op” is for OPINION.• So you need an argument!• And you need to put it

simply in a sentence.

• “I argue that….”• Make sure this is in your

submission. It makes life easy for an editor.

A is for ARGUMENT

• “We should do something about Syria/ISIS/Ebola” is NOT a compelling argument!

• We should create a no-fly zone and deploy troops to guard new refugee settlements east of Damascus IS an argument!

To be clear:

• Aim for an informed, but not expert audience.

• Keep in mind it’s your job to persuade, and you need to educate first!

• Need to explain your argument simply. There is NO SHAME in this.

On “Voice”

• Get to the point. Immediately.

• Review the writer’s guidelines for the publication. You probably have 800-1000 words maximum.

• Make certain your argument is in the FIRST paragraph. Not the last!

B is for BREVITY:

• It had better be about them!• Think about this broadly: • How much was written on

the 100th anniversary of WWI?

• How much is written on every single anniversary of 9/11?

C is for Current Events:

• Remember that you are learning to do this.

• Accept rejection gracefully.

• Editors will make edits. Learn from them.

H is for Humility:

• Writing an op-ed about the SDGs can be a bit of a challenge.

• A simple idea is to structure the op-ed around 5 key points.• Washington Post 5 Myths Column• Edwards US-UN column• Edwards and Kotlow

2015 UN Preview column

• You could use the theme “Five reasons why the SDGs are important”

So How Can I Do This?

• Allows you to organize your thoughts

• Makes sure that you have an argument (“I argue that…”)

• Allows you to address potential objections

• Also keeps the total document short!

Why does 5 points work?

• We also have just the thing for that too!

• Take a look at our SDG Scholarship Challenge!

• Deadline is March 27th!

What if I have an idea about the SDGs?

• The UN at 70• Recapping the MDG

Experience• From the MDGs to the SDGs• Some Unanswered

Questions• What Can We Do?• Bigger Lessons

Agenda:

• Post-2015 agenda is packaged as a done deal, but it still a work in progress.

• International cooperation is always a difficult balancing act of reconciling different interests. This is as true today as when the UN was founded.

Bigger Lessons

• Involving civil society in the development of SDGs has been a game-changer.

• The future of the Post-2015 agenda, though, turns on how much civil society can help turn pledges into action.

Bigger Lessons

• Check out our Library Resource Page!• http://library.shu.edu/sdg

• Check out the writings of my students on the Center blog!• http://blogs.shu.edu/unstudies/tag

/sdgs/

.

For more information

THANKS SO MUCH!

For more info:@MartinSEdwards

martin.edwards@shu.edu