The Newsletter of Thousands of
Young Africans Impacting Positive
Changes in Lives all over Africa!
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July 2014 - Issue 56
www.inspire.nayd.org
NEW EDITION
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FEATURES
The Editor Speaks …………………………….2
Bring Back Our Girls………………………….3
Social Entrepreneurship #NaydChat………….3
Country Coordinators Elections………………4
Help the African Child Ghana………………..5
Climate Change Leadership…………………6-8
HIV/AIDS - a personal account………….8-11
Jeffrey Sachs on the SDG's……...............12-14
Esteemed readers of INSPIRE we are happy to
present to you this informative edition of our
regular monthly newsletter. Starting this month,
NAYD will have several activities that will involve
all the members with an aim to sustainable
development in Africa starting with a Twitter chat
on the perceptions of social entrepreneurship by
the youth.
This July edition of INSPIRE goes further to
present the NGO of the month - HAC an NGO that
works in Ghana to bring about social change in
various sectors by focusing on children living in
vulnerable conditions and the youth in the
community.
Opportunities and Resources………………..14
Inspiring Words……………………..………14
EDITORIAL TEAM
This issue has been compiled by:
Christian P. Tabifor,
Judyannet Muchiri
Paul Shaw
DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Christian P. Tabifor
Network of African Youths for Development
BLOG TEAM
Inspire - Judyannet Muchiri
HIV/AIDS - Charles Waga
Climate Change - Eric Mwangi
EMAIL
info@nayd.org
WEB
www.nayd.org
******
The editors have taken every care to make sure that
the contents of this newsletter are as accurate as
possible. The authors have ultimate responsibility,
however, for the content of individual articles.
NAYD
acknowledges
the
impossibility
of
sustainable develop to thrive in the event of some
insurmountable atrocities in the society; case in
point, the kidnapped Nigerian girls who are yet to
return home. NAYD calls for more efforts to get
the girls home.
This issue’s HIV/AIDS article is focusing on
resilience and the determination to live regardless.
Read the story of Agnes as written by Ongala
Maurice. On Climate Change, we ask the question
who is the leader in the reality that is climate
change especially in Africa?
Please send your original articles a maximum of
one and a half page including pictures by latest
the 10th of each month. Poorly written articles,
reports, plagiarised work, irrelevant articles will
not be published. Send plain text without font
colour, underlining or bulleting.
Finally, your comments and suggestions are
welcome and highly appreciated in the quest of
bringing you a high quality INSPIRE.
Read, be INSPIRED and pass the ISPIRATION
forward.
-The NAYD Editorial Team.
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BRING BACK OUR GIRLS
Its hard to believe but three months have passed since Nigeria
woke up to shocking news that not only shook Nigeria but the
world at large. 234 girls were kidnapped from a boarding school
by armed militants and up to date nothing has been heard of
them. The fact that these girls were kidnapped while in school
accessing education a basic human right is very disturbing. What
is more disturbing is the news coming in that the girls are being
auctioned to militants. To make an already bleak situation worse
is the news coming in that another 8 girls have being kidnapped,
allegedly, by armed militants. The fact that the Nigerian
government has not been successful in rescuing these girls weeks
later has led to an uproar by people from all corners of the world
and has culminated into a loud Bring Back Our Girls call which NAYD as a network focusing on Africa has taken
up...
NAYD reported on the young Nigerian girls who were kidnapped in the last INSPIRE as shown from the extract
above. Three months down the line, nothing has changed. These girls have not yet come home. The call to #Bring
Back Our Girls seems to have ebbed away and the world has moved on. NAYD wishes to not only remember
these girls who are out there calling out for help but also to stress the need for the Nigerian government, the AU
and the International community to step up and do the needful with the urgency that is now.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP; PERCEPTIONS
#NaydChat @NAYDInfo
One of the important pillars of sustainable development in the society today is Social Entrepreneurship. Young
people being vocal participants in the process of driving Africa to a self sustaining continent are becoming more
involved in not only conducting for profit businesses but also businesses that will impact society positively. What
are the perceptions that surround social entrepreneurship? Why are young people getting more involved in social
ventures with an aim at impacting the society positively and earning a profit? These are the questions that will form
NAYD’s Twitter chat with Stephen Machua at 2pm East Africa Time (12pm GMT) on 9th
July 2014.
