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  • What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at different levels?
  • What are the approaches to, and changes in behaviour required for integrated policy-making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing this mindset?
  • What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels?

Summary Report

Thematic Window I on “Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda” discussed successful examples, tools and approaches in operationalizing an integrated approach to policy-making; the changes in behavior and communication strategies required for an integrated agenda; and the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda.

In general, e-discussion participants noted that there are many different pathways and policy options for an integrated approach. Many countries are already working to integrate their broader sustainable development agendas through national, sub-national, sectoral, and cross-cutting thematic policy processes. Key points from Thematic Window 1 of the e-discussion are summarized below.

What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at global/regional and country levels?

Poverty-environment mainstreaming approach

Close to 30 governments have started examining the poverty-environment nexus and explored new ways to address these challenges by adapting the poverty-environment mainstreaming approach, developed by the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), to specific national and subnational contexts.

Mozambique is a good example of how the Government has adopted an integrated approach to policy-making. A PEI supported economic study of natural resources found that the yearly economic loss due to environment degradation and the unsustainable use of natural resources equaled 17%of the country’s GDP while the estimated cost to remediate these damages was 9% of GDP. A separate study on public environmental expenditure showed that only 1.4%of GDP was the expenditure on environment. Such economic paradoxes go to the very core of the sustainable development problem. Influenced by these studies, the Government was determined to move towards inclusive sustainable development by adopting an integrated cross-sectoral approach to development planning and budgeting. The economic findings from the studies helped the Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs successfully lobby for the appointment of three environment focal points within the Ministry of Finance who are championing the inclusion of environmental sustainability objectives in the country’s budget processes. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance introduced a budget code for climate change which will help track climate change expenditure and monitor commitments by sectors to address climate change. Mozambique’s Ministry of Planning and Development adopted a mainstreaming matrix for cross-cutting issues including environment and gender, with PEI support. This matrix now serves as an important tool to ensure that sector plans and budgets include objectives that aim to promote inclusive sustainable use of natural resources. The Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs (MICOA) has played an instrumental role in operationalizing the mainstreaming matrix and supporting sector ministries to appoint environmental focal points. As a result of the cross-sector collaboration between MICOA and the Ministry of Planning and Development, nine sector social and economic plans integrate poverty-environment objectives. In Mozambique’s Zambezia province, where the well-being of the population is closely linked to the sustainable management of natural resources, over-exploitation of mangroves has increased riverbank erosion impacting negatively on housing, settlements, and agriculture. Most riverbank villages have been forced to relocate at least once. The adoption of ecosystem based approaches has prevented relocations and communities are now able to focus on income generating activities inspired by sustainable agriculture practices. The implementation of integrated policy approaches contributed to sustainability efforts on the ground.

Rwanda is another good example where in accordance with the poverty-environment mainstreaming approach, Rwanda’s Environment Management Authority (REMA) supported by the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) developed country specific evidence showing the benefits of an integrated approach to environment, poverty and economic development. Evidence from an economic analysis of natural resource managementdemonstrated how due to environmental degradation, poverty had increased, provincial health budgets were escalating, and soil loss of 15 million tons per year was costing the country 2% of GDP annually. This was equivalent to a reduction in the country’s capacity to feed 40,000 people a year. Further, the analysis showed that the cost of electricity had increased by up to 167% per unit cost following the degradation of the Gishwati forest and the Rugezi wetland. Siltation from soil erosion and the reduced water levels in the lakes and the hydropower reservoirs downstream decreased electricity generation and resulted in an extra cost of $65,000 per day as fossil-fuel generated electricity replaced hydro-electricity. By using the country specific evidence, REMA worked together with the PEI to successfully advocate for the integration of inclusive environmental sustainability into Rwanda’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) which was being developed by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN). The Government of Rwanda, with the support of PEI, worked to extend the poverty-environment mainstreaming approach beyond the national level into the sectors and districts. This required capacity strengthening of sector and district policy makers and budget officers as well as institutions for integrated planning, budgeting and cross-sector coordination. The enhanced capacity resulted in sector ministries and district authorities integrating more sustainable environmental practices, including sustainable watershed and waste management and soil erosion control measures in their policies and district development plans in line with the EDPRS. To ensure implementation of policy objectives that link poverty and environment issues, it is essential to also adopt an integrated approach to budgeting. Through the annual budget call circular, Rwanda’s MINECOFIN requested all sector ministries in 2010/2011 to plan and budget for environmental sustainability. In 2013, MINECOFIN further included a dedicated annex on environment and climate change budgeting in the budget call circular. As a result of the policy and budget shifts across various sectors Rwanda's expenditure on the environment and climate change increased from 0.4 % in the period 2005-2008 to 2.5 % in 2008-2012 (Public Expenditure Review of Environment and Climate 2013). To sustain this change in planning and budgeting processes, capacity building of government planners and budget officers for poverty-environment mainstreaming is now an annual event.

Integrated approach in the extractives sector

Many developing countries have financed their development through resource extraction. However, there are risks related to natural resource wealth, including volatile economic growth, limited job creation, violent conflicts, corruption, environmental degradation, etc. Such negative outcomes of resource extraction can be tackled through effective strategies, legal frameworks and policies. Government, industry, civil society and other stakeholders have been working together to advance sustainable development in the extractives sector. International government bodies like the APEC Mining Task Force, industry groups such as the International Council on Mining and Metals and international agencies like the World Bank and UNDP are very active in promoting sustainable development in the mining sector that take into account gender and indigenous peoples issues and small scale mining. The African Minerals Development Centre, launched by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, and UNDP, is a new hub which will help implement the African Mining Vision, which aims to ensure Africa’s mineral resources can support economic growth and development. It will translate that vision into practical solutions for reducing poverty and involving people in development. UNDP has also launched a Strategy to guide its work on supporting countries to govern their extractive sector sustainably. Support includes facilitating formal and informal participatory decision making processes to institutionalize representation of communities, women’s organizations and indigenous peoples in the governance of extractive industries; strengthening the capacity of artisanal and small-scale miners and of the public institutions that regulate and promote them; and helping countries develop strategies to invest resource revenues in economic transformation, social development and environmental regeneration.

Access to and understanding of policy tools, measures and methodologies

To ensure that the design and implementation of an integrated sustainable development approach are informed by the most relevant information, government decision-makers and partners from civil society and the private sector require access to and understanding of a more advanced yet practical set of policy tools, measures and methodologies that can be adapted and respond to the needs of different country contexts. These tools and measures include: diagnostic and decision-making tools for integrated environmental, social and economic assessments on best options for trade-offs and synergies; policy instruments including Environmental Fiscal Reform and related Green innovation, industrial and employment policy and Social protection instruments; financing tools; tools for stimulating sustainable development behaviors; capacity development toolstools for stakeholder engagement throughout the policy cycle; and measurement frameworks, data and indices to inform diagnostics, as well as to monitor, evaluate, educate, advocate and raise awareness.

Local context

Successfully operationalizing an integrated approach to development depends on how policies and programmes are translated into the local context. Integrated policies and programmes must be context specific depending on the local socio-economic conditions. Acknowledged gaps and setbacks in the implementation of many well-intentioned development programmes are in fact due to a lack of consideration for local specificities, which are crucial for sustainability. Ensuring ownership of an integrated agenda requires adopting a bottom-up approach by including local communities in decision-making processes and in implementation. Examples of successful case studies can be found in the “Science for Environment Policy In-depth Report: Social Innovation and the Environment”, by the European Commission DG Environment.

Lessons learned from implementation of the MDGs

Operationalizing an integrated approach also requires learning from past experience in implementation of the MDGs, including acknowledging gaps and shortcomings, to make the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs more effective. Important lessons can be drawn from the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) —a methodological tool offering governments and their partners a systematic way to identify and prioritize bottlenecks to progress on MDG targets that are off track, as well as ‘acceleration’ solutions to these bottlenecks. The MAF’s success is in part due to its ability to enable communication between stakeholders responsible for MDG implementation. This framework examined how existing strategies and sectoral plans were being implemented, and the bottlenecks in achieving the targets, while seeking cost-effective solutions for such bottlenecks. It also called for a specific action plan to address these bottlenecks, agreed upon by all actors responsible for implementation, and included a monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress and take remediation action. In countries where there has been political will to find solutions to lagging indicators, the MAF has enabled interdisciplinary dialogue - a key component of an integrated solution; aligned development partners behind a government defined agenda; enabled achievement of concrete development results; helped address inequality within a country; and has been used as a logical framework with 2030 as the horizon and the SDGs as a development reference framework in Saint Maarten and Panama, for example.

Beyond GDP measures

There is need for more holistic approaches to measure elements of sustainable development to complement or provide alternatives to GDP. Green national accounting is one such approach.

Reassess SDGs

There is need to re-assess the proposed 17 SDG’s as they lack logical cohesion, which is essential for the development of a rational approach to sustainable development and successful implementation. Another suggestion made is to expand the proposed SDGs to 21 Goals that would include conflict resolution, anti-corruption, religion, and data goals

Documented experiences on mainstreaming sustainable development

The following resources synthesize experiences, challenges, and lessons learned by national policy makers and the development community in pursuing an integrated agenda:

  • UNDP-UNDESA Rio+20 global Synthesis Report draws on over 50 National Reports assessing integrated sustainable development approaches and challenges at the country level;
  • What drives institutions to adopt integrated development approaches? The poverty-environment nexus and analysis of country evidence from the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative highlights key lessons learned in promoting integrated approaches that enable the simultaneous achievement of poverty reduction and environmental improvement by strengthening the institutional framework for planning, policy-making, budgeting and reporting to deliver sustainable development;
  • Breaking Down the Silos: Integrating Environmental Sustainability into the post-2015 Agenda captures the key messages from the eight-month consultation process that engaged academia, think tanks, representatives of civil society, youth, women and men from North and South who chose to focus the dialogue on the linkages between environmental sustainability and human development. At the forefront of the discussions was the need for the post-2015 agenda to be based on principles related to integrated approaches to development, equality, human rights and resilience in order to fully embed environmental sustainability.
  • UNDP’s Triple Wins for Sustainable Development report highlights, with country examples, what it takes to move towards sustainable development. Instead of focusing on the tradeoffs between the three strands of development, this report highlights the range and significance of the complementarities between them. It describes ‘triple win’ development policies and programming that regenerate the global commons by integrating social development with economic growth and environmental sustainability.

What are the approaches and changes in behaviour required for promoting integrated policy making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing a silos mindset?

Focus on ‘root causes’ of development challenges

The integrated approach that underpins the emerging SDG agenda clearly underscores shifting focus from ‘symptoms’ to ‘root causes’ of development challenges. Critical in this process is the need to examine how access to various natural or man-made resources, services, as well as opportunities, related inefficiencies and inequalities, governance and capacity deficits and other systemic constraints influence progress against particular as well as across goals and targets. The ‘bottleneck analysis’, which lies at the heart of the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) could lend itself to a deeper analysis of the structural challenges as well as the economic, social and environmental policy trade-offs or synergies surrounding ‘solutions’ to the achievement of particular SDG targets. In Western and Central Africa for instance, inequality and exclusion, governance deficits, and resilience building and environmental sustainability challenges were captured at various stages of the MAF roll-out chain

Nexus approach to the SDGs

Integrated policy-making, planning and programming towards the SDGs requires acknowledging and understanding the potential trade-offs as well as complementarities and synergies between various development resources and policies. The adoption of a ‘nexus approach’ to the SDGs offers a promising avenue in this regard (poverty-environment nexus, water-energy-land-food nexus). However, ‘resource nexus thinking’ cannot be confined to purely technological and economic considerations and needs to touch upon issues surrounding people, especially poor and disadvantage people’s control and access to resources and the national and local governance frameworks that facilitate or undermine this control.

Green economy approaches

Many countries are already making the transition to more inclusive, sustainable development pathways through green economy approaches. Given the link between sustainable development policies, trade, and cross-border environmental issues, opportunities for synergies are just a great as the challenges which need to be overcome. Efforts to leverage such synergies and change behavior at all levels depend to varying degrees on available evidence to inform policy, institutional capacities to design and implement them, as well as issues of political economy. Empirical and theoretical evidence on how inclusive green economy and related sustainable development approaches can be planned, implemented, and evaluated in different contexts. However, this remains limited, especially in developing countries. Coordination among different stakeholders involved with developing tools and methodologies for planning inclusive green economy requires strengthening. Expertise and data is often siloed across institutions responsible for environment, energy, climate change, economic and social areas at all levels and these challenges need to be overcome.

Dynamic and flexible approaches to integrated policy-making

There is need for adopting dynamic and flexible approaches to integrated policy-making for the new agenda. National policy pathways towards the SDGs are likely to differ across countries and over time. In the Arab region, for instance, the SDG ‘policy mix’ in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may involve reducing the ecological footprint while preserving human wellbeing (second order condition) – while for LDCs and some middle-income countries, this would rather entail accelerating human development, while minimizing environmental impacts (second order condition). LDCs and middle-income countries should still be pro-active in investing in environmental sustainability (including renewable energy etc.) but possible trade-offs need to be considered and the prioritizations to be made over time.

Inclusive policy approaches

Policy approaches need to be more inclusive and all local stakeholders, particularly the poor and marginalized should be better empowered to engage in decision-making processes. Spaces and opportunities for dialogue and constructive interaction, with a hands-on focus on issues and agendas of immediate relevance to the poor and marginalized should be created. The appropriate legal, policy, political, and more broadly institutional conditions need to be fostered (through policy dialogue, advocacy, or other means) that can enable the effective operationalization of an integrated approach. Political rights, participation and voice are enablers to effective representation. While reasonably broad representation can be achieved, stakeholders may find it challenging to develop integrated solutions because of the complexity of the interactions, their divergent interests, and the institutional silos in which policies are created. There are successful examples of multi-stakeholder initiatives from various sectors. The Great Rivers Partnership is an ambitious initiative in the water sector based on partnerships among businesses, conservation groups, local communities, and formerly siloed government agencies, working together to create new strategies for water conservation and sustainable use. REDD+, in the forest sector, requires that the creation of new policies and institutional arrangements integrate the interests of governments in forest carbon sequestration, businesses in the carbon market, and local communities that depend on forests for livelihood and environmental services as well as local cultural and religious views.

Women and youth can be key drivers of change for sustainable development. Women’s empowerment is a key process in reaching gender equality and, through that, sustainable development. This requires involving women actively in decision-making at all levels, integrating their concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes, and establishing ways to assess the impact of development policies on women. La Vía Campesina, a transnational social movement comprising about 164 local and national organizations in 73 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas and representing about 200 million farmers, has been widely considered as one of the most successful social movements in history. The movement unites peasants, farmers, landless people, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world in supporting small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. Women of this movement have proven to be a critical factor in its success and continued growth. Policymakers are also encouraged to pay attention to the views and concerns of youth, and actively engage with them in the sustainable development process.

Social capital

The use of social capital is an effective approach in bringing about change in mindset. International institutions possess strong social capital and could function as a key channel to bring about change in mindset at the national level.  CSO’s and NGO’s can play a key role at the local level given their long interaction with local communities. Ensuring ownership of the integrated agenda requires adopting a bottom-up approach, starting at the local level and CSO’s and NGO’s can play a key role. Sustainable development ‘Champions’ can also advocate for the integrated agenda at the national and local levels. Champions include high-level decision makers and government officials, media personalities, traditional leaders, and business persons.

Inclusion of key institutions

The inclusion of key institutions such as parliaments, the judicial system, political parties, and finance and planning bodies is required for integrated policy-making and operationalizing an integrated approach. Country experiences show that there are challenges and opportunities in working with these actors. For instance, parliaments may not be involved in all stages of development planning, may have limited awareness of sustainable development issues, and may face conflicting interests.  Despite these challenges there are opportunities in working with them, including leveraging their legislative role and fostering their advocacy role especially for budgeting. Challenges in working with the judicial system include its limited awareness of sustainable development issues, lack of enforcement of laws, and conflicting interests. Developing synergies with laws related to good governance, for instance, could be an opportunity. Integrated approaches must be accompanied by legal or other relevant instruments that facilitate operationalization. While political parties lack direct involvement in development planning, the election process can be used to raise awareness on sustainable development issues and these issues can be made a theme of political campaigns.

Breaking down the institutional silos

The institutional culture of working in silos poses a challenge to the implementation of integrated policies. In most countries, ministry lines and decentralized institutions within the public administration are still used to implement public policies in a vertical and compartmentalized manner. For example, recent experience in promoting the formulation and implementation of two MDG Acceleration Frameworks for HIV/AIDS and employment highlighted the difficulty for public administration departments to coordinate within a joint plan given the culture of parallel sectorial public policies and the siloed nature of the departments. Good coordination mechanisms must be set up that enable operational and cross-cutting coordination of policies. A good example includes the experience of social programmes based on conditional cash transfers where multi-sectorial coordination and integrated policies (education, health, social protection) have achieved relevant progress and results.

Good governance

Good governance is critical in implementing an integrated agenda. Solid democratic institutions are fundamental to ensure goals and agendas turn into concrete actions and effective policies. A change in mindset for an integrated agenda requires consideration for human rights, Free Prior and Informed Consent, sovereignty, cultural preservation and cultural observance.

Data for improved accountability

Technological innovation has led to an enormous increase in the availability and use of data. This ‘data revolution provides unprecedented opportunities to chart progress towards the SDGs and provide citizens with the tools they need to hold their governments to account.  

