SDG1: NO POVERTY
No poverty?  For real?  For everyone?

Then we can stop here.  Why 16 more goals?  If no poverty, what a fantastic world!
But no.  Poverty encompasses so much, its tentacles reach into so many related issues and problems that are not tangents but causes and results of poverty often at the same time.  Just think about poverty and health, housing, clean water, sanitation, jobs, etc.  And what about climate change and Mother Earth?  If SDG13 (Climate Action) is ignored, why worry about people when the earth might become uninhabitable?  No, the SDGs are about People AND the Planet.
Systemic Change thinkers would remind us: everything is connected to everything else, nothing happens in isolation.
SDG1 (No Poverty) posits a broad objective: “Ensuring that the entire population and especially the poorest and most vulnerable have equal rights to economic resources, access to basic services, property and land control, natural resources and new technologies.”
Ensuring these rights for every human being brings us closer to ensuring justice around the world and challenges us to examine how poverty is intricately linked to many social justice issues from gender inequality to poor education systems to environmental degradation.
When 193 countries signed on to this UN 2030 Agenda, they pledged to create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, with social protection systems and measures, to eradicate poverty.
But still: no poverty.  What an amazing thing to ponder.

In this blog series, let’s explore the meaning of the SDGs, the
Sustainable Development Goals, known as the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for the
People and the Planet. What follows is a brief introduction to the list of 17 goals.
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In September 2015, 193 countries came together at the United Nations to adopt
and commit to a long-term, comprehensive strategy to tackle the world’s greatest
challenges related to global sustainable development. The result was the SDGs, a
list of 17 goals to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030.
The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are ambitious, but
they are far from unachievable. Still, in order to achieve them, much work must be
done. We must work together, leverage partnerships, analyze systemic issues,
address root causes to these issues, and take action!

These goals allow us, as a global community, to visualize where we want to be by
2030 and the world that we want to live in. By creating these comprehensive goals,
writing them out, and sharing them throughout global societies, we are able to
tangibly encourage social mobilization, create peer pressure among political
leaders, spur networks of expertise, knowledge and practice into action, and
mobilize stakeholder networks across countries, sectors and regions, to come
together for a common purpose: global development and sustainable change. 
As explained by the United Nations, we are living in a crucial time, and with only 9
years left to reach our goals, our priorities must shift, with those in the most
vulnerable positions pushed to the forefront of our agendas. 

The UN website states:
 “With just under ten years left to achieve the Sustainable Development
Goals, world leaders at the SDG Summit in September 2019 called for a Decade of
Action and delivery for sustainable development, and pledged to mobilize financing,
enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals
by the target date of 2030, leaving no one behind. The UN Secretary-
General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three
levels: global action to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter
solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; local action embedding the
needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and people action, including by youth,
civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other
stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required
transformations.”

Now is the time to get informed about these goals, to spread awareness, and to
take action, especially on the key question: How accelerate their development
during COVID? Your comments and your ideas most welcome as we move
through the 17! Together, we can make great change!
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Submitted by Jim Claffey
NGO representative of the CM to the UN