Stephen Machua is a 23 years old Kenyan with wide experience in volunteerism and social
media. He holds a degree in Finance. As the Co-Founder of Change Mind Change Future, a
youth led NGO based in Kenya; he is able to directly empower young people socially and
economically with the help of over 200 skilled volunteers and ambassadors in Zimbabwe and
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Nigeria.
He is currently serving in committees for various organizations namely; Volunteer Involving Organizations (VIO)
Network, Masomo Africa, Environment Online (ENO) and Golden Rule (URI). He initiated the African Youth
Charter dialogues in Kenya as a monthly platform for knowledge sharing, skills harnessing and collaborations in
the quest for practical solutions to Africa’s problems. The dialogues have been ongoing since November 2013.
In the past he has served as a volunteer for the first United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) (2014),
Rotaract Club President (2012/2013), Voluntary ambassador for Jamie Oliver Food Revolution (2012), organizing
committee member for the first African Youth Charter Summit (2013), Organizing committee member for
Umeclick Peace Campaign (2012/2013), University Student Leader (2011/2012) and Organizing committee
member for the Rotary Family Health Day (2011).
His wish is to make a considerable contribution to development in Africa. He invests in youth and women
leadership for sustainable development. He also believes that the tapping of talents at an early age will help realize
a prosperous Africa. His life ambition is to become a world leading social entrepreneur and a lead advisor to
Africa’s heads of states on youth matters.
We look forward to engaging with you on the 9th of July at our Twitter page https://twitter.com/NAYDinfo.
COUNTRY COORDINATOR ELECTIONS
NAYD will conduct elections for the next round of country coordinators who will assume office effective January
2015. Any registered NGO/CBO can be nominated and voting will be held online between September and
November with only NAYD registered members being allowed to vote. If you have not registered with us yet, you
can do so at http://www.nayd.org/join.htm.
NAYD VOLUNTEERS.
NAYD would like to take this opportunity to appreciate all the volunteers who dedicate their time, energy and
passion to ensure NAYD stays ahead as the leading network of young people interested in transforming Africa
from a ‘developing’ to a self sustaining continent, your efforts do not go unnoticed. In the same note we welcome
other people who would like to volunteer with us, specifically we are looking for a committed person who will be
in charge of membership registration as a membership secretary. If you would want to be pro active send us an
email at judyannet@nayd.org.
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HELP THE AFRICAN CHILD GHANA -HAC Profiled
This month we are celebrating the HAC organization that works in
Ghana to ensure an Africa with strong confident youth characterized
by active community engagement and a commitment to achieve both
collective and personal aspirations. Help The African Child works
mainly with vulnerable children in the community in terms of
poverty, malnutrition, child labour, slavery, disease and systemic
inequality. It was founded in the year 2007 in Accra and operated in
small projects until it was finally registered in the year 2012. It
focuses on different projects from health and hygiene to environment
to education to agriculture and to taking care of vulnerable children.
The young soccer players
Child labour being rife in some parts of Ghana as well as the children being exposed to different challenges HAC
works to ensure such children get a better chance in life by placing them in orphanages or foster care. Case in point
is the young men living in the slum of Agbogbloshie, as seen in this short video these young boys are eager to learn
and become responsible members of the society. http://www.ghanaspride.org/ At the same time the film highlights
the dangers of electronic waste in the slum and how it affects the communities living there.
HAC also uses sports to promote peace, unity and development in the
society by bringing children from different communities together in
different sports like netball, soccer, basketball, boxing and volleyball.