Role of media

New technologies and social media provide the world with creative outlets to discuss the sustainable development agenda and ‘keep it alive.’ As social media has changed the way that constituencies can be engaged, the approach to communications and messaging on the sustainable development agenda must be adapted to reflect this new reality. Traditional media continues to be an important avenue to inform the public about the integrated agenda. Campaigns are also effective ways to support change in mindset for an integrated approach to development. The World We Want 2015 campaign is an example of enabling citizens around the world to debate the sustainable development agenda. It helped gather the priorities of people from every corner of the world and build a collective vision that is being used directly by the United Nations and World Leaders to plan the new sustainable development agenda. This could perhaps be transformed to a sustained campaign into 2030.

Communication strategies

The challenge of communicating the integrated agenda lies in ensuring that the level of understanding of the agenda is inclusive. This implies that communication strategies be jargon free and not solely be intended for technocrats, academicians and practitioners. The use of success stories from countries that have operationalized an integrated approach can be an effective tool in initiating a change in mindset for an integrated agenda. These stories should be targeted at individuals, communities, institutions and government. South-South exchange visits by policy makers to countries that have been successful in pursuing an integrated agenda can also serve as a useful strategy in changing mindsets.

Formal education system

The formal education system is a key entry point to bring about the needed change in mindsets by equipping students with the relevant knowledge (the ‘what’), the key dispositions and skills (the ‘how’) and the values (the ‘why’) that will empower them to make informed decisions in support of sustainable development policies and actions.

Role of the UN

The role of the UN for integrated policy-making should be recognized and focused upon. Work on mainstreaming sustainable development undertaken by governments was triggered by the UN’s call for a universal agenda, e.g., ending poverty, reducing hunger, respecting the rights of a child, etc. Working with governments, the UN also plays a significant role in setting the tone, steering the way and enumerating the agenda. UN teams and international financial institutions working in countries must improve working together to better support governments in implementing their sustainable development agendas.

What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels?

Planning and data

Successful implementation of the integrated agenda necessitates that it be translated to the national and local level. This can be done through planning and data. On planning, the principles of sustainable development should be integrated into national development plans, in addition to the SDGs. Traditionally, national development plans have focused on the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. The scope and coverage of national development plans must be expanded to include the environmental dimension. For instance, UNDP and UNDESA are working with the Government of Belize to mainstream sustainable development into their national development plan. One key challenge is that the time horizon of the plan is 4 years, making it difficult to address issues with much longer time horizons and which require identifying their implications and the impacts of actions being taken (for example, climate change adaptation strategies). The development of Belize’s Monitoring and Evaluation framework is being informed by the SDGs, an exercise in localizing them. On data, with the proposed 17 SDG’s, 169 targets and over 500 indicators, there could be challenges in systematic data collection and reporting at national and subnational level. Hence, there is a need to identify ways of managing “clusters” of data which can provide decision makers with useful information, even if it is drawn from across several SDGs. There is ongoing work being undertaken in localizing the SDGs in the Amazon region at the subnational level and such patterns are emerging, where data exist.

Synchronize national targets with SDG targets

A key challenge is to synchronize national targets with SDG targets. For example, India is moving from national planning to provincial and state level planning which makes the process of synchronization even more complex, but necessary. Synchronization of national targets with SDG targets is possible in countries that use PRSPs and this can take place when these are formulated. A country’s Constitution and laws may also need to be in sync with the SDG’s and targets.

Sector ministries as avenues for SDG implementation

Most sector ministries in countries have policies, plans and results frameworks in place. These are avenues for ensuring that SDGs for each sector are prioritized in addition to other goals. Regional declarations and policies are another avenue for taking forward the SDGs.

Lessons from MDG monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation of the MDGs already do offer a number of lessons learned that can be compiled to provide a tool and benchmark for the SDG’s.

Moderator

Nik Sekhran,

Director, 

Sustainable Development,

Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, 

UNDP

17 Feb 2015 - 17 Mar 2015

Comments (116)

Lincoln Villanueva

Actualmente soy Coordinador del Proyecto Promoción, Defensa y Protección de los Derechos Humanos de las Personas LGTBI en Honduras. Soy Ingeniero Agrícola y Master en Planificación del Desarrollo y muy actualñizado en paradigmas y modelos de desarrollo humano. Quisiera participar en la e-discussion pero no puedo tener acceso a la discusión. Agradeceré su ayuda, pues me interesa mucho el tema dramático de Tránsito del ODM a los ODS (Post 2015).

Raimundo Oliveira
Raimundo Oliveira
I understand that a good policy is to feel the people wishes. Althought their wishes are so dificulty to put in practice. Each new govern brings their stractegies to concret what they think in will be the soluction for all problems, but what we see in deed are the permanent wrong policies to be in ethernal power. I see that it should have a balanced manner to direct those goals. No govern lasts if it goes in one direction.
Aden ALI
Aden ALI

So much has been said about the MDGs, but measuring achievement of the goals largely depended on objective standards and criteria in general.  These standards deserve to observed and taken into account in the SDGs as well. And this is what international scientific and academic institutions should do in this new phase. 

 

There is no doubt that the international community, colleactively speaking, has the institutions, the money and the resources to fix world problems and at the very least can learn from each other. 

Brazil can give a very good example:  Until the 1980s, Brazil was unable to repay its external debts and control inflation.  At teh end of 2014, Brazil had officially become the world's sixth largest economy, followed by Britain.  Overpopulation, corruption, tyranny, totatilarianism, misery, poverty and crime used to afflict Brazil in the past.  Now, however, it has turned out into a safe haven for a foreign direct investment. 

 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Policy choices: inclusive development, democracy, civil society involment in local, national and international level, their protection and promotion. common decision -making with governements and private sectors. Like NGO: ADET has signed with Togo government a program of work on the Sustainable development.

 

O'Brien Makore
O'Brien Makore

With less than a year before the expiry of the MDGs, I noted that one of their weakness was that they failed to effectively integrate local solutions and problems at global level resulting a failure to attain a number of targets particularly in developing nations. It is against this background that, there is need for a holistic and participatory approach at country level (starting from the grassroots) before the ideas are consolidated at global level. Participatory approach has the advantage of instilling a sense of responsibility among community members, thus effectively transform the mindset through perception shift.

More so, participatory approach enable us to harness indegionous knowledge, thus desisting from the 'old' approach of prescribing foreign solutions to local problems.

Marcus  POLETTE
Marcus POLETTE

I belive that to begin this analysis we need to understand what values, problems, conflicts  are in the general agenda? Who are the stakholders envolved in this processes? Who his analysis will really reach? 

Lincoln Villanueva

 

 

  • This forum is an example of an integrated approach and the success thereof is evident in current policy and global circumstnce.  Tools are diverse; on the whole it reflects ambitions for an inclusive society, which buys into an integrated functioning whole perpetuated by the system.
  • Changes in behaviour are defined by level of education and changes in midset are facilitated by relevant communication and interaction at grass root levels.
  • Investing in the people.
Nik Sekhran
Nik Sekhran Moderator

Dear colleagues,

A very warm welcome to Thematic Window I, “Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda”, of the 2015 ECOSOC e-discussion that will take place from 17 February to 17 March 2015. This e-discussion provides a unique opportunity for the broader development community to formulate critical policy messages and recommendations for the 2015 ECOSOC session.

As we transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, there is wide recognition of the remarkable progress made on the MDGs and the impact on millions of lives. Several important targets have or will be met by 2015, assuming continued commitment by national governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector.  For instance, global poverty has been halved five years ahead of the 2015 timeframe, 90 per cent of children in developing regions now enjoy primary education, and the target of halving the proportion of people who lack access to improved sources of water has been met.

Yet, much more needs to be done to address poverty, with over 1.2 billion people living below the poverty line.  Progress already achieved toward meeting the MDGs can be set back, if not reversed, by the shocks of macroeconomic instability, natural and man-made disasters, food shortages, or socio-political unrest. If instability— and the social and economic unrest it can generate — has become an enduring, systematic characteristic of the global economy, then countries must be better prepared for the problems to come. Countries will need to accelerate progress, but, at the same time, safeguard and sustain progress already made.

Recognizing these challenges, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in Brazil in June 2012 highlighted the need for an integrated approach to development planning and a transition to more resource-efficient, resilient forms of growth that yield multiple social, economic and environmental benefits. An integrated approach focuses on the complementarities between the economic, social and environmental strands of sustainable development rather than the trade-offs between them.

Thematic Window I on “Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda” addresses a specific aspect of the 2015 ECOSOC theme. As moderator of this thematic window, I wish to present to you the following three questions:

  1. What are the approaches and changes in behaviour required for promoting integrated policy making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing a silos mindset?
  2. What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at global/regional and country levels?
  3. What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels?

 I look forward to a rich discussion in the next few weeks.

Best regards,

Nik Sekhran

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

La politique doit être une politique participative. Par exemple lors d'une activité de l'ONG: ADET, nous avons invité les membres du gouvernements qui se sont représentés, la société civile soeur qui était présente, les chefs traditionnels et réligieux aussi présents, la jeunesse, les femmes (veuves) et orphelins les peuples autochtones, des migrants, les médias. Par ailleurs le HCDH-Togo et la CNDH invités n'avaient pas repondu. Voilà une approche  inclusive et participative. Mais une autre approche peut être porte à porte mais là l'inclusion, la participation est moins inclusive.

Saripalli Suryanarayana
Saripalli Suryanarayana

"Yet, much more needs to be done to address poverty, with over 1.2 billion people living below the poverty line.  Progress already achieved toward meeting the MDGs can be set back, if not reversed, by the shocks of macroeconomic instability, natural and man-made disasters, food shortages, or socio-political unrest. If instability— and the social and economic unrest it can generate — has become an enduring, systematic characteristic of the global economy, then countries must be better prepared for the problems to come. Countries will need to accelerate progress, but, at the same time, safeguard and sustain progress already made."Nik Sekhran.

I am sure we need to discuss,and find ways of Economy and,banking reforms to meet the next generation,as much we need to develop the Justice sytem stabilized with proper protective policing.

As much freedom is needed,that much it needs to be protected,against the 'psychological warfares,and inertias' in the society.'Education needs to be remoulded from 8 th grade on wards to meet the specifics of next generation.[Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnam and others said way back that education needs to meet the social needs]

We have come to acknowledge the importance of data,its protection,and its division for authoritative use.As my theme goes[as a member of Forum-Heritage and culture]the ways of preserving same in developmental projects,and retaing its strenth in urban settings of Asia is a must,to retain the strenth of urbanisation,and to avoid impounding slum charchter,to theseurban settlers.

Wish we make our more wise decisions on economy for the future generations,to be more reproductive,and avoid dole catching humans,out of hunger.

Lincoln Villanueva

Friends, Thank you for this new round of discussion  and dialogues. The principle of integration in the Post 2015 SDGs -and beyond MDGs (2000_2015) on Secgen road to dignity is about the business cycle of: plan, do/implement, check and Act (PDCA principle is used by integrative managers for moving in a situation of potential condlicts to potential cooperation...I am a bit surprised that the principle is neglected or underestimated. This will help to improve performance of SDGs compared to MDGs, and achieved the zero rate poverty by 2030.

Tim Scott
Tim Scott

Dear Nik and colleagues,

This discussion offers an opportunity to prepare for the post-2015 development agenda roll-out and better manage the MDG to SDG transition. Several countries have already been working to integrate their MDG and broader SD agendas through national, sub-national, sectoral and cross-cutting thematic policy processes.

I'd like to share some of the existing resources that synthesize some of these experiences, challenges and lessons learned by national policy makers and the development community.

These include the UNDP-UNDESA Rio+20 global Synthesis Report prepared drawing on over 50 National Reports assessing integrated SD approaches and challenges at the country level: http://www.uncsd2012.org/nationalpreparations.html

Additional global synthesis reports of relevance include:

-What drives institutions to adopt integrated development approaches? The poverty-environment nexus and analysis of country evidence from the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative http://www.unpei.org/sites/default/files/publications/What_drives_insti…

and

-Breaking Down the Silos: Integrating Environmental Sustainability into the post-2015 Agenda http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/environment-energy…

best regards, Tim

Lincoln Villanueva
I see some "vacuum" in this transition process from MDGs to SDGs, it seems nothing at work now? MDGs or SDGs??? Almost 2 months after still we do not have clear picture of how the SDGs are going to implement and address the global issues of today? I was expecting more active discussion/debate and actions take place globally and locally? process seems to be very sluggish. Any luck of accelerating of implementation of SDGs???
Lincoln Villanueva

El Desarrollo Sostenible quedo acuñado de manera ambigua para resolver el dilema de dos objetivos todavía irreconciliables: desarrollo económico y protección del medio ambiente. El uso, distribución y aprovechamiento de los recursos, no están desligadas de las relaciones de poder, en ese sentido, cabe señalar que los países con económias fuertes y poder armamentistico para imponerse, han agotado sus recursos pero pueden arriesgarse para conseguirlos, especialmente frente a la problematica energética, sin calcular los impactos negativos sobre el planeta, origen de las guerras recientes y de experiencias noscivas sobre recursos vitales como el agua en relación al frackng, por ejemplo; en cambio, los recursos naturales que se concentran donde aún quedan reductos de ecosistemas naturales en condiciones de vulnerabilidad frente al inminente alcance de los intereses del desarrollo tal como está planteado, dificulta la decisión de integrarse al desarrollo sosteniblecomo, caso de la selva de la amazonia, este inmenso reducto que comparten geográficamente Colombia, Brasil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Perú y Bolivia, como una fuente de riqueza basada en sus recursos naturales, las problemáticas oscilan en planos opuestos: tratar de gestionar y comercializar los recursos, al tiempo que se hacen esfuerzos por conservarlos, sin que se encuentren fórmulas para  resolver ambas, mediante la imposición axiomática de las relaciones económicas, la retorica de la sostenibilidad puede estar generando un efecto nocivo en lo ambiental, dirigido a demostrar avances en materias burocráticas, generando inercias en lo local pero también en los escenarios globales. Será necesario identificar las responsabilidades y los cambios globales y locales que posibiliten modificaciones profundas al paradigma del desarrollo. 

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Change in mindset is very important because mindset is the key to approach. In spite of so many efforts and policies, we still have problems existing because, our approach towards the agendas are not inline with the purpose. There are inequities in development because our approach towards development is not holistic and doesn’t cover the interlinks between the components of the world. 

To accomplish development, the world needs opportunity to learn, contribute and progress. Almost all social problems that is buzzing the world in the present can be resolved by facilitating opportunities to these three factors. And for the development to be holistic and equal, these opportunities must be INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC. 

What is INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC opportunities? How does INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC opportunities support holistic development? On what basis INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC opportunities be facilitated to the citizens? 

INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC opportunities are opportunities facilitated to the citizens inline with their interest, skills, ability and need without imposing or enforcing tailored opportunities that is always monotonous making life mechanical and stereotypic. 

Why not tailored opportunities when it assures to destine at success or development? Tailored opportunities that is facilitated in the present are typecast of standard that we formulated by averaging the world’s life and resources. By bringing the entire world to a line of median, we exclude the life and resources of the world that is above and below this median. This exclusion is the reason for development being unequal and unconnected. It is an universal and eternal fact that not two individuals can be alike, even the twins. Then how could the opportunities to life and development alone can be identical or one? Does it sound purposeful?

When opportunities to life and development are facilitated according to the individual needs and skill, we include every single individual of this 7 billion population in our agenda and finally, the outcome will be holistic and equitable. 

We now accept that the government should not decide anything for the people without them, it is not just the decision but also the facilitation. Opportunities to life and development must be facilitated according to their needs.  

Facilitating individual specific opportunities to life and development is very much possible and are highly supported by the fundamentals of all facilitating organisation, be it , United Nation or the national government. Opportunity for life and development through human rights as vested by the Universal Declaration of human rights is individual specific. Every article of the declaration is addressed to the global citizens, individually. 

The foundational purpose for which the concept of government was framed was to facilitate, regulate and support life and development of every single individual inline with their skills and the regional resources. Unfortunately, some where in the middle, the entire purpose and meaning got turned topsy-turvy. Today, governance in the world is about imposing opportunities that it tailors in the name of standards. The entire world is sunk so much in routine that even if it is highlighted with an alternative that exactly serves the purpose (even better) than the routine, it is not ready to give it a try.  It is really a pathetic situation, that we don’t have time and patience to realise and function inline with the purpose, because, without satisfying the purpose of an activity, we cannot accomplish a progressive or a fulfilled out-come. 

When something is said or suggested, the world always sees who says it and doesn’t care to realise of what is being said. This is yet another stereotype or rigidity in mindset of the human population that hinders development. Recommendations and references is everything to development and reformation in today’s world. The world has no time to analyse. It has no time to think and check whether the suggestion made would truly serve the purpose enabling us to accomplish development. When someone needs opportunity that is not tailored for routine, the individual needn’t convince with the outcomes of the opportunity asked or the individual needn’t highlight the rules or law supporting his/her claim, they simply need a recommendation or reference from someone who is popular or in limelight. Devlopment needs purpose oriented action and not power or status oriented reference. We should always check any claim or opportunity solicited with the purpose and foundational principles on which the vision and mission of the organisation was formed. If it truly satisfies its path to be in line with the principles of our fundamentals and clears not to hurt or harm the right to life and development of others, without any further delay the opportunity solicited should be facilitated.

