{"id":312,"date":"2015-08-27T15:47:32","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T15:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/?p=312"},"modified":"2015-08-27T19:08:27","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T19:08:27","slug":"the-sdgs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/2015\/08\/the-sdgs","title":{"rendered":"Ronaldo and Messi\u2019s goals are #SO2014: Here come the Sustainable Development Gooooals #SDGs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maryamu Aminu, Heirs Holdings<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For over a decade, global discourse and programs to support international development have largely taken place within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Announced at the UN General Assembly in 2000, the MDGs were 8 global goals that both donor and developing countries agreed to work collaboratively on and achieve results within the time frame of 2000 to 2015. Chief among these was the goal to cut extreme poverty by half (the number of people living on less than $1.25 per day).<\/p>\n

Well, it is 2015, and the results have been mixed. Some countries, particularly in Asia, have done very well in meeting their region specific goals, but Africa has largely been the region that has made the least progress in achieving their set goals. However, North Africa, Madagascar, Ghana, Namibia and Botswana have made measurable progress in meeting the goals. Sadly, Nigeria the most populous country is in the bottom 10 countries, even in our region, on meeting the MDGs, particularly in the areas of maternal mortality and basic education. We\u2019ve only made real progress in the fight against the spread of HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, the UN has been working with global stakeholders all over the world to develop a new set of global goals to take us to the year 2030. This time they have come up with 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), top amongst which is eradicating extreme poverty by 2030. These goals are expected to be adopted at the UN General Assembly of Heads of State in New York next month.<\/p>\n

The proposed goals are pasted below. As you know, The Tony Elumelu Foundation\u2019s mission is to support African development by promoting Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness. There is no specific \u201cEntrepreneurship\u201d SDG, even though we know it is an important way out of poverty. However, Goal No. 8 on \u201cJobs\u201d contains specific language to \u201cpromote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises including through access to financial<\/p>\n

services.\u201d Interestingly, as a matter of advocacy, our group Chairman scored big in the proposed list. Last April, he was asked to speak to the UN General Assembly and ECOSOC about \u201cPartnership with the private sector on the post-2015 Development Agenda\u201d- and he used that time to call for \u201cAccess-to-Electricity\u201d and \u201cJobs\u201d to be among the next MDGs. They both made it into the list as Goals 7 & 8!!! Congratulations to the Chairman for 100% success in his UN advocacy around the SDGs! And going forward, we all know what the Heirs Holdings favorite SDGs are for the next fifteen years!!<\/p>\n

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Sustainable Development Goals<\/strong><\/p>\n