This sports program saw the establishment of Ghana's Pride Football
Club which involves children aged between 8-17 years and which
works in conjunction with the Nike Foundation and the Los Angeles
Unified School District. These children gain physical, mental and life
skills through these program.
Children enjoying their meal
In the 21st century it is important not only to forge meaningful
partnerships but also to make them work. In this regard, HAC works with other local organizations and
international organizations in projects like the Breakfast for Hope Project which seeks to provide breakfast to
young school children so that they may not only be healthy but concentrate in class activities. HAC also
welcomes volunteers who can work individually or in group activities within the major projects.
To learn more about the projects and how to get involved get in touch with Help The African Child (HAC) via
email HacGhanaFoundation@gmail.com. Check their activities on their FaceBook site
here https://www.facebook.com/HelpTheAfricanChild/timeline.
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CLIMATE CHANGE LEADERSHIP
Introduction
When one thinks about climate change and Africa, what springs to mind more often than
not is that this is region where countries are at a greater risk both in terms of exposure to
climatic changes and sensitivity to such changes. Also, countries here have a low capacity
and means to govern a changing climate. The immediate concern for us then is to press for
greater financial support and adaptation/mitigation technologies from first world countries.
However, this is not good enough as developing nations must move fast on their part to
create a better environment that supports carbon-neutral growth and development as they
wait for increased support from developed nations to govern a changing climate. Most
importantly, it is widely acknowledged that even if all developed
NAYD Climate Change Blogger Eric Mwangi
countries met their green house gas emissions reduction targets by
2050, the global policy goal of limiting temperature rise to a 2⁰C trajectory so as to avoid irreversible climate
impacts would still not be met unless developing nations also reduced their expected growth in green house gas
emissions.
Low-Carbon Development (LCD)
There is little doubt that green growth is now not a major political and economic idea. It is also acknowledged that
the normal development pathway for developing countries leads to a substantial growth in global greenhouse gas
emissions driven by their expanding economic and population growth. The challenge therefore is to de-link future
economic growth from equivalent growth in green house gas emissions. Hence, low-carbon growth is now a must
for the earth to remain habitable. Here in Africa, there is real potential for countries in this sub-region to depart
from the development path established by first world countries. While thus far developing nations have been
shielded from obligations to lower their carbon emissions, this situation is not expected to last indefinitely and time
is now to more aggressively follow a development path that is low energy, low carbon, and generally a resource
efficient one.
After being mandated by the 21st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the
African Union to develop Agenda 2063, the continent’s long-term development vision, the African Union
Commission has identified young African entrepreneurs to drive entrepreneurship on the continent through local
hubs in their communities. To support this new initiative, I would actively promote a supportive environment for
enterprises which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental
sustainability while contributing to a greener economy. Sectors that contribute to and are expected to experience
rapid growth in emissions namely: industry, transport, energy use in institutional and commercial buildings,
household electricity use, and power are especially significant areas.
Frequently, the argument put forward for climate action is that the costs of inaction are very high, and the longer
the delay, the higher these costs become. At the heart of Low Carbon Development is the conviction that, as the
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World Bank Institute puts it, "climate action is pro-poor action, by nature". This belief underlines the fact that the
most gravely at risk from climate change is the marginalized population segment in the poorest, vulnerable areas of
the world; the women and youth who do not have the political or economic power to cope and are found in the most
vulnerable areas. Such a momentous change in Africa however requires us to act differently together, and now,
while raising the level of our population’s living standards and lifting our many millions from the poverty cycle.
To limit Africa’s emissions in the next decades and using my position as a leader in the continent, other most
effective ways I would use to drive low-emissions development in the continent are policy measures/instruments
and implementation tools. I also hold the view that low-emissions development can assist African countries
achieve sustainable economic growth and improve living standards while slowing the rise of greenhouse gas
emissions. Such highly scalable tools that have been successfully employed in other regions of the world include:
1.
Price-based economic instruments such as carbon taxes which make emitting more expensive and
subsidies (and subsidy reform) which make low emissions technologies less expensive.