What if the opportunity solicited is not line with the principles of human rights? Should we reject the claimed opportunity blindly? No, we should suggest a better alternative to the part of the claim that violates the principles of human rights to the conviction of the claimant and facilitate the opportunity by regulating it.

When every single individual is facilitated with opportunities to design their own path of life and development inline with human rights, there will be success, development, and prosperity throughout world without any voids or inequity. Development will be proportionate and balanced, as, by facilitating individual specific opportunities, we recognise and include all sectors and components of the world equally in such a way that nothing is left deprived keeping up the heterogeneitic quality of the world. 

 

When the world is brought transparent to the out-comes and benefits of the purpose oriented policies, there is one question that immediately pops in the minds of the human population and that question is, “We all reached success with lots of difficulties and by facing so many hardships, then why should we liberate the paths to the our successors? Shouldn’t they have more complicate path that filters and polishes them even brighter and precise? This is yet another rigidity or stereotypic mindset that hinders the facilitation of purpose oriented policies. Complex and complicated paths to development will neither support us to accomplish holistic development nor enable us to serve the purpose of the activity we approach. Only when the environment we live in, just has “us and the purpose of the activity”, our functioning will be towards the purpose of the activity and “nature” that drives the world keeping it dynamic every minute will take us in the paths of the development, serenity and prosperity. If we are to complicate the process and make the environment more complex with standards and procedures, our functioning will be to satisfy this standards and procedure that we drew, eventually liberating and isolating the world from the reality and everything from thereon will be isolated and delinked that would direct all our efforts and works towards an illusionary destination. Therefore, it is important to liberate the world from it functioning on the locus of human-derived standards and procedures. Also, development is only when we are able to facilitate easy and simple access to rich and prosperous opportunities to our successive generation than what we had. Making the system more complex and complicated pulls back the reach and quality of development. Our responsibility is not to transfer the future generation with a sustained world but it is our responsibility to transfer them a world that is progressive, prosperous, serene and unchallenging. 

The world shouldn’t be challenging, it must be inspiringly productive. It should not demand progress or development out of challenge but it should inspire individuals to contribute their best in their own way that makes them to put in their fair share to the progression and development of the world. The steering factor should be inspiration because when it is steered by challenge, negativities of all type will start to multiply its scope and space in the environment, as challenge mandates an situation of defeat to reach success. 

Another mindset that needs a change, is with respect to the time limit. We don't facilitate opportunity for experience that counts the skill, zeal or ability an individual but the experience that simply counts the time period. If an individual has a work experience of five years, we authenticate them to be more eligible for an opportunity than an individual who has more skill for the zeal and inheritance they have towards the field. Elevation or opening to a key opportunity must not be based on time or physical age of an individual, but it must be to the skills and mental ability of an individual. No one will be irresponsible, if they are vested with an transparent and accountable opportunity for the skill and interest owned. 

So, the entire world needs a reformation in their mindset inline with the core principles and purpose of human rights that facilitates opportunity to design and authenticate policies and facilitation according to skill and needs of every single individual, individually. Human rights is not about the rights of groups but it is about the enabling responsibility and authenticating transparent opportunities to every single individual that will enable them to work towards the development of their self and the world. The only solution that could cure the roots of all the problem in the world is policies and opportunity to INDIVIDUAL SPECIFIC RIGHT TO LIFE AND DEVELOPMENT INLINE WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

Lincoln Villanueva

Friends,

I want to post a new comment in the review after the PDCA management system to move forward from MDGs to SDGs and ask one question.

For example, if one consider MDGs separated from SDGs, is there no need to keep the MDGs. I wonder also, if these SDGs cannot play a role of development shoch absorber on the Road to dignity.

It is possible to take into account new MDGs progresses, even if there are not the same in all countries, but globally it is statiscally accepted that MDGs moved to the right direction (MDGs were good), change of mindsets. Now more peoples have moved from poverty in the emerging world, (except in Subsharian Africa, or Asia with the 600 millions people going hungry to bed), is US$1.25 as defined by the Worldbank still relevant for an account of MDG1 or future SDGs1. By comparing countries in EU, where most people are far above the poverty line, there are still considered to European standards as poor due to thehigher cost of life and living standards. One can be poor with US$900. Is not it important to pay more attention to intangible assets (quality of life, safety nets...and promote a world minimalistic wage for all) rahter still trusting that $1.25 could sort out peoples from poverty? Thank  

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

C'est maintenant que j'ai compri l'inquiétude de son excellence François Holland à Davos 2014, sur les réformes à opérer en France pour s'adapter aux objectifs des ODD. Le seuil de la pauvreté  $1,25 est mondial. Mais on peut être pauvre avec $900 si les charges liées à ce revenu sont énormes.

Lincoln Villanueva

Dear All,

Thank you moderator for starting this dialogue and making comments on posts as you deem fit.

Thank you also to all contributors, particularly those from UN agencies.

My first observation is that the contributions are largely outside the format suggested by the Moderator and that there is a need to better structure the dialogue fro improved quality and productivity.

The Moderator and Contributors may be aware of two important UN Reports - Data Revolution Report released by UN Secretary General on 6 November 2014 and Synthesis Report on Global Consultation on Final Push to achieve MDG by 2015 and Post 2015 Development Agenda released 4 December 2014. Also the Global Nutrition Report 2014. Work in ongoing to release Global Nutrition Report 2015.

Some Contributors have raised issues relating to abandoning MDG as Global Brand and replacing with SDG as Global Brand with related cost implication. If some contributors have issues relating MDG to SDG, one can imagine how other stakeholders on both Developed and Developing Countries sides are likely to struggle with the change. Is it not possible to change from SDG to MDG 2 to avoid these difficulties and also save the scarce fund that would be required to build SDG Global Brand from scratch that could be considerable higher than what it would cost moving from MDG to MDG 2

The SDG (MDG 2) has 17 Goals. There is a need to expand this to 21 Goals, that is include Conflict Resolution, Anti Corruption, Religion and Data Goals in the SDG (MDG2).

On Approach, there is a need for One Worldwide Generic Approach that is customized to meet specific Sub-national, National and International Context. The only such approach for benefits focused International Development Cooperation that I know is Policy, Program, Project Cycle Management (3PCM).

I do hope that discussions get more focused in the few weeks remaining, a practical option for delivery of higher productivity and impact 

Lincoln Villanueva
 More target strategies and initiatives are needed for obtaining an integrated agenda , which can include the need of all the stakeholders and national priorities. In the case of some developing countries , we have also the problem of social capital that can limit the implementation of more efficient policies.Before some years the universal millenium goals was implemented and actually we see the result in many area. we can not follow the same rules , methodolgies and thinking , the sustainable development goals is a new concept based on the needs of many stakeholders and include many important subjects related to enviroment but also related to good governance , social and economic needs. 
Lincoln Villanueva

 

Dear Colleagues,

As a social scientist who has had the opporunity to develop and implement development projects in my community, I have had the opportunity to champion gender issues as well as issues affecting youth in Africa at the national level and the regional level. My observation is that governments e.g the government of Kenya, as well as regional bodies have initated intergrated policy making process by engaging different stakeholders with diverse expertise and experience in policy making, capturing the social, economic and environmental aspect of development. In this regard, a lot of key issues affecting overall development of every constituency e.g. youth, children, climate change  etc has been captured by the MDGs but alot more will be caputured by the SDGs. The problem seen todate is the effective implementation of these policies.   They need to have proper structures , hence 'tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at different levels ' for participation in the implentation public policies is what needs to be brought to the table. Dialogue and brainstorming is needed among various stakeholdeds inorder to ensure real change is oberserved in the society through policy implementation. Policies and effective policy implementation, monitoring and review is a prerequiste for overall sustainable develpoment.

Warm wishes.

Dr. Abdulghany Mohamed
Dr. Abdulghany Mohamed

Dear Colleagues,

Greetings to all! And, thanks to the moderator and participants for your insightful contributions.

 In this post, I wish to focus on one question, viz.:

What are the approaches and changes in behaviour required for promoting integrated policy making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing a silos mindset?

But, before I present my suggestions, I would like to preface them with the observation that although many of the suggestions I’ll offer are already shared by many in the development community there are still relevant in light of: (a) the experiences we have had with implementing the MDGs, and (b) the burning desire to ensure that the new SDGs are effective realized; hence, they are worth raising them here. Moreover, due to the length of my post figured it would prudent to present it in two parts. In the first part I’ll focus on WHY we’ll need changes in behaviours/practices and in the second part I’ll delve into the WHAT/HOWs of changes in approaches.

Part I: Rationale for change

To begin with, I believe change in approaches and behaviour(s) is needed precisely because the SDGs are supposed to be different from the MDGs in the sense that every member state is expected to work at achieving them in their own countries as well as assist each other as opposed to how the MDGs were hitherto (in practice) implemented whereby the MDGs were viewed as targets for only developing countries to achieve with assistance from developed countries. If abided with, this ideational corrective has profound implications for international development for it opens up space (intellectually and praxis-wise) for ensuring that SDGs are realised in both developing and developed countries. For instance, developed countries will have to “walk the talk” and thus be assessed not only as to how much they have assisted developing countries in achieving the SDGs but also as to how much the SDGs are being realised in developed countries themselves. 

Secondly, one of the key aspects in extant policy processes that needs to be seriously addressed is the issue of “silos mindset” understood here as a metaphor that signals dysfunction and difficulty in realizing the SDGs. It is imperative that a “silos mindset” be transcended because not only is it pervasive but also because unconnected/independent/parochial “silos” inhibit interaction, communication, exchange of knowledge, cooperation, and coordination, etc. Indeed, the dysfunctional effects of “silos” and “silos mindset” are detrimental to organizational/community resilience. Moreover, the world has radically changed such that the challenges we face are too large to address in isolation. In short, since a “silos mindset” tends to limit/constrain development it must therefore be overcome. But, changing such a pervasive mindset is a daunting task for at least two reasons: First, a “silo” is sustained/entrenched because it helps reduce uncertainty among actors within the silo as well as it helps cluster competences/specialized knowledge within the silo and hence a silo is deemed beneficial to members of the silo even if it may not be beneficial to the wider system. Secondly, bridging/spanning silos even when desired/desirable is not easily achieved/achievable especially when interests are so entrenched. That said, however, although the problem is formidable it is not insurmountable.  The question then is: How do we go about changing the “silos mindset” so as to permit bridge-building across policy-making and implementation silos? I’ll discuss this aspect in the second part.

Thanks and all the best!

Abdulghany Mohamed

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

By papers, opportunities for development and life are equal and universal, it is not categorised according to the developmental status of the region, like complete autonomy for developed, 50% focus for developing and 100% for under-developed. This categorisation was made when the laws and opportunities in papers was transitioned into practical policies and opportunities. The entire deviation originated in our process of giving life to the opportunities in papers. When we say human rights is universal where does the national and international standards of human rights come from? When it is universal where did the rights for “groups” come from, like rights for the people with disabilities, rights for the children, rights for the under-developed, minority right, Asian rights, African rights, European Rights, American Rights, Australian rights, from where did all these come from and for what? Categorising an universal opportunity that was designed for individual well-being of all citizens - “individually", to a group was one of the reason for development being unequal and with disparities. 

Same happened to be problem in the case of approach held towards the MDGs. The goals in the MDGs were universal, it is about education, gender equality, global partnership, employment, human well-being and about environment. It is about the factors of the world, universally. It doesn’t mean that once a factor or component has accomplished development, it is vested with that status eternally. With the evolution even the developed becomes developing. The mindset towards sustainability principles have blindfolded us in such a way that, we think that once, something is attained, it can sustained. It is not so, nature evolves, even if you glue yourself to a place, you will not be in the same place, the next day, because the world is rotating and with its rotation, we move even though we stand static, individually. We often ignore and neglect to consider this natural component and factor, which unfortunately is the base or locus of our living and facilitations.   

We do the same, in recognising an individual, too. Once when we award of reward the contribution of an individual, we should not liberate them totally. With the award we must fix them towards further progression. For example, along with the award or rewards, awarded, we must call a proposal from them for their next project or we must induct them with scopes towards progressing and widening the spread of the skills and inheritance, by this, they will not get stagnated with the light received, but they will be updating themselves and always be on the path of development. 

We need to understand the essence or basic quality of the principles and fundamentals formulated with the vision and purpose of it. Human Rights is not about privilege or concession, it is about widening and simplifying the access of opportunity to life and development in a way that every single individual of the global population have their opportunity to success, growth, prosperity and satisfaction. Meanwhile, goals like MDGs, Right to education, Education for all and the like, are a tool or opportunity to monitor, whether every component of the world is inline and rich with human rights or not. 

“Silos mindset” is due to the disintegrated orientation towards living and functioning that people evolved within them by the environment of this competitive world of standards. With human-derived standards that average and medians the world, opportunities to success and growth are limited and despaired. It imposes individuals to develop, silos mindset to ensure and secure their place and success. World or environment with Human rights enables success to all, individually, it liberates and spreads innumerable healthy opportunities to life and development for all. 

We must realise the difference, life and world in both the environment of standards and human rights is about “self”, in standardised world the factor of “self” enabled is, “Selfishness” and in the world of human rights, the “self” enabled is “social and humane”. In standardised world, development and living is about securing all possible place for self ignoring the place of others but in human rights, development and living is about the opportunities for skills and inheritance of the self that doesn’t interest with the opportunities of others. Everyone have their own place and the opportunity to further their accomplishments is always there in the world of human rights.

We often hear people saying, “First think about localisation before concentrating on globalisation”, this is an example of Silos mindset, we want to secure and assure everything for self and forget about integrating and furthering the accomplishments. We bring down the enthusiasm and the nobel vision of individuals by grooving their thinking and ideas. It is not humane to bring down the perception and vision of individuals from global level to local.

It is true that without raw materials, we cannot produce anything, but what is the use of having alone the raw materials, as such? What is the use if we are to confine ourselves and feel satisfied simply by having the raw materials, thinking about its value when it is converted into a product? It will have no value and purpose if it is not converted into a useable product. Same way, our activities, development and living should not be confined and limited to a smaller sphere, we should liberate, progress and integrate our accomplishment to the maximum possible extent without any reservation, restriction or limitation.    

First, we must understand what is development? Development is growth. Where does development come from? Development comes from living life or through experiencing world through multiple and indefinite opportunities to learn, unlearn and relearn. 

Learn, unlearn and relearn does not mean, learning, forgetting and relearning the same. So, what does it mean? LEARN: Experiencing the world and life individually with regulated liberty and freedom according to the skill and capacity inherited. UNLEARN: Leaving behind or erasing the mistakes or flaws that was faced in the path of exploration and RELEARN: Re-experiencing the flawed path without mistakes. 

The process of development should have considerable space for individuals to learn, unlearn and relearn. Mistakes are not to be branded, mistake are to be regulated. The world shouldn’t pose an environment that would make mistakes, an hinderance or a barrier for individual to access or get facilitated with their opportunity to life, growth and development. No one is ever perfect, mistakes are part an parcel of life, it is not necessary that a person who takes leap and who has brilliant contributions to his/her credit to should be flaw-free or mistake-free. Mistakes happen, remedial measures for mistakes should not be punishments, instead it should be an opportunity to rectify the flaw and recompense it.  

Therefore when the world is liberated to the approach and work towards the unified universal goal inline with human rights, the silos mindset can be treated and avoided. We should integrate the components, country is not about the government and government is not about the country, it is people who form the foundation for both. The vision of the country is not just the vision of the government but the vision of its people. The vision of UN is not just the vision of the organisation but the vision and responsibility of every single individual of this world population. When this truth is cognised along with opportunities of human rights, the silos mindset can be oriented towards the mindset of humanity. 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

 Je suis d'accord avec

"Il est vrai que, sans les matières premières, nous ne pouvons pas produire quelque chose, mais ce est l'utilisation d'avoir seulement des matières premières, en tant que telle? Quelle est l'utilité si nous voulons nous en tenir et se sentir satisfait simplement en ayant des matières premières, en pensant à sa valeur quand il se est converti en un produit? Il ne aura pas de valeur et l'objet se il ne est pas converti en un produit utilisable. De même, nos activités, le développement et la vie ne doivent pas être confinées et limitées à une petite sphère, nous devrions libérer, progrès et intégrer notre réussite dans la mesure du possible, sans aucune réserve, restriction ou limitation" 

Il faut changer de mentalité pour réussir et tier profit de nos matières premières. 

Dr. Abdulghany Mohamed
Dr. Abdulghany Mohamed

Dear all,

This is my second part on changing approaches and behaviour.

 

Part II: Addressing the negative consequences of the lack of integrated policy-making and implementation

While in the first part I briefly discussed the rationale for change in approaches, I’ll focus in this part on how we can go about realizing the desired changes.

For starters, a shift away from a “silos mindset” must encompass a worldview that embraces the world with all its complexities, dynamism and uncertainties. As such, policy making and implementation approaches must be consistent with such a view if we are to effectively/successfully achieve the SDGs. While we may identify universal ideas, approaches and best practices we should be prepared to adapt them to accommodate/incorporate local circumstances, cultures, priorities, and the vagaries/vicissitudes of this unpredictable world of ours. Perhaps most importantly, we must acknowledge that the implementation of SDGs, like any other social processes, will be highly contested with both positive and negative outcomes.

