March 24, 2023, Belfast, Maine
by Jim Merkel
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammad said “Let me be frank: we are not doing well. Our progress towards the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) has faltered and even gone into reverse on some important targets and goals, leaving many behind.” Her opening remarks at the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development (AFSD) in 2023, in Beirut, Lebanon were a wake-up call. Both to the dangers of status quo denial of fundamental human rights to women, and, to how gender equality offers a troubled world a potent solution.
The Millennium Development Goals that completed in 2015, began the process that evolved into a more wholistic 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) with measurable milestones due in 2030.
The world is at a pivotal time. Clear personal and collective choices could mean we finally end poverty and oppression of women and girls — and as our film “Saving Walden’s World” explores — empower a force that could actually return the planet to balance and avert the 6th great extinction.
As the second most powerful person at the UN, all that can be done to fund the on-the-ground work of implementing the SDGs is vital.
In her address, Amina states: “The Secretary-General has set out urgent and necessary reforms to the global financial architecture so that it serves all countries, not just the wealthy.” It is critical that “elite capture” doesn’t divert funds to the powerful. Ultimately, an SDG Stimulus needs to invest in people, as we documented in the state of Kerala, India, with 4 million women members participating in a micro finance program called Kudumbashree.
The SDG Stimulus aims to mobilize an additional $500 billion per year, through Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and calls on these lenders to change their business models, in alignment with the SDGs, while including longer-terms, lower interest rates, the use of state-contingent clauses, and more lending in local currencies.
Biden, along with the G7, have announced Build Back Better World to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for infrastructure development in low- and middle-income countries.
The US president’s website states: “The initiative aims to mobilize private-sector capital in four areas of focus—climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality—with catalytic investments from our respective development finance institutions.”
The initiative seeks to address the $40 trillion worth of infrastructure needed by developing countries by 2035. But will “elite capture” build highways to airports and fossil fuel power plants? Our film supports the point of view that investment in LOCAL employment in organic food systems, sustainable housing, renewable energy, clean water and sanitation, healthcare, childcare, and higher education for women is what is needed as a counterpoint to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and past US and World Bank policies of structural adjustment. It really depends upon who is in the room, and the ideas that they have witnessed in action.
Amina continues:
“Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Sustainable development is essential in itself. It is also humanity’s ultimate prevention tool.
It is through development that we address the underlying drivers of division, fragility and violence.
And yet a crucial component of sustainable development is often overlooked: gender equality.
Women, our sisters, mothers and daughters, are being denied equal education, which is a fundamental right. Women are being forced from the job market as the economy struggles. We are being targeted for violence and abuse, online and off. Our sexual and reproductive rights are being questioned and often denied.
In some places, women and girls are being erased from public life altogether.
The United Nations stands for the rights and dignity of all – men and women, girls and boys.
We are absolutely committed to upholding the human rights of girls and women in every country and to promoting their full and meaningful participation in society, the economy and political systems.
I thank those countries across the region that are standing up for the rights of women and girls.
Because women’s and girls’ contributions, experiences and approaches benefit everyone. Because our religion and cultures recognize this.
The math is simple. Without the contributions of half their members, societies will only fulfil half their potential.
And I will often say that a bird does not fly on one wing.
We need the full contributions of all, to weather the current storms and build inclusive, sustainable economies and societies for the future.”
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