2.
Information based instruments that allow consumers to make better informed choices. For instance
conducting awareness campaigns on energy efficiency, how to do it, and the savings that can result to
inform the public on the benefits of Low Emissions Development; enforcing products’ labeling by the
manufacturing industry players to enable identification of products associated with low emissions so as to 1)
increase consumer knowledge, and 2) increase market demand; and conducting training programs to
increase the skills, knowledge and capacity of firms and government to make choices that reduce
emissions.
3.
Regulations and standards that mandate either the use of specific emission-reducing technologies or
achievement of a minimum level of performance. Example measures are building codes that require use of
energy-efficient building technologies, mandatory installation of solar water heating equipment on new
buildings; and vehicle efficiency standards which stipulate minimum average fuel consumption requirement
for vehicle importers and assemblers.
4.
Quantity instruments which regulate the quantity of renewable energy generation/distribution or
regulate the quantity of energy-efficiency savings leading to a compliance market and a market price
(Emissions Trading Schemes development).
5.
Research and development and innovation support to enable private sector engagement in the
research, development, deployment and diffusion of new green technologies. Measures would include
government supported funding for research and development of green technologies; setting up funds and
competitions that offer prize and resources for the development and deployment of green technologies; and
enacting clean technology patent policies to facilitate the access and sharing of green technology patents.
It is important to appreciate that the transition to a carbon-neutral growth will indeed take decades while working
collaboratively with the diverse actors involved to identify which combinations of complementary policy
instruments are best suited for use. Often, the relationships between those stakeholders will determine the success
or failure of this transition across all sectors of the economy.
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Conclusion
While Africa is currently witnessing its economy grow at rates enviable to the rest of the world’s sub-regions, it is
important to maintain this momentum by enhancing our competitiveness through gains made from being among the
first movers in the green economy concept. The pursuit of carbon-neutral growth spurs numerous positive impacts
to national development goals such as increasing energy security; improving the overall heath and economic output
of the populace; increasing industrial efficiency and productivity; providing new economic opportunities and
employment; and contributing to the overall green house gas emissions reduction targets. Green growth thus
promotes wider sustainable development benefits helping address pressures related to economic growth,
urbanization and resource use. This is the kind of inclusive and vibrant green economy I would seek to effect in
Africa since most of the future growth in greenhouse gas emissions is expected to come from developing and
emerging economies.
*This post was an essay submission into the 2014 Uongozi Institute Leadership Essay Contest open to all East
African citizens (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) between the age of 18 – 25 years old,
responding to the question “If you were a leader in Africa, which single change would you aim to bring about, and
why? How would you do it?”*
Angela: An Experience of Resilience and Determination to Live
By Ongala Maurice
“If I was to tell everything about myself, I would write a novel of more than a
thousand pages, but I just want you to have this preview…” starts the ever lovely
and jovial 25-year old Angela Mutwang’ (fondly known to many as Angie), with
hopes that young people of her generation will one day hear from her first-hand
and witness what an experience she has had fighting to live.
12th December 2006 is a day Angela says she will never forget, not only because
it’s the day her country Kenya achieved independence many decades past, but because it was also the day she
began a new chapter in her life. She was recuperating from a serious illness at home in Kisumu city when she
decided to take an HIV test.
Prior to this day, Angela’s mother had persistently suggested that she should take the HIV test. The reasons for this
suggestion were unclear and even worrying, given that her mum is a career nurse. On several occasions, her mum
said in Kiswahili:“Angela, si tupime HIV? hizi rashes zinafanana na za mgonjwa mwingine tuko naye huko kwa
ward na ako na HIV” (Angela, why don’t we test HIV? these rashes on your body are very similar to those of a
patient we have in the ward and he has HIV).
But Why the HIV Test?
This question would not cease lingering and nagging Angela’s inner self. Her mum wanted her to test for HIV
because the kind of rashes on her skin resembled those of a patient they had in the hospital who was HIV positive.