Moreover, international development efforts and cooperation must be based on the understanding that SDGs can be best achieved when there is mutual respect across the board. One of the key areas where mutual respect can be engendered is in relation to respect for each party’s knowledge that is brought to bear in addressing societal challenges. For example, we in the developed world must approach international development on the understanding that “we do not have all the answers” to development challenges around the globe.   Now, I know it is hard to mitigate hubris, smugness and impatience for quick results but it is imperative we acknowledge that respect for local knowledge is paramount in ensuring the localization of SDGs as well as in: (a) problem definition/perception, (b) formulating/devising effective implementation strategies/tactics, (c) harnessing global knowledge, (d) collective knowledge creation, (e) galvanizing stakeholders/coalition building, (f) avoiding to re-invent the wheel, and (g) in safeguarding the dignity of all involved. At the minimum, it will require an understanding that donors, policy makers and development practitioners (as change agents) can best assist people and societies realize their felt needs by serving in catalytic and facilitative roles.

And, perhaps most importantly, in order to ensure policy integration, I believe that approaches/behaviours (especially of policy-makers and development practitioners) will need to be grounded in an ethos of inclusiveness. In other words, inclusiveness is an antidote to a “silos mindset” in its various manifestations. As such, all relevant actors/stakeholders (state, private for profit sector and civil society) must be genuinely inclusive in their modus operandi as tokenism won’t cut it. It is crucial that the spirit with which the SDGs have been formulated is not undermined by implementation practices that defy inclusivity. For example, I have never understood why NGOs in developed countries would exclude highly qualified members of diasporic communities (even in volunteer roles) and yet travel across the oceans to go help societies whose kith and kin they have already marginalized! It really makes it harder to trust that these well-meaning (but misguided) NGOs will treat the host/recipient societies with dignity and respect. In fact, it serves only to undermine all the sterling work done by civil society world-wide. This is not to single out one set of actors or absolve other actors in developed and developing countries, but, it is presented to underscore/illustrate a case in which enhanced inclusiveness is required.

It is also noteworthy that in order to achieve the above suggestions, at least three complementary measures will be required, including: (a) changing the incentive structures that have hitherto sustained a “silos mindset”, (b) changing institutional architectures so as to enable silo permeability/coupling and encourage/facilitate horizontally shared policy making and implementation, and (c) strengthening training/coaching of policy actors/development practitioners in working and managing across silos. That said, it is worth bearing in mind that transforming incentive structures – as a contested process -- requires political will and strategic alignment with the SDGs.    

Lastly, as regards to communication strategies, I suggest policy-makers/development practitioners need to avail themselves of all communication tools/approaches and then apply them appropriately as will be required in various environments/contexts. However, I would be remiss if I did not note that in spite of the existing digital divides, harnessing the power of contemporary information and communication technologies (e.g., social media; the internet of things) is critical and will, indeed, increasingly come to play a greater role in shaping and facilitating international development practices.  

In sum, I would like to reiterate that the above ideas are not new and are most likely shared/practiced by many, but, it won’t hurt to remind ourselves of their relevance, meaning and implications in light of implementing the new SDGs. Indeed, they require us to cultivate a new ethics of international development.

All the best! Looking forward to your great insights!

Abdulghany Mohamed

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Bonjour Mohamed,

Je vous remercie pour vos remarques très pertinentes. Beaucoup  d'éléments y sont pour la société civile.

Encore  merci

Lincoln Villanueva

Friends,

This communication at this stage of the review is much about the framing scope of monitoring. I gave a definition of the indicator more in the sense of 2 indicators one to prevent the lack of success to the SDG goals, and the other what happenS if the goals cannot be reached. There are full ways and strategies to deal with the issue, but setting correctly the issues are very important to get the right solving. For example, if indicators are backbones. Do you think that organization will be able to change in the horizon line of the SDGs (view the complexities and crises). Also,  are we not missing some organizationsz. For example there are a great varieties of organizations that have no monitoring system and they are perfectly sustainable (indigenous people are sustainable in term of sacred nature for the natural element and harmony with nature, also other small organization in the domain of the cooperative,...etc because they are not polluting. Opposite, some big companies can have a nice monitoring system but are they really influencial on reducing harms or imporving opportunities. For example, in a good number of organizationall sites, the principle of who pollutes have to pay for the damages...Often there is no environmental justice. So, how can the indicators and SDGs, and target help to make proper decisions, with planning or ensure the quality expected. Thank. Georges BIRD

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Shifting the focus and mindset of economic development solely being a factor and indicator development will be the answer. Development starts from individual and completes with the world. Development is not about the scientifical advancements, infrastructural development and the economies and sharing involving and revoliving around it.

Settlement of Indigenous population means that the area or region is rich in natural resources and has an potential scope for development based on natural resources. Social and economic discriminations in the rural areas are because of this stereotype we have towards development. It is important for the world to be heterogenetic for a holistic or wholesome growth. Heterogeneity of the nation still reflects the inequality because of the nation considering development to be one-sided and homogenetic. Indigenous people are not to be considered as historic or deprived, even before the existence of advancements they explored world and found an environment that could naturally support living and it was they who designed a region that has holistic and equitable facilities and opportunities for life. If discussed with inclusion we can get mind-blowing and eye-opening ideas for general facilitation and development from them who are aware of their roots and evolution. Even though we cannot descend their environment or life as such, we will be able to get a core that can be shaped to the current societal structures and living advancements. 

Again, how we approach indigenous development, it is about industrialising their living pattern. We are so obsessed with life and rapidity of science that we always scienticise everything in the world but unfortunately the natural quality of the world is social. Science is just an complimenting factor. The need for the importance of social and human values in world must be understood. Humans cannot engineer everything in this world, we need to realise the reality, we cannot decide everything for our authority, we need to be inclusive and considerative of the natural factors of the world. It is nature that was to existence prior to our origin. "SCIENCE" HAS A PROOF FOR THAT. The earth has seen so many changes and extinctions in its evolution before the origin of human life. By our reformation and regulation, we are saving humanity and not the earth. We can sustain our living and functioning but the evolution of earth or the nature is not in our hands. They are automisied, even, nature has factors of fanatsy in it, that, we largely ignore to notice and realise. We are not transcendent to accept and recognise fanatsies that are natural and that doesn't have derivational proof of research. 

When we see development to be economical solely, Law and rights are to be violated because our criteria would be the economical gain and not to meet the purpose or include corresponsding factors. We largel look development as, infrastructure, science, domestic produce that consitutes the export capacity of the region, foreign investments and such other derived and formulated factors. PDCA management system too consolidates and monitors development or progress by having factors of standards as its base for evaluation. Human derived or human formulated standards are the problems of development because the standards we designed are illusionary because its way away from the pupose and fundamentals of the components. Evaluation base for development must be the fundamentals of the government and purpose of each component of the world. 

We should be flexible to changes, we should be inclusive in our approach, we should not repeat the history, we should not brand new approaches as "Impossible" without giving it a consideration or opportunity when it convinces to serve the purpose and principles facilitated. Even in history, individuals with new approach towards the world were branded deviant and were forced to lead a deprived life and the same appraoch or findings were lauded and recognised greatly after their death. Look, how irresponsible and unjustifiable it is. If we would have recognised the same at the very instance it was justified, we could have got many more discoveries and inventions by them, they could have descended a lot to the future, many lifes could have got inspired and benefitted out of their approach and the progress of the world could have been more advanced and steered faster. Since because we struck ourselves so strong to sustainabilities, we are slowing down the process of development and regressing the real development the world could accomplish during the time. 

Therefore, we need to shift the focus towards the realistic purpose from the illusions of standards. 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Bien, il faut beaucoup d'innovations, de créativités. Alors des mentalités doivent changer vers celà et la durabilité. Mais il faut aussi des transfers de connaissances scientifiques et de technologies. Les pays pauvres en ont tellement besoin. L'acceuil des étrangers dans ces pays doit être primordiale pour une inclusion et pour acquérir de nouvelles connaissances, de nouveaux emplois, d'échanges d'expériences et de techniques pour tel ou tel domaine:ex, l'énergie renouvelable pour tous, l'adaptation climatique, l'agriculture NAMA, l'industrie etc. c'est pourquoi la souplexe des uns et des autres, le respect des droits de l'homme sont impératifs.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Merci, Il faut que les décideurs politiques aident la société civile dans cette grande tâche parce que nous devons commencer tout avec optimisme que tout va réussir. L'échec peut arriver mais il faut changer de tactiques, de directives: c'est pourquoi il faut l'esprit de créativité, d'innovation dans la communication pour un changement positif de mentalité pour le développement durable.

Lincoln Villanueva

Bonjour,

   Très heureuse de pouvoir participer a toutes ces discussions,  on le sait tous que le  pouvoir, l’impacte de la communication repose sur une stratégie de visibilité. Pour réussir   une  politique basée sur une approche sociétale, est qui peut  aider au  changement de mentalité, il faut prendre en considération  l’imaginaire social et culturel d’un pays et essayer de travailler avec tous les operateurs , intervenants sociaux , acteurs   pour modeler et changer les mentalités dans le but d’élaborer un programme ou une vision d’ensemble  visant a promouvoir l’autonomie et l’intégration de la femme , lutter contre la violence faites aux femmes et aux jeunes filles , promouvoir l’égalité et l’équité sociale et politique et économiques des femmes et des hommes  en s’appuyant sur tout les outils et les mécanismes ainsi que les dispositions sur le plan politique , juridique, et culturel et économique et que toutes la société , dans sa globalité et toutes les parties prenantes  s’approprie un  message et de pouvoir le transmettre aux citoyens. Les impliquer dans les décisions et discussions a tout les niveaux, la communication institutionnelle, l'information diffusée doit  bénéficier une grande crédibilité. La culture, du respect de l’autre malgré ses différences de la citoyenneté sont des  facteurs de changement, et d’ouverture, et d’acceptation de l’autre, je me pose la question suivante comment peut –on  aidé tout ces pays à travailler sur leur patrimoine culturel et éducatif d'interaction sociale, et de socialisation, en terme  de  systèmes de croyance, comment aider ces société à façonner leur attitudes et leur  comportements  les modeler selon leur habitus social et allez vers  une nouvelles indenté sociale.  La question de Genre, d’empowerment occupe une place importante vision universelle pour l’autonomisation des femmes. Comment élaborer cette politique intégré ; une politique de changement, quels sont les outils élaborer par les ODD , recommandations de RIO+20 , et d’autres organismes ONU (Agences Onusiennes) ?

  L’éducation, un vecteur important pour l’autonomisation des femmes et l’élimination des inégalités entre les sexes. Un grand défis dans le cadre des ODD pour l’élimination des  stéréotypes sexistes dans les écoles , au seins de la société , comme aider toutes ces femmes  a franchir le cap de la peur sociale et s’approprier leur espace  pour  leur autonomie , indépendance socioprofessionnelles et surtout économique, Les normes et les coutumes sociales conditionnent, le comportement des femmes  et   définissent leur  rôles, comment aidé toute ces sociétés a changé de vision et d’approche, sur les questions de Genre , comment Genderiser les politiques , les programmes , de développement ; tout ces pays ont besoins de plus d’accompagnement , de renforcement de capacités , transfert du savoir, les bonnes pratiques, et la Bonne gouvernance, la culture  et  la  Bonne  communication sont des  instruments fondamentaux et nécessaires  pour garantir le changement des mentalités et des sociétés.   

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Me karima,

La bataille ne sera pas facile mais pas impossible. Quand on parle des réformes, il y a la réforme mentale aussi dedans. Vous savez que l'Afrique ne connaissait pas l'école moderne mais des universités Africaines sont aujourd'hui incomptables. Des pédaguogues, des législateurs voire des politiciens(nes) dans le monde, peuvent aider, à mieux changer les mentalités en faveur de la promotion de l'égalité genre. Là la société civile a un rôle capital à jouer.

Lincoln Villanueva

Thanks for setting up this e-discussion---My concnern is that many do not understand what sustainable development is and even why we need it if for example regional MDG reports paint a mostly positive picture as in the case of the Asia-Pacfic regional MDG report.

Sure poverty has been reduced but perhaps only in the short term and at a great cost to the environment  in which we depend on for clean water, clean air, and stable climatic conditions that most farmers depend on.

It seems to me that we are sending mixed messages --why move to a more complex development agenda -if the MDGs are considered so successful?  The burden of a more complex agenda will fall on countries to fulfill.

While many countires do see the need for the post-2015 development agenda others may only see it as another campaign and less so a development strategy that is needed.

Thus a mindset change will need to call upon data that supports the need for the SDGs . Policy makers need such in hand to have the basis for why thaey are pressed to undertake the SDGs.

 

 

 

 

 

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado

The Dilemma SDG's Pose to Policy Makers

 An examination of the 17 goals, and the goals they subsume (there are over a 100), clearly indicates they lack the logical cohesion, which is an essential condition for the development of a rational policy, strategy, and the latter's successful implementation. Let me try to explain.

A parable will be useful here; Tom wants to spend a weekend in his simple retreat in the mountains. There's nothing in his retreat except a few simple furniture. So, he must take all he needs, if he is to meet his fundamental needs during that break.

Tom has a vehicle he could use to get there, and a limited amount of money. His city clothes are unsuitable in the mountains. So, on Friday at the latest he needs to assemble what he needs before driving off.

Tom makes his list, and let us say getting each item is a goal. Obviously, if he makes a list where there is no logical order, it would take Tom ages to get the things together in time. For instance, if he wrote 'mountain boots' and then a bag of potatoes, and so 'sleeping bag in the attic', 'kerosene for the Primus stove', etc., and then began to gather those items, what would happen?

Let us assume Tom has boots, so he will have to find them, and perhaps clean them before taking them to his retreat. He does so, and now, he must go out to get the potatoes. On returning, he will have to run up the attic, take  the sleeping bag and get it checked and cleaned. Now, he might have to pop out again to get the kerosene, and this ludicrous process goes on until he has finished the list.

The disadvantages of this illogical approach are obvious; it is irrationally time-consuming, tiring which mean  waste of labour, and if Tom did not think of the cost of each item as he made his list, he would not have been able to buy some of the items, which might be crucial for his trip.

This is precisely the flaw in the list of goals as they are presented. Not only are they incomplete, but they are reductively compiled into  what are technically called incommensurable categories. For instance, health related subordinate goals, which for some incomprehensible reason  are called 'indicators' are placed in several 'goals'. Extending my analogy to fit this state of affairs,  it is like  Tom going abroad to buy his bagg of potatoes. Of course, it may be argued that Tom has a servant, so he can delegate the job to him. But would that be reasonable?

What the formulators of the SDG's have failed to understand is the simple fact that our point of departure should be the human beings whose plight we would like to improve in some way. It makes no sense to talk about energy in the abstract unless we link it to some concrete human need.

So, what can we do with SDG's? First of qall, before it is presented to the politicians, let us try to re-arrange them, and even trim the lot so that we have some logically cohesive set of goals. They can be logically cohesive only with reference to the real needs of living people.

In order to do this, it is important to understand that human needs branchout into a hierarchy of needs from one single need, viz., desire to continue to live in the way one has chosen. Satisfying each of those needs constitutes a goal. Thus, achieving the overall goal of continuing to live in one's chosen way depends on satisfying  the subordinate goals it subsumes.

Now, good health is necessary for continued living in a way that is desired by nearly everyone. In addition to the traditional health services, good health requires meeting several other needs, such as adequate nutrition, security from the inclemencies of the weather, etc. But surely, there is some logical link between the latter and how one achieves good health.

Instead of investigating the nature of this linkage, the present SDG's place them under different goals. This approach ignores the nature of the overlap among the human needs, which arises from the multi-dimensional character of them. The fragmentary presentation of the present SDG's stems from the reductive approach used in their identification, which results in their apprehension on a one-dimensional scheme.

Consider now, the simple case of Tom going from A to B. He may ride a horse, a cycle, or go by car. All three ways of travel are modes of transport. The possibility of travelling by those modes requires the prior existence of a suitable path between A and B. True, having such a path depends on having some sort of transportation authority.

But, the instrument of transport, the horse, cycle, or the car are independent of that authority. Unless Tom's horse gets enough fodder, or Tom has had enough to eat during the past week or so, having the best autobahn between A and B will not enable the poor fellow to get to B however much he wishes o do so, because of semi-starvation. This simple example illustrates the inter-dependence among the possibility of satisfying our various needs. But, it does not justify placing procuring fooder for the horse under transport anymore than placing health sub-goals under any SDG goal other than health in the way it has been done.It is a category error that makes it impossible to formulate a cohesive policy on SDG's.

Does this mean we should reject the SDG's? In a rational world, where discussion free of emotion is possible, the answer would be an unequivocal yes. But taking the world as it is, we have little choice but to see how we may re-arrange things as logically as possible with a view to their subsequent supplementation. 

As I said before, this can be done by identifying what I would call man's fundamental needs, and then elucidating the needs that must be met beforehand in order to meet those fundamental needs. For example, education in its holistic sense, and nutrition are two of those. Their satisfaction requires appropriate human and material resources in a hierarch of subordinate needs. Nutrition requires preparation of food, which requires its acquisition either by engaging in agriculture or by purchase. Its purchase requires both money and the presence of food shops. Food shops requires the existence of agriculture and transport etc.

This can be applied to all the six of our fundamental needs, viz., education, nutrition, health, security in its widest sense, procreation, and our non-material need for enjoyment of life as manifested by esthetic enjoyment, games and sports, and other civilised leisure activities.