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Angela however, definitely disagreed for she had just graduated from High School and had never had sexual
intercourse, had never been a drug addict and had no history of rape, sexual defilement in her childhood or any
known exposure to the virus. How else would she have acquired the deadly virus?
Thanking God that her mama did not force her to take the HIV test, Angela finally gave it a benefit of doubt and
decided on her own to visit a testing centre. It was her first time visiting a Voluntary Counseling and Testing centre
and she received straight positive result for all three rapid tests that were conducted. Angela wasn’t astonished by
the result. She remained calm! Well, this could sound like fiction of sorts but in her own words she says, “…it was
like I had received malaria test results. I have never understood why that horrible news didn’t move me.” She went
to her mum at the hospital where she worked as a nurse and broke the news of her HIV status. They immediately
went to the laboratory and she was retested and her mum also took the test. Angela was still HIV positive but her
mama was negative. This cleared any possibility of having acquired the virus from her mother. The two of them sat
at the hospital lounge and had a lengthy talk.
“She was witty. She told me it was as a result of a blood transfusion I had way back when I was only 2 years old, I
was living with my maternal grandparents in Homabay when I fell critically ill and had to be transfused. It turned
out that since then I was always in poor health. Mum had suspected the blood had not been screened. Being a nurse,
the only thing she was left with was to take good care of me because she wasn’t strong enough to confirm her
fears,” recounts Angela. “Mum said at the time I was growing up, HIV was so expensive to manage. It had just
been discovered in Kenya and she was still a nursing student at Kenya Medical Training College.”
Back to the reality of the moment, Angela’s CD4-cell count was at 311. A normal count is in the range of 8001600. She now felt the reality of the killer disease in her blood and was certain she was dying slowly. She felt
frustrated, stressed and distressed. Something really urgent had to be done. Angela was immediately enrolled into
Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) at Kisumu District Hospital. Whenever she went for the adherence sessions she
would spend the whole time crying bitterly and asking questions that no one could logically and satisfactorily
answer. As a result, Angela was referred to Tuungane Youth Centre of Impact Research & Development
Organization, a youth friendly health centre which manages HIV related cases among young people of up to 21
years of age. At Tuungane Centre, her CD4 cell count was taken again and this time round, it had dropped
drastically to 255. “I was even more frustrated and stressed. I slipped into depression. I knew I was dying soon,”
she says.
Soon afterwards – thanks to top notch professionalism, warmth and palliative care she received at Tuungane –
Angie got so well acquainted with her new family that she even got a part time job there. Earlier on, Angie had
vehemently resisted her parents’ calls to take her for higher education. She thought she would but waste her
parents’ fees and die all the same. This position was to change when her mum told her she would be able to access
some vital hospital information and even sue the hospital where she was transfused contaminated blood, if she
studied some course in college. Angie was thus convinced to join Medical School to study Medical Records and
Information Technology just to revenge. She was raging with the urge to hit back. Her resentment had steadily
evolved into bitterness. She was irked and was waiting for just the right time to launch the search for those who did
her this injustice when she was only a little angel.
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After joining Kenya Medical training College, Angela’s Christian virtues in which she had been brought up came
alive. She recalls, “I joined college but in the course of my studies, I realized God had a much deeper purpose for
me than revenge. He had been so faithful to me and given me life for all the years I lived with the deadly virus.
Eventually, I gave up on revenging and instead focused on Christ. I made a conscious decision to live positively.
Hard as it was, forgiving those who did me this injustice made me even a stronger warrior!”
Setbacks
Needless to mention, young people living with HIV in Kenya and Africa at large come face to face with the cold
reality of stigma and discrimination, fear, ignorance, hatred and cruelty. Angela was discriminated against right
from home by neighbours and relatives, friends in school and worse to imagine, even in the church. Many preferred
to look at her as having been promiscuous when she was still a virgin! They didn’t care to know the moving story
behind her condition.