Working down the hierarchy of our fundamental needs whose satisfaction the prior satisfaction of their subsumed needs depends, we will be able to locate SDG's according to their priority in life for living people. Once this is done, we will be able to see clearly their real life linkages.

It is this ability we need now to display the presnt SDG's in their correct prespective. The possibility of doing this, depends on our possession of the appropriate conceptual apparatus, or 'mindset'.

So, acquisition of such a conceptual apparatus has logical priority over policy formulation. Otherwise, the resulting policy would lack cohesion, which would replicate this defficiency in the strategy intended to carry it out. Needless to say, the consequences of this would  be that should the humans survive on earth for another 1000 years, then the men would say, 2015 was the year they let go of their last chance to be a civilised race.

Lal Manavado.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Vous savez, si on parle de créativités et d'innovations on ne peut pas à l'avance dégager une logique si c'est le terrain qui commandera les orientations à suivre. Les innégalités par exemples ne sont les mêmes partout. Le changement climatque ne prendra pas la même formule partout. La révolution des données a commencé depuis plusieurs années ailleurs et sera à ses débuts dans certains endroits de la terre. C'est pourquoi on peut penser qu'il n'a pas de logique dans les objectifs mais l'avenir en dira long.

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Tom's retreat shouldn't be viewed just as his self-rejuvenation but we should also consider the corresponding benefits that he would contribute by his resilience. He will be able to make refined and more profound contributions to his profession after a refreshing weekend, this contribution of Tom is not only for his development but he also contributes to the development of the organisation he is working in, to the development of region where his organisation is instituted, to the nation and to the world. So it is not only Tom who has a share to plan for his weekend retreat but both his organisation and government can help him.

Article 24:

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

By this Tom can approach the government with some of his interest and skill that could add up to the development of the region and people in the mountain and get himself deputed for a govt. project that he could club with this weekend retreat. 

ARTICLE 23:

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

So by article 23 and 24, Tom is not only entitled for the little amount of money but for an equal pay for his contribution. So with the equal pay for work would help him to collect all that he needs, he could also take a day off on Friday to make himself prepared for his weekend retreat. 

Tom will not be relaxing  24X2 in his weekend, so he can take some of his important professional work that would demand solitude and a relaxed atmosphere. For this he could take the help of his organisation in planning and arranging his weekend retreat.

So, the point is, it is always not about adjusting to what is facilitated, it is about creating environment and mindset for enabling every single individual to be contributing and to enable all lead an effective life that benefits not only their self but the world as a whole.

We often fail to see, consider and include the interlinks, that often leads us to a world of inequitable islands. 

"As I said before, this can be done by identifying what I would call man's fundamental needs, and then elucidating the needs that must be met beforehand in order to meet those fundamental needs. For example, education in its holistic sense, and nutrition are two of those. Their satisfaction requires appropriate human and material resources in a hierarch of subordinate needs. Nutrition requires preparation of food, which requires its acquisition either by engaging in agriculture or by purchase. Its purchase requires both money and the presence of food shops. Food shops requires the existence of agriculture and transport etc."

 

With the current pattern of governance, addressing all linkages and interlinks is difficult, for this again, UDHR is the answer. It enables individual to design their life and development according to their interest, needs, skills, aspirations and inheritance. When government breaks out its imposed facilitation to a more liberated and purpose oriented facilitation, it will enable a world that has equitable recognition and prosperity to all its fields and components. Simultaneously, when the individual specific opportunity to life and development, inline with UDHR is facilitated, it will liberate the world to be heterogeneous, equitably. This, inturn, will ensure the world to be inclusive and considerate of all interlinks and linkages. Having a pre-fabricated approach that imposes monotony and stereotypes to the world, definitely cannot address and include the interlinks of the world's components and life's factors. 

We now say that heterogenetic factor of the world is a problem and it is being a source for inequities. It is so, only because of the mindset we are all descended with respect to governance and the opportunities to living. Governance is not about monotonising facilitation and opportunities through legislative body or parliament. Government is about enabling, recognising and authorising innumerable healthy opportunities to life and development as solicited by the citizens according to their needs, skills, interest and aspiration. When every single individual is enabled to concentrate on diversed factors and components ensuring them to be in the paths of UDHR, we are not imposing opportunities to unskilled and uninterested individuals which would reduce the reach and quality of the activity. Instead, we are liberating opportunities to activities inline with the skill and interest of the individual that will ensure that every components and factors are progressed and approached qualitatively, thus we will be able to include and address all interlinks and linkages that will make the world heterogeneously equal and equitable.

Individual specific approach can be enabled not only by government but the citizens with the opportunities vested to them through UDHR, can regulate the government's functioning and facilitation. By UDHR, taking part in governance not only means to be in parliament but regular orientation and regulation is also taking part in governance.

As said, the 17 goals have hundreds of subsumes and to have a holistic approach that can serve both the goals and its subsumes, is to design a policy that will serve the purpose. When we look into the 17 goals of Post-development 2015 agenda it is again a 17 identified subsumes of the 8 goals that we already have in the MDGs. 

All these 8, 17 and the infinite subsumes of these goals are vested through UDHR, unless and until we realise this, 8 will become 17, 17 will become 25, 25 will become 51,......., where the answer to all will be 1 "UDHR". 

Education for all, inclusive employment, poverty reduction, hunger reduction, environmental progression, global partnership, friendly countries and all other opportunities to life and development are already vested to us through UDHR.

It is only because of us who see rights as what is acknowledged by the authorities and facilitators, we are not able to accomplish a progressive world. 

All the 17 goals and its invisible subsumes can be accomplished simply by enabling the world to have their access to UDHR and by liberating the world with the opportunities principled by UDHR. 

Let us all try to find one goal that is not dealt or included in UDHR. If possible, let us identify one goal whose accomplishment or solution is not enabled through UDHR.

It is surely not possible, having an invaluable treasure in hand, we are searching for prosperity somewhere. 

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
Tom. The example of Tom's weekend has nothing to do with  what he may gain by it, it simply illustrates the necessity of logical cohesion among the proposed SDG's, which makes the formulation of an integrated agenda extremely difficult. As Tom's background is not specified by his creator, it is hard to see how one can attribute to the poor man a job in a company. A bewildered, Lal Manavado.  
Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Tom's creator neither said he has no job, it is not a mandate that only the poor or unemployed are entitled to have "limited amount of money". Even a employed professional may have "limited amount of money" due to an unplanned or unexpected expenditure.

Tom's background is not specified by the creator, and without the background the illustration cannot be cohesive, integrative or complete and hence with the narration. How could something be integrated, cohesive and complete without a purpose and outcome? Every activity is approached for a purpose and to derive with the outcomes aspired


Of course, it may be argued that Tom has a servant, so he can delegate the job to him.

His city clothes are unsuitable in the mountains. So, on Friday at the latest he needs to assemble what he needs before driving off.

Tom wants to spend a weekend in his simple retreat in the mountains.

It was this narration, that made me to perceive so.

If Tom is employed, he can get his help from the organisation or Tom can approach the government which can help him both with his job and his weekend retreat. Again the focus here is not to Tom but to the prospects or the scopes of UDHR.

The discussion here should serve the purpose for which it shouldn't be argumentative. 

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
Tom. I think this line of discussion is irrelevant to the point under discussion. I created the example, and it has nothing to do with jobs, it is simply an illustration to show the importance of logical cohesion, and nothing more. LM:
Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Policy choices and mindset change for an INTEGRATED agenda

The topic of the discussion is about INTEGRATION of agenda which also includes the "factors" of the agenda.

The example was indeed created by you, it illustrated cohesion of SDGs, I furthered your example, to illustrate how factors of SDGs can be cohesive.

Since the creator did not mention anything about the job, shouldn't one further the example with some detailing, that could enable an indepth analysis of the topic discussed here? 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Si l'emploi existe, chacun occupera sa place dans le concert des nations. Pour absence de travail, voilà que 20% de la jeunesse commencent à se suicider.

Ranjani K.Murthy
Ranjani K.Murthy

I want to address the question of "What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels?" 

At the national level the SDG targets for the country would be involved by UN organisations with the national government. However the national government has its own planning process like rolling  plans which have their targets. One of the challenge is to synchronise the national targets which are backed by resources with SDG targets.

Speaking of India, it is moving from national planning to provincial or state level planning which makes the process of synchronisation even more complex, but necessary.  Bangladesh opted for PRSPs over a decade back, hence the place for synchronisation is when PRSPs are formulated. 

Most Ministries in South Asia have policies, plans and at times results frameworks. This is another avenue for ensuring that SDGs for that sector are prioritised in addition to other priorities.  REgional declarations and policies are another space for taking forward the SDGs 

The Constitution and laws may need to be in synch with SDGs and targets.  For example in India we do not have a law on right to housing or ceiling on number of houses that the rich can have or non resident Indians can invest (which restricts land available for the poor for housing in countries where land is scarce).  Rights and  justice have to be prioritised  in laws and policies 

 

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

     

Lincoln Villanueva

Yes , it is true that we need more target policies, reforms , laws and perhaps advocayc can be a good tool to facilitate the implementation and the change of traditionnal rules wich limitating and neglecting some priorities especially in the area of gender and women. This problem is evry where . In addition , if there are some evaluation and monitoring activities perhaps the situation can be more better and like that we can have an idea about all the faillures. In talking about the law related to gender , we didn't forget the main Report OF ifc -World Bank analysing many laws and reforms related to gender and women : women in business and law. 

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado

My answer to the question:

 

"I would like everyone to hear an answer from their conscience for one question, leave behind your all the stereotypes and rigidity, just ask one question to your soul, if truly the world was spread and facilitated with the principles and opportunities of human rights as it was principled in UDHR, would there be so many conflicts ,loss and inequities in the world? With the answer your soul replies, think on what should be done next."

With the proviso that I do not possess a soul or any such intangible entities within me, my unequivocal anser to the above question is a resounding, Yes!

Human conflicts, brutality,  hypocricy, greed etc., represents various types of human behaviour.

Human behaviour is motivated by the belief that it would enable one to gain or achieve some objective believed to be desirable for some reason.

It is possible to recognise a clear hierarchy of priorities in human behaviour.

Irrespective of one's culture, it is first concerned in satisfying man's fundamental needs. These include nutrition, security from recognised threats to oneself, procreation, etc.

Secondly, in all cultures, greed og gain has been a powerful motive resulting in war, conquest, glorified robbery, etc.

Education today is simply concerned with producing qualified jobbers whose primary goal in life is to be rich.

Further, when the so-called 'universal declaration of human rights' was accepted by the UN, much less than half the world's population was 'represented at the UN. 

True, later on, nearly all the governments 'ratified' the document.

But how many adults in the world today are aware of the document, and how many know and understand its contents?

And even if half the world's adult population knew of, and understood the document, that does not entail that they would believe that the notions it embodies are desirable.

Hence, it would be futile to refer to that document either as a real or a potential motivator of human behaviour.

 Lal Manavado.

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Universal Declaration of human rights have all scopes and opportunities to satisfy all progressive human behaviours. It enables opportunity to fundamental needs of individuals, it progressively enables opportunity for individual to be successful and prosperous in life. 

Article Twenty Three:

"(1) EVERYONE has the right to work, to free choice of employmentto just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) EVERYONEwithout any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) EVERYONE who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."

Article Twenty Four:  "EVERYONE has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay."

 

Article Twenty Five:

 

"(1) EVERYONE has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

 

(2)  Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."

 

It is mandatory for every organisation to facilitate generous remuneration to its employees for them to lead a good living standards. Remuneration are not to fixed standard for jobs, it must be what the employees claim, justifying their efforts and contribution in line with the vision of organisation. Understanding this will make economic and social development to be without any trade-offs. This problem of limited and restrictive remuneration is again linked with the problem of youth unemployment. Today, people want themselves to be in the sector that facilitates them high earning opportunities that would enable them to lead a high living standard. This is one such reason for the boom IT sector had. Students, irrespective of their major specialisation, focus only on getting placed in the IT sector. Placements records of the educational institution shows 100% placements but the problem actually occurs after this, either the call letter for appointment comes very late or the employee are put in bench after two to three months. There are much tension surrounded being employed in the IT sector, such as the everyday tension of pink slip, recession problem and so on. Inspite of all these odds, people prefer to IT sectors for the opportunity it has and for the liberal environment for work it has.  

Orientation that the world has towards education is also an factor that affects unemployment. We cannot say that educational attainment will prevent or eradicate the situations of unemployment because today education to the world means a token that would qualify them to access employment, their mindset is to earn money and have a high living standard. 

So, what is the problem in it? We earn only to enhance and lead a high standard of living. 

Yes, indeed true, we earn to enhance and lead a high standard of living but we don't work just to earn. Employment or Profession is about contributing to the global development by professing one’s skill to the world through the responsibility of the designation. Our foundational purpose through work must concentrate on the contribution we extend towards the development of the globe. Remuneration is a token that recognises and appreciates the contribution we extend through the responsibility of the designation vested to us. Through our contribution, we take responsibility of the organisation's development and needs, inturn, it is the responsibility ofthe organisation to take care of our development and needs, its mutual.

The true meaning and purpose of both education and employment must be understood to accomplish holistic and equitable development. Education is about the experience of life and world that would carve the skills and interest of individual into their ability to contribute and satisfy their responsibility in every stage of life. Education is wisdom and enlightenment. Education is not about memorising and reproducing, we should recheck on the factor we are evaluating through examination. Are we to evaluate the knowledge perceived or the memorising ability? It is unfortunate to witness scenario where school collaborate with programmes that teaches techniques for students to increase their memorising power. Students are put through brain tuning techniques that teaches them tricks and ways to memorise their syllabus. Do we educate to memorise or to understand the concept. The system is greatly misleading generations and by misleading the growing generation, we are completely misleading all the components of the world towards regression. An urgent reformation or re-orientation regarding the same is needed. 

"Education today is simply concerned with producing qualified jobbers whose primary goal in life is to be rich." Universal Declaration of Human Rights has dealt even about this,

Article Twenty Six: 

"(1) EVERYONE has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) EDUCATION SHALL BE DIRECTED TO THE FULL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY AND TO THE STRENGTHENING OF RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the KIND of education that shall be given to their children."

Unless and until we have situation that portrays education to be a means to earn money and situation where employment sectors are inequitably remunerated, the situation of unemployment will continue to exist because we can neither accomplish the true purpose of education nor will be able to liberate equitable opportunities for employment and development.

It is simply not a joke to draft a document that could stand true and valid even after years. Their efforts and aspirations has to be respected. Universal Declaration of Human Rights is perectfly full-fledged to be insipring and an influencing factor of human behaviours that the world needs today. Being soulful is also an human behaviour.

The fact of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, being largely ignored and overlooked is accepted. I understand your words of resentment but we must not leave it ignored as such, the world must be reformed to be inclusive. 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Bien sûr, toute personne a droit à ceci, à celà. L'éducation pour est dédiée à tous mais aujourd'hui il y a encore 57 millions d'enfants qui sont hors d'école. Ce qui veux dire que les engagements pris par les états n'ont pas été satisfaits à 100%. Là aussi, il y a la responsabilité parentale qui est mis en jeu, en se référant aussi à la politique, aux traditions, aux religions et à des convictions personnelles sans oublier l'ignorance des conventions et la déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme.

Mike Katz
Mike Katz

2015 ECOSOC MDG to SDG - Mining Sector

 

In managing the transition from MDG to SDG an example of policy choices and mindset change is the situation in the mining sector. In the last ten years there has been significant global progress in the recognition by government and industry of the importance of sustainable development and social responsibility in mining especially in the developing countries management of their mineral resource endowments towards alleviating poverty and promoting human rights. Government, industry and the civil society along with other stakeholders are working together to progress SDG. International government bodies such as the APEC Mining Task Force (MTF), industry groups such as the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and international agencies, the World Bank and the UNDP, are very active in promoting sustainable development and social responsibility in their activities which also takes into account major issues like gender, Indigenous People and small scale mining.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

La déclaration des droits des peuples autochtones, à la conférence mondiale des peuples autochtones en septembre 2014 à New York, est un atout considérable pour faire prévaloir les droits de ces peuples à la terre. Les governements ont reconnu ces droits mais les peuples autochtones demeurent dans l'ignorance totale des ces droits, en Afrique et ailleurs, pour les réclamer . La société civile doit jouer son rôle d'arbitre entre les peuples autochtones et le gouvernement. Cependant elle doit convenir avec le gouvernement sur ce principe ou bien être soutenu par PNUD, par CIMM ou par l'APEC ou autres organisations de protection du secteur minier,si non, elle sera considéré comme une organisation qui excite les peuples autochtones à la rebellion.

Saripalli Suryanarayana
Saripalli Suryanarayana

My reply might be off-hand to keep the communication going.The mineral resources of Africa is under exploitation,by all players including Indian companies.The native land development,creation of employment,and taking care of heritage,culture,displacement,caring about ground water,and giving thought about the climate are not listed by the government when the lands are leased for mining development.

Consequently,like in USA[where i am today,some of the Gas dried wells have become a public burden,and states and cities do not have the resources,read WSJ,of 26 th feb]

The future for all is evidently beak,with known parameters.

Nature and bateria do not remain the same for making long time same public health issues.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Thank you,  the indigenous people declaration adopted on september, 22 2014 in New York has taken in charge this aspect of  your preocupation. 

Saripalli Suryanarayana
Saripalli Suryanarayana

I am not sure where my posting shall come,here or below.