Although Angela has learned to deal with the social ills she faces almost daily, she still finds it difficult to be ever
taking drugs. If her mother doesn’t remind her to take medication, sometimes she won’t remember to do so. She is
also poor at eating and this sometimes makes her really weak especially in the wake of drugs. Perhaps the greatest
of the impediments that Angie has faced is that of access to medication in management of opportunistic infections.
Many are the times she is taken ill with pneumonia, TB or other respiratory complications. One other thing that
Angela doesn’t like talking about is her love life. She says she denies herself the opportunity of falling in love and
sustaining a relationship. She notes this phobia must be a result of self stigma of sorts but in a quick rejoinder and
with a beautiful smile, she promises herself to work on it.
My perception of myself…
Asked what she thinks about her status and her life, Angela goes completely inspirational. One could not help but
marvel at what encouraging words came out of a person whose life was once rocked with self-pity, bitterness and
resentment. “God’s ways are not our ways; I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” says Angie. “God will not throw
at me what I cannot bear. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! This I deeply believe. I also
believe that knowing my status was the best thing that ever happened to me and surely, my status is a blessing to
me and scores others whom I inspire to fight on.”
Over and over again Angela prayed, “Lord, let this cup pass for it is too much for me”, but only several months
later she discovered for herself that she could actually manage it. She only needed the positive will, which she got.
“Now it has been nearly 24 years since my infection. I am still here, still working, still living, still learning how to
love,” she reflects.
Sometime back, Angela could count the number of pills she had to take in a week, 14 assorted tablets! She goes to
her doctor for reviews and assures him that she’s feeling quite well. Not few are the times the doctor mutters words
to himself as he rereads the latest laboratory results which show her immunity declining towards zero. Nevertheless
she fights on for her Christian up bringing has taught her that God is always present with her. This thought she says
comforts her and gives her much hope.
Angela is deeply pained when young people living with the virus are stigmatized an ill-treated. She quotes a story
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in the Holy Bible in the book of Matthew where someone asks Jesus,
“When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you
a stranger and welcome you in our homes?”
Jesus replies, “I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least of these, you did it for me.” On a light note,
Angela adds, “I still harbour a childlike desire to really see Jesus, talk with Him, and ask Him a few questions
concerning my life…”
Angela admits her life has been greatly impacted by people who have stood out to show her great love and care,
people who have prayed with and for her in time of need. She says these acts have not been of men but it’s God
Himself who has been working through them.
“God is omnipresent,” says Angela, “He is not only in the church, but also in the person sitting next to me on the
bench on Saturday, He is in my parents and friends who have shared tears with me on more than one occasion, He
is in Maurice who is helping me to share my story with the whole world, only to inspire someone, and He can be in
you today if you choose to do that single act of kindness to someone living with the virus!” This statement
particularly got me thinking…
My Piece of Advice
Asked what snippet of advice she would give to young people struggling with her kind of situation, Angie again
quotes from her favourite book and source of inspiration, the Holy Bible. She says, “Let your weakness be your
strength, simple!” She particularly mentions the book of Romans 8:18: “For I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us…”
She notes with concern that many people are afraid of facing facts and prefer only to shelve in cocoons of comfort.
This she says is wrong and should be unlearnt if a successful combat against HIV/AIDS is to be waged. She says
only a few people have saved a life when everyone actually has the potent to do so.
“They may not have saved a child from a burning building, neither may they have even pulled a drowning person
out of the swollen river, notes Angela, “but – when so many are so afraid and even dread talking to people living
with the virus – they sit next to me, they shake my hand, they hug me, you know. They tell me they love me so
much and that, if they could, they would do anything to make it easier for me. Knowing people like this has made
my life a daily miracle! You can save a life, too. That life may only be a few months, or a year, or two years long,
but you can save it just as surely as if you had reached into the river and pulled out someone who was drowning.”