A generation which has seen ups and downs in food[agriculture]Transport,education and adinistration,could have been timid,and might have loosely knitted instructions,with inspirations from others,and might have learnt to obey,more tan communicate.

With that past behind,democracy,policing crime detection,free knowledge sharing,digital communicative,collaborative net croud sourcing at disposable,this generation has to be reached collectively by the burecreacy,the leaders,and the judicial system[kindly do-not seperate this,and be witess to next revolutions]

A commitment,a delivery line,a monitoring mechanism are possible,with huge data at our disposal,and reach people,with numbers assigned to them,and order apperant to all,as we did in collaborative JAM,in 2007,using google sheets,where all worked simultaneously.

The strenth lies in making programme using the geological -location components on agriculture,farming,dairy,education,communication,and transport.Making e-commerce,storage bins for produce will add as advantage tool for society.Water storage distribution,and better policing are much needed to keep society tide and harmonious. 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

This is trouth. Now in developing countries like Togo, young people are passive but the sustainable development must be active. Communacation plus motivation, good plan and succes project can change their mindset.

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado

Relevant Policy Choices and Conceptual Apparatus for an Integrated Agenda

 In my first post to this forum, I commented on the lack of logical cohesion among the proposed SDG's, and suggested a possible means of rendering them more complete and cohesive, which is a necessary condition for engaging in a meaningful discussion on what policy options and conceptual changes are required to formulate an integrated agenda. In this post, I shall assume, perhaps naively, that condition might be met.

 It is obvious that unless those who formulate such an agenda change their traditional conceptual apparatus before they undertake that task, we will be left with an agenda whose implementation requires equally traditional set of policy options whose inadequacy is guaranteed by  the reductive approach usually used to identify them. An integrated agenda can be formulated only by those who understand how to apply a top-down approach in a holistic manner. While a holistic thought implies a top-down approach, the reverse implication does not obtain, i. e., to put it plainly,  incompleteness among the factors included, category errors (as in SDG's as they are presented), inadequate operator skill, etc., can make a seemingly top-down approach into a travesty of one.

 I think this is a vital point, for unless immediate measures are taken to ensure that those who set up the agenda possess those skills already, a possible future changes  in their 'mindsets' would be of marginal use to the job in hand.

 On the other hand, if we are talking about the changes in one's conceptual apparatus required to ensure the successful implementation of an integrated post-2015 policy, one runs into another formidable difficulty.

 Let us not forget that when the politicians have ratified such a policy (always assuming it has been formulated), its implementation is left to the bureaucrats. Even though there is a great deal of talk about intersectorial cooperation among the ministries, NGO's etc., bureaucracy everywhere is trained and are expected to work in a very parochial fashion, and the ministers are not known to  relish even their cabinet colleagues taking a close look at what they do.

 Of course, this is quite understandable. Both the ministers and senior bureaucrats are naturally interested in self-realisation. Not even I think that Rt. Hon. Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby are confined to the world of fiction in mature and maturing democracies. I trust that no one would ignore the reality of huan frailties, whose impact on policy formulation and implementation will remain beyond calculation by any theory.

 If wwe accept this as an incomplete, but realistic depiction of those who ratify, draw-up, and implement political decisions, I think we might be able to identify a policy alternative that may yield the best obtainable results under the existing conditions. Let us begin with the complilation of the agenda.

I envisage it as a tool performing two distinct, but logically inseparable functions; first, it serves to define the range and scope ofimplementation policies, and secondly, provides guidelines on what means may be utilised in their implementation. Of course, how these functions  are going to be performed is subject to prior discussion. 

It might be possible to employ a hierarchy of teams to  draw-up the agenda in general terms. The top level team will project what is necessary to meet their set of goal to the one below and so on. For instance, to deal with the millions of under-nourished, the team under them will work out a set of possible means, and so on, until we have identified the dependencies of the goal- acquisition of  sufficient food. This can be done for health, education, etc.

Just a word on what I mean by security as I have used it in my previous post. It means being screened from the inclemencies of weather (housing and clothing), freedom from robbery and violence (latter includes war), discrimination, etc. 

The next step would be to ascertain the completeness and logical cohesion of the work so far. For instance, inspite of its obvious importance, it is logically incorrect to place it on the same level as health or education, because energy becomes necessary at a lower level when one is setting up an education or a health system.

Finally, we come to the most difficult part in setting up an agenda, viz., agreeing on priorities. Available resources are limited, but the nobody seems to be willing or able to agree on the real importance of an item with reference to a set of objective criteria. All too ofen, priorities are attributed to items owing to the noise made by its advocates, their behind-the-scenes influence, gain political power, or just to promote commercial or other interests.

 It is imperative that giving priority to an item should be undertaken by a competent and impartial panel, whose integrity has been established. Perhaps, this is wishful thinking on my part, but one likes to try all the same.

 Now, I'll look at some possible areas of policy making. My point of departure is that as it would be more than difficult to alter ingrown ways of thinking in a timely manner, I propose to disassemble some parts of current institutions and reassemble them with a view to promoting integrated action. The question is, how to put this theoretical notion into practice.

 The most difficult part would be the development of a policy to change how decisions are made at the highest level. It would be concerned with requiring the top level decision makers to undertake integrated decision making, a simple example would be that the minister of fisheries will be required to take into account the environmental impact of his decisions on fish quotas by coordinating his work with  scientists, concerned non-political groups, and his relevant cabinet colleagues. This policy measure will not be popular, but the magnitude of today's global problems makes it a necessity. This approach is applicable to global organisations as well.

 At the next or the implementation level, the former superordinate policy would require that the impleentation of a decision will be carried out by the relevant subordinate institutions necessary to achieve the best possible result. They may be attached to other ministries, scientific bodies, NGO's, local people's groups, etc.

 As far as I can see, these two policies are the necessary condition for being able to undertake an integrated approach to achieve a goal. Certainly, a detailed description of such a policy is not difficult to formulate, nor are the slight variations possible at the second level difficult to apprehend. It is important to note that human and material resources will influence the completeness of what is included at the second level, while it is the political will that governs that of the top level.

 It is said that two heads are better than one, even though what it is better for has not been specified. At the same time, the camel is believed to be a horse designed by a committee.

 Lal Manavado.

 

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Merci beaucoup,

Vous savez, vous êtes right.If nous prenons pour exemple: l'éradication de la pauvreté pour tous. Cet objectif besoin objectifs comme l'énergie pour tous, adaptation au changement climatique, la promotion de la forêt, de la promotion de la biodiversité, l'éducation, l'accès à l'eau potable, la santé pour tous, le travail de descente pour tous, la réduction des inégalités entre les deux, l'industrialisation, la résilience de l'infrastructure rurale et urbaine et sans paix et humain la protection des droits et de promotion, les parternariats glogaux, nous ne pouvons atteindre ces objectifs pour le bien - être pour tous.

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

Policies and facilitation should be designed through "bottom-up" concept. By "bottom-up" method, I don't mean the regular definition of forming complex systems through integrating smaller pieces but I mean the flow of design. Policies, opportunities and facilitation should not be facilitated to the public through the decision and discussion of the facilitators. Instead, all policies, opportunities and facilitation that the public ask for their living and development must be facilitated by the facilitators. The governments should not formulate anything in-between the purpose and access, like standards, procedure, format, etc. The approach towards living and developmental activities must only have two factors, the individuals and the purpose, anything in-between or anything in middle, would deviate our focus and functioning from the purpose of the activity which would give way to inequities, disparities leaving the world despaired. For example, let us take education, What is the purpose of education? Education is about the nurturing the skill and inheritance of individuals into a presentable and useable form. In-between the purpose and the access, we designed the system of education to have a common/standard curriculum&syllabus, we stipulated time duration for accessing and passing grades, we designed the concept of examination, we imposed a design that  would enforce individuals their opportunity to research only after 22 to 23 years, we imposed so many standards, procedures and formats that created inequities and disparities in access and attainment of education. All these factors in-between made our approach and focus to get deviated, today education is just about satisfying these factors in-between and not about the knowledge or nurturing of the skills and inheritance, eventually making all 7 billion in the world population an uneducated “literate”. Why wouldn’t all 7 billion in the world population be an educated literate if an liberated opportunity to knowledge and nurturing is enabled to them? Practical experience, life experience, internet have all scopes and opportunity to educate an individual. Even now, individuals have access to experience, but how far the world is enabled to realise and learn from the experience are all that it matters. The complicated and complex world in the present have made all individual to survive their life. From the age of 1 to the age of 22, the individual’s world is just about the school system and the life it enables (science, maths, ranks, grades, statistics, JEE, AMIE, SAT, CAT, TOFEL, tuitions, scholarships,etc). After that it is about the pressure of employment, family and responsibility. Where in life do we live? Skill, interest, individuality of the individual would entirely different to the world and life he/she lives. Inspite of all these odds, they would be nurtured somewhere in life, but the system will not have a place for them to get their skill recognised. The skill of an individual would in humanities, he would have nurtured the skill of humanities through the environment he was enabled, but unfortunately the system will only recognise with what it demands and facilitate. You need to know everything the it imposes and to the level it imposes. To get your education in humanities a recognition, you should master zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Maths, Physics and all subjects that the system imposes. You could aspire to be a computer professional, Plantae, Marchantiophyta, Magnoliopsida, Liliidae, Pinophyta, Fagaceae, Acacia, parts of cockroach, protozoa, metazoa,have nothing to do with your field but since the system demands, you need to master all these to get your skill in computer science recognised for a place in the process. Without imposing so many pressures, standards, formats and procedures, if the individuals are liberated to present their knowledge and get recognised for it, education for all wouldn’t be a nightmare or dream. 

Therefore for development to be equal and purposeful, policies and opportunities should not be designed and imposed but it must be liberated to the needs and recognised. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF RATIFIED POLICIES: Implementation of the fundamentals of the government (Constitution of the nation and UDHR) is possible only when the governance is oriented to function on its principle and to its purpose. Today, officials and representatives in the government don’t represent or function inline with the fundamental principles or purpose of their government. They unfortunately, represent and function to the decision and ideas of their leaders. Membership and functioning of political party are also not for their fundamentals but their functioning are completely to the autonomy of their leader. Believe it or not we still follow and practise imperial rule in the name of democracy and republic. The world today greatly ignores the core and is functioning on illusions that could never take us to our desired destination. The entire functioning of the world is not to the principles that we ratified for the purpose but we work and live to and for power or dominance respectively. By independence and liberation, there came many documents, like constitution, charters, declaration and so on. Only these asset in the papers are independent, democratic and republic but the world is still imperialistic that has led the entire world into anarchism. Anarchy exists throughout the world and only their concentration differs from place to place. And only because of this we say, a complete change in mindset is essential. We need to shift the base of our change, innovations and creativity from standards and science to these fundamentals that we ratified. With standards and science as base, all our innovations, change and reforms are to make the world more complex, strangled, intricate and cumbersome making it to further the existing constraints, inequities and disparities. The urge or the fervour for power and superiority is again a reason behind the world making its reforms and innovation more complex and delicate. The world will have the difference of powerful and deprived, until there exists complexities, constraints and cumbersome. Furthering the complexities will disable any further transition of deprived to powerful and it will force the world to develop a negative environment of tactful, clever and intelligent minds. We need to fix and regulate the entire functioning of the world, focused on the fundamentals that we ratified. If all our efforts and wishes are truly to enable common well-being of all, we must leave behind the locus of self and start functioning for the purpose and inline with the fundamentals. 

PRIORITISING, COMPLETION AND LOGICAL COHESION: Why should we prioritise, when equal facilitation to all is possible? Yes, it is true that to complete the cycle we need to prioritise the components that lacks behind to bring everything to the same line. But here the cycles is not about a single factor. It is about concentric cycles of factors that are at different stages. By prioritising, we again bring in factors of standards. Fundamental needs to one may be food, shelter and health; to one who already has a access to good food, shelter and health, his education and his further development opportunities could be his fundamental needs; to one who is educated - employment and an opportunity to contribute his skills would be his fundamental needs; to an employed individual - his promotion and elevation could be his fundamental need, to an rich and prosperous -mental peace and family unity could be his fundamental need. So the fundamental needs to people differs and to attain true development we should not fix and restrict fundamental needs to just be the basic needs of life. 

Completion and Logical cohesion can be accomplished only we we act on the purpose of the activities. Just by orientating all our efforts and activities to the fundamentals that we framed and adopted for the purpose. For example, let us take the problem of climate change and energy deficiency.  By using thermoelectricity that converts heat into electricity we can produce the energy needed by the global population and by the same time we can address climate change too. Climate change is about the heat layer formed due to the emission of carbon that hinders the transfer of temperatures between the layers of earth and the transfer of current between land and ocean.  So, when the heat that act as the barrier is converted into usable energy, that enables the atmosphere to transfer its temperature between the layers and the currents between the forms of environment, the heat accumulated in our immediate layer will dissipate that would bring about a balance in the temperature, therefore we can simultaneously address the issues of climate change and produce the energy resources needed by the world. It is only because we prioritise and standardise our thinking, we not able to find  the interlinks and integrate solutions.

We cannot say that the world is completely ignorant about the opportunities facilitated to them by the fundamentals of the government. There are awareness and cognisance amongst the public, but since because of this top-down pattern of policy and facility formulation, to all government officials, inspite of being realised by their responsibility, their importance and respect is just to the orders of their higher-officials but not to the fundamentals of the government and there are many such complexities linked in reforming the governance inline with its fundamentals. Hence it is best to reform the top-down formulation to bottom-up facilitation through individual specific opportunities to life and development inline with UDHR, enabling  that would fix and re-orient the world to its purpose. 

Saripalli Suryanarayana
Saripalli Suryanarayana

As usal,presently i am in Arizona,USA.The change has to be made to Sustainable Development goals,and we need to accomplish it by use of technology,abridging the Gender bias,and making more communities responsive to developmental needs of its people.Fostered wars are what we are witnessing,since some time,either to test their economic,or milatary power.The sufferers are not the people who are in conflict zone alone.

Migration,business systems,enterprenual process have become the process of the day,and let leaders understand that by hitting their enmy they are also hitting hard such of the migrant force who helped them to prosper.

The end results will be people will not only doubt such leaders,but also such nations with negative approaches,either in the name of regional imbalce,or in the name of religion.It is for sake of all to bring the disgrunted to the negotiating table,at the earliest,for enabling a proper health systems,and for containg new bacteria and virus developed out of mutation.[Just like the war the dependent germs also grow to blow them to pieces in real terms.]

Lincoln Villanueva

Very interesting discussion and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I will try to answer this one particular question from the three asked by our dear moderator, as I believe the other two are beyond the realm of my experience and expertise at the moment:

What are the approaches and changes in behaviour required for promoting integrated policy making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing a silos mindset?

Many respected colleagues have put in their worthy comments which weigh much more than I would ever be able to say, but as a young enthusiastic 24 year old who wants to see change in this world for the better, I want to add a few suggestions:


I believe identifying change in behavior is like 50% work done. Even more, consider 60%. That is all what lies at the core of changing the world. Empowering youth and diffusing responsibility among all population would be key for an integrated mindset. I know, youth wants to feel and bear responsibilty. More often than not. Because they have been subjected to parental control and knowing that they are contributing to the world in a better way would give them that sense of liberation and achievement and/or self-confidence that would eventually prove to be a mutually beneficial relationship for the policy makers and youth. We need youth to implement the policies we make. We need to give them sense of responsiblity, we need to train them along these lines. This would require a lot of effort. We need to inculcate such curricula that would nurture emapthy in them right from the start. So they would eventually grow up to be the productive human beings that are needed by the world. 

We need to make sure we raise awareness in every nook and corner of the world. We need to make sure we have raised our voice so loud and clear that all parts of the world want to participate in it. The rich and the poor, the people from developed countries and those from developing countries, those who have internet and those who don't, those who have access to clean water and those who have not, those who live in rural areas and those who live in urban areas, each and everyone of them should be a part of it. That is what I mean by diffusion of responsiblity to all levels. I am more than sure that most of us want the best for this world. We need to make sure we get input about the question that I am answering from everyone in the world. This would require thorough research and hardwork but this is what will bear fruits in the end. Since we live in a global age where cross-cultural communication is necessary to survive, we need to make youth teams that can spread to all areas that I mentioned above and take inputs and present them to the world and hence bridge the gap between different parts of the world.

Finally we need to identify which factors and personalities are hindering this growth (silos mindset). We need to target their insecurities and present our cases in a way that they would consider beneficial for them. If we would go all out against them, and target them with strict undertones and frowned eyes, we will fail. We need to do all this gradually and tactically. We need people who would carefully study and understand their personalities, their likes and dislikes, and then make sure we present them with an attractive incentive for changing their silos mindset. The incentive should be so beneficial for them that they would not be able to refuse the opportunity. I believe silos mindset will only arise when poeple think they need all the good things the world has to offer. So, why not we show them that we have many other good things to offer, why don't they try them, and in the process, use their intelligence and resources for our cause too. It might seem manipulative, but that is one way of seeing at it. The other way of looking at it is that we are trying our best to get the best out of someone who is not willing to help the world. 