In her parting shot, Angela looks straight into my eyes and says, “You will be called upon to grieve; yet, you will
know you have made a difference in someone’s life in this world. Then you will realize you have gained more than
you could ever have given.”
Deep and powerful inspiration do we draw from this moving experience of one young girl living in poverty
stricken, under-developed country. This is a story of resilience and determination to beat all odds and just live. Yet,
as I love to do, I challenge you: have you saved a life?
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Jeffrey Sachs on why the SDGs are big on science
(Article taken from Sci-Dev w/b 6th July 2015)
On Monday, the UN secretary-general will present the annual Millennium Development Goals Report, which assesses global and regional progress
towards the goals, even as a new set of global development goals is being put together.
As work gets under way to devise and negotiate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to replace the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) after
2015, the role of science and technology will be crucial.
Jeffrey Sachs, director of UN initiative the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the UN secretary-general’s special advisor on the
MDGs, tells SciDev.Net why he thinks the SDGs can end poverty, that they are science-based and what scientists can do to engage with the process.
The so-called zero draft on the SDGs, released on 2 June, lists 17 potential goals. Is it a good basis for what
should replace the MDGs post 2015?
I think they’re on a very good track. I am very happy with the zero draft, though it’s going to be important to narrow the number of goals down
significantly. I personally hope for ten or under, but what’s here now is strong. All the major themes of sustainable development are here — economic,
social, environmental, governance and implementation aspects — and they are not in a list of dozens, but a list of 17 headlines.
Some experts have criticised the draft for not containing enough science. Can this be rectified as the
negotiations progresses?
I don’t agree with that assessment, actually. What the scientific evidence has been telling us is in the draft. For example, ecological constraints. I like the
concept of planetary boundaries or the Anthropocene and I think that is well represented in the draft.
What science has been telling us is that extreme poverty can be ended and I am delighted that SDG number one is about this. So it is science-based.
After all, this is not a science document, but a global set of goals for humanity that cut across the core objectives of global society and they need to be
based on good science and good understanding, and on good technologies. That’s all there. I don’t see that conflict at all in this draft.
The purpose of these goals in part will be to help mobilise and organise the various scientific communities, in health, in energy, human settlements,
climate change. That’s what happened with the MDGs, but this time we have a jump start. With the MDGs, the goals came first and it took several years
for the various separate communities to get organised around them. That process is already happening with the SDGs.
How can it be ensured that negotiations on the SDG targets are based on scientific evidence and are not
reduced to political horse trading?
I hope the scientists are outspoken at this point, and many of them are. For example, the concept of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius not
only arose from the scientific community, but it has generated a good, robust debate within the scientific community on whether two degrees Celsius is,
in fact, too high. That goal was adopted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2010 and one of the things that I am fighting for is
for that goal to be taken seriously both within the SDGs and within the context of the current climate negotiations.
In biodiversity, the message from the ecologists is overwhelming: we are in the midst of the sixth great planetary extinction, which has many
fundamental drivers, and this is of major concern for humanity. That has been strongly represented in the draft as well.
Partly because this is a noisy world, scientists need to find ways to make sure they are heard, whether it’s through Future Earth or SDSN, or the many
statements from national science academies or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This is a world that has every capacity to ignore the
scientific evidence, especially in my own country, the United States, so this is not simply about taking an article in the draft and expecting it to be the
basis of global action, this is a major fight for public awareness, understanding, attention and resolve.
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I know that behind the scenes and in the corridors there are plenty of attacks on the scientific evidence base — climate change being the most
important of these — and this is where the scientific community absolutely has to raise its voice.
How has SDSN been doing this as the negotiations progress?
A group of us in SDSN are circulating a statement right now which we will deliver to world leaders on the two degrees Celsius limit and why it’s so
essential. Scientists are very eager to sign up to that. We need to find ways and venues to be heard. SDSN will bring together scientists and world
leaders at Columbia University on 22 September, the day before the UN climate summit meeting [in New York], precisely for the kind of briefing that
sometimes the leaders don’t hear.