Thank you for providing me an opportunity to share my views and I thank all who will take their precious time out to read it. Good luck to all of us who want the best for us. Thank you

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
A note of caution about the use of www. Think of a huge room filled with all kinds of books, journals, magazines, newspapers and a variety of other publications as well as sound and video storage units, where things are not arranged as in a library. Even in a well-indexed library, one can't make much use of it unless one knows in advance what books or journals are the most reliable and relevant for the informations one wants. This difficulty is magnified a thousand times in the www. It is easy to see how much trash comes up even when you use a fairly reputable search engine to find information there. You can overcome this difficulty by recommending to your audience what sites to use, but this opens up the possibility of  mind manipulation by those who maintain such a site. This is not just a theoretical possibility, it is sadly true in the real world driven by the greed of gain. This is not to reject the www, but to underline a danger it can embody. Lal Manavado. 
Dr. Abdulghany Mohamed
Dr. Abdulghany Mohamed

Dr. Haaris,

Thanks for raising/touching on very crucial issues, namely youth empowerment, inclusive and collective responsibility, and inter-generational and cross-cultural communication/collaboration within and across countries. These are important issues because societal cleavages/chasms if not bridged could undermine the realisation of SDGS.

Thanks again for your contribution and looking forward to learning from the participants on how different societies have specifically gone about addressing the subject issues.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Vous avez raison de vous inquiéter. Mais je vous informe que le 22 septembre 2011, les chefs d'Etat et de gouvernements ont adopé une déclaration, à New York. Il s'agit de la lutte contre  le racisme, la discrimination raciale, la xénophobie et l'intolérance qui y est associée qui persistent dans tous les pays du monde.

Cette déclaration renferme des mesures à prendre pour décourager ces phénomènes et  encourager plutôt l'inclusion de tous pour le dévelloppement durable.

Lincoln Villanueva
  1. ¿Cuáles son los enfoques y los cambios de comportamiento necesarios para promover la elaboración de políticas integradas para el nuevo programa? ¿Qué tipo de estrategias de comunicación se necesitan para cambiar una mentalidad silos?

El Objetivo de las políticas de desarrollo es brindar a los habitantes de las economías de ingreso bajo y mediano de los recursos y la información que necesitan los enfoquen   pueden ser  + o – de acuerdo de las habilidades cognitivas del  líder o los técnicos que diseñan dichas políticas, las estrategias de comunicación que necesitamos para cambiar de mentalidad, el modo en que la historia y el contexto configuran el pensamiento se puede mejorar el diseño y la implementación de las intervenciones y las políticas de desarrollo ,la formacion de  la conducta, rediseñar políticas de desarrollo en base  a la conducta y  en la forma como razonan  el género humano a través del pensamiento, una consideración minuciosa de los factores humanos con este enfoque se amplía el conjunto de herramientas y estrategias para promover el desarrollo y lucha contra la pobreza atraves  de  canales de comunicación con una información positiva .Comunicarse para crecer.

el pensamiento positivo mas no negativo para un bienestar  para la sociedad   y en el mundo   se observa informaciones intrasocietal y extra societal   dentro  y fuera del país  estamos  siendo    maltratados por informaciones  negativas tales como ,  crisis financiera mundial,  caída del petróleo , enfermedad del ebola , estamos las ongs para implementar programas de ayuda  y amortiguar la pobreza que se acrecienta más aun  con esta información deben partir de  una base  de pensamiento  moral y etico para el mundo. Hacia un Nuevo Pensamiento

Nombre : Angelica Chumbiauca Diez

Asociacion : Centro Desarrollo Social  Presidente Ejecutiva

Consultora internacional para el desarrollo

mail: [email protected][email protected]

 

Lincoln Villanueva

 

03-03-2015 [PARIS]

 TEXT OF REVIEW 03-03-2015

To/ review group and team work

Friends,

The topic studied is about lesson learned (3), but before, accept
as a review of teamwork (1) and (2)

I was slightly away from the Review and engaged with other social
media, like linked in (sustainable development, international
development, UNDP....others.

1- there is a wealth of ideas in the
policy mindset participation, but I felt sometimes the same
discussion and setting the scene, and global pictures for Peace,
security, development issues were doubling the 2015 ECOSOC AMR
review.

Does it mean people from social media
like linkendin and 2015 AMR review are not communicating. I was also
trying to engaged my friends to take directly the link, so they can
express concerns about the Post 2015 SDG reviews.

Some questions

- How can we communicate better?

- Are all roads going to UN Reviews?

- Are World CSO engaged to the process during Feb. 17 and March
2017.

- Is our teamwork satisfying in term of the sampling for the
review?

Review is quality assurance, and we need to check different ways
to review things (online, face to face, through the post office,...)
in order to fine tune the process.

2) Before coming to the topic of the
today mind setting and policy making,
I want to initiate in saying the importance of ethics in organizations in order to move forward in the agenda. Do trans formative organizations be like mercenary organization (as described by Professor Mintzberg, a several decades researcher in the field of management, or do we have to gear faster and better in order to introduce more ethical tools. Because, it make good sense for Post 2015 SDGs to improve the leadership and transformative process on SECGEN road to dignity. In the media we have already quite a number of facts (SNOWDEN, whistleblowing, proxy rights, Sarbanes Oaxley,...Human rights, guiding principles. These are ethical elements to boost the changes for longer, deeper, speed, and consistency, as they are aiming at the heart of strategic goals, strategic planning and strategic task -also governance, finance, collective actions...

3) The real issue about the review, now: lessons learned

Are lessons learned working in the transmission of knowledge (how
do you assess it)

When I am studying some UN leaders, for them lessons learned are
not working, but it is often said that, because an operation in the
past has work in a sit X, then later from the basis of the
experience, it is assume it will work in site Y.

Opponents to lesson learned believe much more on the opportunities
of the intervention with supply chains, rather than lesson learned.
So, we need to assess if the lesson learned is not somewhere else.

Perhaps, in motivation, simulating organization,
engagement...making organization self-starters....and so on, but
still my belief from the viewpoint of opponents with for example
abnormal demands during a crisis, it is not lesson learned as, crisis
depends on the human geography and the physical geography, which is
complex from a site to another one. So, there is a value to learn
lesson by reproducing pas experience, but my focus is on:

- project changes

- anticipation

- prospective

- prevention

Also, tools to decentralize, making change really participatory,
implementing new organization moving from the logic of mass
production and speedy process for more ethics and standards in the
value chains. Risk sharing society, is appropriate to people and
system participation with new ideas, thinking and innovations than
classic management, which is like mercenaries, who are forget their
management lessons, but in the turmoil of complexity (and
complication) that they can cross the river – Thank. Georges
RADJOU, BIRD

Lincoln Villanueva

 

03-03-2015 [PARIS]

 TEXT OF REVIEW 03-03-2015

To/ review group and team work

Friends,

The topic studied is about lesson learned (3), but before, accept
as a review of teamwork (1) and (2)

I was slightly away from the Review and engaged with other social
media, like linked in (sustainable development, international
development, UNDP....others.

1- there is a wealth of ideas in the
policy mindset participation, but I felt sometimes the same
discussion and setting the scene, and global pictures for Peace,
security, development issues were doubling the 2015 ECOSOC AMR
review.

Does it mean people from social media
like linkendin and 2015 AMR review are not communicating. I was also
trying to engaged my friends to take directly the link, so they can
express concerns about the Post 2015 SDG reviews.

Some questions

- How can we communicate better?

- Are all roads going to UN Reviews?

- Are World CSO engaged to the process during Feb. 17 and March
2017.

- Is our teamwork satisfying in term of the sampling for the
review?

Review is quality assurance, and we need to check different ways
to review things (online, face to face, through the post office,...)
in order to fine tune the process.

2) Before coming to the topic of the
today mind setting and policy making,
I want to initiate in saying the importance of ethics in organizations in order to move forward in the agenda. Do trans formative organizations be like mercenary organization (as described by Professor Mintzberg, a several decades researcher in the field of management, or do we have to gear faster and better in order to introduce more ethical tools. Because, it make good sense for Post 2015 SDGs to improve the leadership and transformative process on SECGEN road to dignity. In the media we have already quite a number of facts (SNOWDEN, whistleblowing, proxy rights, Sarbanes Oaxley,...Human rights, guiding principles. These are ethical elements to boost the changes for longer, deeper, speed, and consistency, as they are aiming at the heart of strategic goals, strategic planning and strategic task -also governance, finance, collective actions...

3) The real issue about the review, now: lessons learned

Are lessons learned working in the transmission of knowledge (how
do you assess it)

When I am studying some UN leaders, for them lessons learned are
not working, but it is often said that, because an operation in the
past has work in a sit X, then later from the basis of the
experience, it is assume it will work in site Y.

Opponents to lesson learned believe much more on the opportunities
of the intervention with supply chains, rather than lesson learned.
So, we need to assess if the lesson learned is not somewhere else.

Perhaps, in motivation, simulating organization,
engagement...making organization self-starters....and so on, but
still my belief from the viewpoint of opponents with for example
abnormal demands during a crisis, it is not lesson learned as, crisis
depends on the human geography and the physical geography, which is
complex from a site to another one. So, there is a value to learn
lesson by reproducing pas experience, but my focus is on:

- project changes

- anticipation

- prospective

- prevention

Also, tools to decentralize, making change really participatory,
implementing new organization moving from the logic of mass
production and speedy process for more ethics and standards in the
value chains. Risk sharing society, is appropriate to people and
system participation with new ideas, thinking and innovations than
classic management, which is like mercenaries, who are forget their
management lessons, but in the turmoil of complexity (and
complication) that they can cross the river – Thank. Georges
RADJOU, BIRD

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
Reply to Muhammed Haaris: I thought I made my meaning quite clear, viz.,  that any use of www ought to be undertaken with caution. It is not enough to have reliable information in a place, when it also contains lot of rubbish.  When this is so, its  usefulness depends on whether the users know where to find reliable information. Unless a user has that knowledge beforehand, that person cannot benefit from a source of information as one might wish. This is a simple logical fact. Moreover, at this point, we are supposed to be talking about policy changes required, and not the ways and means one might use to bring them about.LM.
Lincoln Villanueva

  El enfoque y el cambio de comportamiento para la formulación de políticas para un programa integrado.- El económico, la protección del medio ambiente y el desarrollo social como elementos fundamentales para el desarrollo sustentable; adopta un enfoque multidimensional, estableciendo relaciones de competitividad, modernización del estado, desarrollo social e integración regional y considerar el carácter transversal de la dimensión ambiental para el logro del crecimiento económico sustentable, la estrategia complementa a la estrategia de reducción de la pobreza , la cual busca promover un mayor avance en la reducción de la pobreza a través de acciones focalizadas para atender las causas que la originan  y para promover  la inclusión y una mayor equidad social, identificar las causas para que el efecto sea positivo, la lógica y el análisis es importante.

Nombre : Angelica Chumbiauca Diez

Asociacion : Centro Desarrollo Social  Presidente Ejecutiva

Consultora internacional para el desarrollo

mail: [email protected][email protected]

Lincoln Villanueva

I will use this space to give some of my reflections on "What it may take (to the world) to transit from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

2015 ECOSOC theme: "Managing the transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the sustainable development goals: What it will take"

 

 

Image removed.

 

And of course - I will be a little specific- when I speak on issues of Energy & Sustainability- but most of my observations may also be quite handy and applicable for the other themes and goals (17) in the proposed program.

 

First of all- I would like to share - that I am excited. Excited by this UN program, and excited by the opportunities , the new hopes and new realizations this program may actually unleash.

 

As the program touches "a new order of human enlightenment" in it's program orientation goals

 

Let's build the World We Want.

 

Let's build sustainable societies for all

 

How are we going to live together- as 9 billion people- sharing one planet?

 

 

I look at the program of Sustainable Development - as a new pact, a new opportunity- between the nations, the  governments, companies (business community), academia and society.

 

In the East and in the West, The North and in the South.

 

I look at this program with new hopes and dreams for the poor and deprived, the working middle-class AND the elites of this world.

 

As this program- when done well - can actually unleash the best in us. It can shine and bring new radiance in ourselves and in our societies. A new radiance of caring and sharing.  Of shared stewardship. Of hope. Of can do.

 

The program- and when done well- can and may help to change or transform today's gridlock and sometimes competitive trenches in the geopolitical arena, and may empower and nurture the more hopeful and healthy dialogues and mind-sets between ourselves:

 

Of collaboration. Of crossing borders and cultures. Of listening and caring. Of giving and sharing. Of diversity and inclusiveness.

 

Yes-  Let's unlock the best in humanity. Let's improve the ways we are going to relate, and  Let's resolve some of the most urgent and pressing issues facing mankind (or of our living together).

 

As such- I and my practice is full-hearting-ly in.

 

Let's look at the individual section queries - and let me share with you, some first and very brief observation on our opportunities therein:-

Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda

 

 

What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at different levels?

 

What are the approaches to, and changes in behaviour required for integrated policy-making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing this mindset?

 

What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels?

 

Required adaptation by institutions, structures and individuals  

What types of changes and adaptation in institutions and structures will be needed at the national, regional and global levels to facilitate a smooth transition to a post-2015 era? What are the necessary corresponding changes in the roles and responsibilities of all partners?

 

To what extent are existing global institutions and policy frameworks ready to adopt and implement a more integrated approach to development? What adjustments may be needed to ensure that governments, the UN system and other partners respond to the universal and unified agenda and deliver equitable results for everyone?

 

What are the institutional and individual capacities required to facilitate a smooth transition from the MDGs to the SDGs?

 

Brief Observation(s):-

 

My practice works from the belief and understanding that our organisational forms determine to a large degree also our abilities to execute and deliver on our vision and strategies.

 

"Function follows our Form".

 

As we are transiting from the MDG towards the SDG- and we acknowledge that we are shape-shifting from an agenda solely focussed on the "bottom of the pyramid" towards an agenda focussed on the "whole of the pyramid"- it is clear that we may have to change our organisational form (of function deliveries) as well.

 

As the order and magnitude of the program is so much "bigger and all encompassing"- we may want to spend a little time in re-thinking of how we approach this massive new change challenge- as it will require new working pacts between and in businesses, governments, academia, and society.

 

Globally, regionally and locally.

 

And these working approaches and organisational forms may be different in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South.

 

Surely-  this work has been done- in the many working groups preparing for the goals and the agenda- but as with everything- the conversion from vision/strategy to reality and realisation-  in time- does need a little creativity and imagination- beyond the machinations of bureaucracy and our todays working styles.

 

Earlier I have given a brief and presentation- on what may be needed in the field of Energy & Sustainability. At UN Level, and at the national and energy corporations level.

 

If of interest- I encourage you to read my briefing papers- Go to UN SDSN briefing papers- or to contact me in person.

 

For this note, and this conversation- I will stay a little generic.

 

The transition from MDG to SDG's - actually asks and invites us to Re-write, Re-form and Trans-form some of the existing beliefs, rules and experiences.

 

As we have the opportunity to make "room for the new", to better listen to understand, and we can also iron-out some of the inequalities in power, inequalities in communication and understandings, some of our sources of conflict, some of our unhealthy and unsustainable practices in our present industrial system.

 

Firstly- I would like to share a little video -presentation from  Prof. Kottler.

 

Go to YouTube video

 

 

I think - and in this video-cast, he gives a good insight of what kind of new organisational dynamics we may want to aspire and organize in order to attain "living organisations" - who can adapt and transform to what we need.

 

This video-cast is applicable to individual corporations, but also is valid and applicable for administrations (UN, government) as well for the work between business, government, academia AND the people!!

 

On the issue of Capacity and Capability building- on achieving the 17 goals- I would say and share the following, and based on my years in large-scale program and project portfolio management within the Shell Group:

 

The magic happens when the "vision and story" is compelling- and binds and passionates people, all people and member nations,  to contribute and deliver.

 

The magic happens when the self-interests can be part and integrated of the whole.

 

The magic happens when we know-how to combine our vision with a workable strategy, manageable execution (delivery) operation and a (human) organisation that ticks.

 

The magic happens when we keep trusting, keep deeply respecting the human dignities, the cultural nuances and the differences in perspectives we may have.

 

The magic happens when we are able to stay out of trouble, and collect and celebrate our early wins.

 

The magic happens when we keep loving what we are doing and keep serving the higher goals.

 

Now- surely- and in our modern days and ways- I know also the following:

 

Discipline and Fun in our Organisation and our Deliveries are not each other enemy:

 

In other words: in order to realize and walk the path from vision, strategy to realization- we need good, compassionate and disciplined program management.

 

The kind of program management I was trained to do in Oil and Gas.

 

Managing and monitoring such an extensive portfolio and integrated program- requires also perhaps some new management system(s) - beyond today's experiences within the UN.

 

To that end- I would like to propose  a new, open and shared management (governance) system, between government, business, academia and society-  and which enables member countries and regions (e.g. Africa Union, EU, India,  etc.)  to self-assess, plan and share their organisational abilities to deliver and perform.

 

To conclude :

 

We have an extra-ordinary opportunity to do well. To raise the aspirations, to bring new hopes and help our human civilisation to a next realm of realization (maturity).

 

Our choice is if we are willing and able to open-up, to build and cross the various bridges,  to be creative and imaginative on the roads ahead, and to be able to organise ourselves for success.

 

That choice was rather simple for me to make.

 

 I wish that same choice to all people.