SDSN has been helpful in getting the academic community and research community involved in the targetsetting process. Is there still some way to go on this?
There are two phases in the work of SDSN, but they are overlapping. One is to help the process of setting meaningful goals and we are engaged daily in
that. The second is to create a network — mainly centred around universities, but also research institutions, national laboratories, and partnering with
companies in different sectors — a network that will be there for the period of the SDGs to help with implementation. So we are trying to set up that
ongoing network.
For the post-2015 period, we can use that network in different ways to help rapidly scale up SDG design and implementation because, when the SDGs
are set, they will need to be implemented locally and nationally, and to some extent regionally — not globally. We’re counting on cities to have SDGs,
nations will be required to have SDG programmes and to report on them, and success will require regional integration in almost all cases.
We are still working this out, but SDSN has established an independent organisation that will help manage and implement the SDGs in the future. So
we’re trying to create a governance system and an organisational system that will have the lifespan of the SDGs.
How can SDSN help countries in the developing world gather the data on SDGs they need to measure them? This
is important if targets are to be met.
The SDSN and the UN statistical division had a very robust two-day meeting in June on the indicators process and this produced an online document
with more than 100 pages of very detailed discussion of which indicators to use how they should be collected, and what the timelines should be.
I’ve been special advisor on the MDGs for 14 years and I am emphasising all the time that we must have the data in real time to enable good, robust
management on the ground. When poverty data comes after a five-year lag, it’s no good.
This is an extremely important approach: goal-based development. Maybe a better definition would be global, goal-based development. That’s unusual:
defining the goals, defining the links between goals and actions, means of implementation, feedback mechanisms — thinking through the whole
process.
In my opinion, it is not a rhetorical exercise, but the most powerful tool we have to actually change the direction of the global economy. It will raise
eyebrows, certainly, in the business community and some others, but since we start from the proposition that the current trajectory is absolutely
unsustainable and unworkable socially and environmentally, we need to change direction. We don’t have other means, other than, I believe, shared and
clear aspirations and then the means to achieve them through this kind of goal-based process. So it is extremely important.
Does SDSN’s work on target setting and indicators take into account the possibility of future scientific
advances? Will the targets be ambitious enough?
We can end poverty and we can end it within this generation. A justly famous essay of John Maynard Keynes from the 1930s which I love,Economic
Possibilities for our Grandchildren, was based on his observation that technological progress makes it possible to see the end of poverty in Britain.
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He wasn’t basing that on a specific technology, but on the continued march of technology. I have adopted that same position. But I’ve tried to add some
organisational principles: which pathways of technology? How can this be done? We are in such an astounding era of technological advancement that
we can’t even catch our breath, and translating that into solutions for humanity is quite a different thing.
Information technology penetrates all science: genomics, nanotechnology, materials science, agronomy, communication science, renewable energies
and so forth. It is a reservoir of massive technological advance that we can call upon; it has to be uncapped.
When I wrote The End of Poverty in 2005, we were working in African villages. One of them had no telephone, either mobile or landline. Now
telephones are ubiquitous, and broadband may not be in remote areas but it’s coming pretty quickly. I did not know in 2005 that that would be one of
the biggest game-changers for Africa and the MDGs even within a ten-year period.
But setting a goal for very deep poverty reduction was based around the idea that that kind of technological progress is possible and even under way.
The goals to end poverty and hunger everywhere were attacked by people as pie in the sky. But, in my view, there is no holding back on this: we are
going to see some very bold target setting.
Some people roll their eyes and say the world is going to hell in a handbasket, how are you ever going to achieve those targets?
But the underlying principle is that we are experiencing massive advances in capacity and know-how. If we harness those in a determined, directed,
motivated way, this can give us a tremendous boost. I do expect some ambitious SDG targets and I expect one of them to be ending extreme poverty by
2030. You can’t get more ambitious than that. It may not be achieved, but it is feasible.
Q&As are edited for length and clarity.
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