 

Let me conclude today - with something which really inspires me- and gives new hope, and new insights- on how walking the path of sustainable development, and building the societies we want may look like:

 

Watch Under the Dome. Chinese documentary investigating air qualities. http://t.co/PTjU9rJtNt via @youtube

— Adriaan Kamp (@Kamp_EFOW) March 4, 2015

 

 

(continued tomorrow)

 

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado
In response to Personal- Thank you for your brilliant analysis of what motivates human behaviour including that of the national leaders be they elected by the public, or by themselves. In my view, what you term ideological nucleus of national leaders, powerful tradesmen, NGO's and all others who can control human activities in some way, is the vital element in any change, for better or for worse. Until you brought it to the attention of this forum, the underlying assumption seems to have been that if some sort of paper agreement is reached in September, the gross human misery of today will begin to be something of the past. It is curious and saddening to see how people of good will neglect some simple facts known for centuries, i. e., it is not knowing what is the appropriate thing to do or agreeing to do so that get that thing done. Other things being equal, what is get done depends on what one believes to be desirable at a given point in time. This is dictated by the more general notion, viz., one's personal ideology at that time. And as you have pointed out, one's personal ideology may not be commensurable with every component of the culture in which one operates. So, it is not surprising to see people having ideologies consisting of aspects borrowed from other cultures, particularly fashionable or self-serving -isms. 'Media' and advertising trade have done much to dull the critical abilities of the youth, and many a plitician resorts to 'PR' to secure votes rather than reason. Here, a politician's personal ideology includes the notion if I can easily secure power through self-advertisment rather than by reasoned argument, so be it, and democracy help me! How to change it in a way so that those who are in controlwill include rationality, justice, common desency, and disinterested compassion in their personal ideologies? I wish I had a simple answer.  Lal Manavado. 
Lincoln Villanueva

If it's hard to imagine for you what it takes to lead the UN and the world from the MDG into the SDG, you may find it equally hard to imagine 'what it takes' and 'how to' actually manage and govern a country of 1.4 billion people.

For that is what is actually happing in China, today. A country of 1.4 billion people is led in economic development by presumably the most powerful and skilful administration on this planet.

Last week was China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) and the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

A consultative conference with and within the top of the political party, a congregation and representation of some 3000 elite from the 80 million+ membership in the party.

Highlight of the conference was the government work report:

Of accomplishments and achievements made - but more importantly- also on the outlook, goals and annual work program(s) ahead.

It was PM Li Keqiang who , in a 2-hour presentation, shared the highlights of his government work program.

Go to article- and see also the presentation below.

Now and that is interesting.

Very interesting to read and understand for people associated with the UN and UN Sustainable Development Goals, as 1 in 5 citizens on this planet is and will (in essence) be governed by this plan.

So, in other words, the working program of the Government of China- is in a sense the de facto Sustainable Development activities of that region.




2015 NPC & CPPCC annual meeting- The New Normal from Energy for One World
Now- before I am going to give some very brief and generic reflections on this government working program- with my Global Energy & Sustainability and Sustainable Development "hat on"- as it is important to acknowledge and pay tribute to the standing of Chinese Leadership within their community, in their nation and in the world.

Ever since President's Xi rise to power- his leadership and leadership style, including his Visions of (a) Chinese dream has stuck a chord within the countries population and soul, and has gained an overwhelming support and adoration.

Move Over Mao: Beloved ‘Papa Xi’ Awes China
(From NY Times)

The sons and daughters of China follow you forward hand in hand,” goes one soft-rock paean to Mr. Xi that has been downloaded thousands of times. “Great general secretary, beloved President Xi, the Chinese nation is sure to rejuvenate because we have you.”

In interviews, many ordinary citizens said they welcomed the splash of charismatic leadership, especially after the dreary, plodding manner of Mr. Hu, whose keynote slogan, “Scientific Outlook on Development,” lacked the emotional punch of Mr. Xi’s “Chinese Dream.”

So- you understand.

We are dealing here with a true global and nation leader, and which deserves our full respect.

A man standing on top of our world.

But let me share - here- some of my (very) brief observations and insights on China's government work program, and in relation to the UN global needs on Energy & Sustainability (among the nations):

I have observed that the Chinese government work program (the English summary presented) does not mention (yet) the following words:

Low-carbon economy, Climate change, CO2, Sustainability, Financial Stability (global market), Energy Transition Management, Sustainable Development, Energy for All.

I observe the strong focus on economic growth and development in the work program, including a strong new international outreach.

If we compare the proposed Global Sustainable Development Goals with the working program of the Chinese Government- than we may conclude that - in general- the parties (the World, UN and Chinese Government) would or could benefit if we were or are able to create the various "bridges, translations and working programs " between the Chinese Government Work Program and the (UN Global) Sustainable Development Goals.

I find it yet difficult to read the actions or commitments of China on the UN SDG Goals Nr. 7 till 17- and would very much welcome (to participate in) an open and informal conversation with the Chinese Government on these goals. To better understand.

Image removed.

Now- on Energy & Sustainability- I have the following more generic observations.

Without any judgements, I observe that only in the last week the following news and reports on China's Energy & Sustainability working programs were reported in the international media and press:

If only half of this is true- we may know and appreciate that we need some shared interest and attention here:-

NYTimes: China Blocks Web Access to ‘Under the Dome’ Documentary on Pollution http://t.co/EL0vuNX0ul

— Adriaan Kamp (@Kamp_EFOW) March 7, 2015

 

 

No China Coal Peak in Sight: Carbon Capture Will be Necessary to Tame Emissions in this Century http://t.co/RJSlprCcAH

— Adriaan Kamp (@Kamp_EFOW) February 26, 2015

 

 

Chinese Smog could be beaten in 10 years according to Party Official http://t.co/2R5M7psoFp

— Adriaan Kamp (@Kamp_EFOW) March 7, 2015

 

 

India and others so far aren't fooled by China's "string of pearls" http://t.co/BH5xkhl1B8

— Project Syndicate (@ProSyn) March 7, 2015

 

The South China Sea ‘V-I-P’ Solution http://t.co/eM9NXMqEYm pic.twitter.com/jL9BpQkbTW

— AdriaanKamp (@Kamp_EFOW) March 8, 2015

 

ASEAN’s Energy Situation and Growing Effort on CDM http://t.co/vBAhmLnYj7 via @SlideShare

— Adriaan Kamp (@Kamp_EFOW) February 23, 2015




As I believe that China's development, in essence, determines my and my childrens' and the world's opportunity for a healthy and sustainable development.- I have a working interest in what concerns China.

Full-hearting-ly knowing that any development has and may have it's shadow-sides- life is simply not perfect- it deserves a shared and deepening conversation - and various eyes, ears and perspectives- to discern what needs our common and shared attention.

Today and tomorrow.

As we migrate and transit from MDG to (more) Universal SDG's - our human civilisation journey may take us actually to a next dream or realization:

Not an American Dream, Not a China Dream, and Not Made in India dream.

But an Universal (and shared) World Dream- between the most powerful people and nations, but to the benefit of all

(continued tomorrow)

Lal Manavado
Lal Manavado

On Tools Needed to Bring About the Requisite Changes

 In my first post on this theme, I underlined the need for logical cohesion among the proposed SDG’s, and introduction of integrated policy formulation, joint planning and budgeting at a super-ordinate level and the relevant enabling legislation as necessary conditions for achieving a given set of SDG’s in an integrated manner. This post is concerned with identifying the general tools needed to serve that purpose.

 Before I proceed, I would like to stress once more, that the nation state is the most appropriate locus of evolution towards an integrated approach to achieving goals believed to be of interest to a population. At this point, it would be useful to add that the tools described here are intended to bring about a evolutionary change in the relevant areas, which is practical and humane, albeit they may not be suitable to gain political milage.

 It is possible to distinguish between two types of tool that may facilitate development of policy, legislation, joint planning and budgeting in a country. The first represents national tools, and the second, international ones. The national tools may be applicable nation-wide, or they may be local ones with a varying degree of applicability, ranging from village council to regional level.

 We can easily discover a similar variation in applicability among international tools. While the truly global tools may be used world-wide,  appropriate use of their regional counterparts is limited to a given area, which may be quite extensive, for instance,South America.

 If this classification is correct, it provides one a conceptual tool that would enable us to ascertain what national, local, global and regional tools are suitable for a given nation to develop her policies, legislation, etc., with a view to achieving an integrated goal attainment. It also enables that nation to identify, which of those tools are unsuitable for the purpose, even though some of them may seem irresistible owing to their rhetorical appeal.

 Due to their logical relationship, it would be best to consider national policy and legislation together. Their nature is influenced to varying degrees, by the global, regional, national, and local agencies (in the causal sense). For instance, the relevant national legislation and policy, embody ITO agreements on radio and television transmission. This is so, because it is believed to serve the communications interests of all nations.

 Likewise, majority of voters in EU believe that the possibility of obtaining timely medical help from a neighbouring member country is more desirable than waiting for a long time for the same service from a hospital at home. Therefore, EU Directive on cross-boarder health care  is now integrated into national legislation of its members, and the health policy of each EU country reflects it.

 Here, we have an example of a global and a regional tool that respectively fashion national legislation and policy. At least in principle, their raison d’être is a global and a regional majority belief (entailed by presumed global and regional democracy) that they would serve the national interests of those believers. I agree this is more than a moot point, but to simplify things, I beg the readers to take it as a fact by invoking the charity principle.

 I am certain at this point most readers would notice a serious shortcoming inherent in these two example tools, viz., they are not concerned with inter-sectorialintegration in anyway. They are global and regional, but they are traditional and reductive, i.e. attempt to solve a problem in isolation. As far as I know, there are no global tools one could use to formulate a holistic policy whose implementation requires an integrated approach.

 This is not to say global or regional tools towards developing wherewithall required to achieve national goals in an integrated manner are beyond our power. The conceptual tools we have been using so far have been reductive, and we have just begun to take fumbling first steps towards holistic problem  solving. One of our much publicised moves in that direction was the attempt, ‘health in all policies’ activities. It cannot be described as a success, and it was only intended to integrate health into other national policies.

 So, I think it would be reasonable to say that at present we do not have any  global or regional tools a nation state may use to integrate its policies and legislation with a view to reaching its national objectives. At this point, it is critical to clearly distinguish between such tools, and international norms, both technical and judicial, for the latter are not concerned with integration of how goals are attained, but rather on how it may be done on a goal-specific basis.

 Now we face the question, under these circumstances, has a national state any other option than to develop its own mechanisms of integrated goal achievement? In an ideal world where sound secular ethics, know-how, requisite skill and material resources are equitably distributed, my answer would have been a resounding, yes. As this is hardly the case, I submit that suitable appropriate global and regional involvement to enable nations to develop an integrated approach to resolve their problems in an appropriate manner would be useful.

 I think all nations have to learn how to develop policies, legislation, planning and budgeting techniques required for integrated problem solving. Everybody knows about the acrid inter-departmental rivalries common in both rich and poor nations. Such rivalry is an infallible indicator of non-integrated approach we know. Neither  the international organisations, nor yet the NGO’s are required to adopt a holistic approach, for they are often concerned with a single issue like health, security, etc., or some other specific cause.

 One might claim EU to be an exception. True, it has moved some way towards an integrated approach, but it began comparatively recently, and besides, despite their politico-economic differences, EU states are linked by a common cultural bond. This imparts to EU approach a limited universal applicability.

 We must now ascertain how a nation may develop the conceptual framework required to generate the policies, legislation, joint planning and budgeting mechanisms toowards an integrated achievement of national goals. In the public discussion thus far, several useful ideas have been put forward, however, it is crucial to note that they are not concerned with how to achieve the above objective, but only with what goals are to be included inIn an integrated approach.

 Bearing in mind the vital difference between this ‘how’ and ‘what’, I shall try to identify the most practical means by which a nation may acquired the know-how and skill necessary for it to undertake an integrated approach to goal achievement. As possession of those is necessary, but not a sufficient condition for their actual use, it is essential to induce the decision-makers to use them by making it a legal obligation, i. e., through legislation even though this would be useful only if its enforceable.

 The challenge we face now, is how to acquire the requisite know-how and skill, and how to get the necessary legislation and laws embodying it, in place.  So, inevitably, other things being equal, the onus of ensuring the success of this stage heavily depends on effective and timely law enforcement. Let us now consider the general means we may use for the purpose.

 I submit that it would be counterproductive to resort to international legal instruments to require the use of an integrated approach to achieve national objectives, for it patently violates the currently accepted notion of sovereignty. Nor is it easy to see how that means may be used to curb misappropriation of foreign aid that may be required to implement integrated policies.

 Before I proceed, I would like to specify the basic assumptions and the leading argument on which my suggestions are based. I believe that there would be a general agreement on their validity and fairness.

 Basic Assumptions:

  1. There are over a billion people whose living conditions are much below the standards of adequacy of the countries where they live.
  2. Although their distribution is universal, their density is high in some countries.
  3. UN wishes to identify a set of goals (now called SDG’s), whose integrated attainment within 15 years would considerably ameliorate the living conditions of those people, as well as hinder the current processes leading to human deprivation.

The belief embodied in 3 above entails the following assumptions: 

  1. SDG’s have a universal relevance.
  2. Hence, a majority of nations would accept them as equally relevant and worthwhile.
  3. Some global means of general applicability can be designed to achieve them.

I find it difficult to accept the validity of the three entailed assumptions. Moreover, the current UN approach seems to lay undue emphasis on palliation rather than cause elimination at the level where it can make a lasting impact.

Let me justify my objections. It is true that UN initiative seems to imply the political consent of its member nations, hence, it may be politically representative. But this does not help us to identify the major causes of inadequate living conditions from which over a billion people suffer. Those causes are many, and their distribution varies widely among countries and regions.

True, open consultations have been held, and a million or so people have been asked to describe what they desire. I am far from convinced that they are really representative, but this is only a minor point.

What is crucial here, is that no such attempt has been made to clearly identify all the major causes leading to inadequate living conditions for millions.

The seminal post by ‘Personal’ on the 5th March, identifies “ideological nucleus” as a major ingredient in human behaviour including that of those who wield political, economic and other forms of influence, which in turn affects the living conditions of the people. No explicit attention has been paid to the dealing with this thorney issue, which is necessary if one wishes to ameliorate the living conditions of the deprived.

Attaining any SDG entails the expenditure of resources. However, successful attainment of some will not enable the hungry to procure food, shelter, education, etc. If it is argued at ‘promotion of employment opportunities’ is the answer, let us look at its feasibility.

In order to deal with unemployment, we need to spend huge sums to run programmes needed for it. This ‘investment’ gives no ‘financial dividends’. Automation, ‘relocation’, and take-overs, amalgamations etc., all lead to redundency. Would it be reasonable to assume that resources controlled by the few will be invested to provide employment opportunities to ever increasing number of the young with limited abilities, workers already made redundent, etc.? Can the governments of the poor countries afford to do so, if yes, when and for how long?

In the final analysis, improving the living conditions entails that humans exist on earth.  But, the possibility of our continued existence depends on the existence of two logically inseperable equilibria, viz., the equilibrium between the living and the finite mineral resources necessary for their existence, and the equilibrium among the living species. The latter depends on bio-diversity (the qualitative aspect) and the population of the individual species (quantitative asspect). We have already done a great deal of harm by diminishing bio-diversity and populations of many other species, while continuing to increase human population beyond the limits biosphere can endure.

In addition, the environmental disasters man has caused for economic gain have already led to several unfortunate consequences. It is a pity that not enough attention is given to the fact that essential economic gain inevitably entails the use of earth’s finite mineral resources, be it agriculture or industry. In many areas, they are so diminished, vast tracts of once arable land now lies sterile while the population continues to rise. Incidentally, by essential economy, I mean activities that produce food, clothing, shelter, what is needed for health care and education, etc.

Hence, it is imperative that any post-2015 agenda should be based on both environmentally sustainable human activities and actions aimed at environmental regeneration. It is insufficient to limit ourselves to a vague ‘sustainable’ X or Y as we do now.

Secondly, it is vital that we seriously try to deal with a problem we all know about, but dare not to discuss openly. This is the problem of ‘ideological nucleus’ as presented by ‘Personal’. I submit that what it boils down to is nature of the ethical norms by which one’s actions are actually governed. For instance, one may claim altruism as the motive of one’s actions while hiding one’s desire for publicity those actions are intended to provide. This may be a relatively less serious state of affairs, but the world is just too full of worse examples of this kind of twisted ethics.

The secular solution some have offered is rule of law. It will be generally agreed that what we face today is not the lack of good laws, rather its adequate enforcement. I am reluctant to venture into the domain of religion, for it is not amenable to reason and logic, but a question of belief in some supra-natural entity.

What I can propose is a simple ethical norm it would repay to inculcate into the youth, and grown-ups open to reason, viz., there is only one thing that differentiates us from the brutish stone age man, which is our ability to behave in a manner that does not harm our habitat, in which the other people are an integral part.

As ethical norms go, this is simple, and it entails respect for others, which excludes descrimination of types that have been aired here. It also excludes unlimited acquisition of wealth by the few that will naturally reduce what is available to the others.

In my view, it is impossible to design any feasible long-term solution to the social inequities these discussions try to provide, unless caring for our environment and the above ethical norm is accepted as universal values based on reason. Ironically enough, one observes the first as a standard value among some communities the ‘civilised’ observers describe as ‘primitive’. Perhaps, it is time for us to acknowledge  some traditional and conservative norms are good, and some liberal and radical values are destructive.

I shall now try to outline some of the tools a nation state may use with a view to enabling it to undertake integrated goal achievement.

Legislative tools towards an integrated approach:

The legislative branch of the regime will pass legislation that embody the following:

  1. The national government will establish a representative parliamentary committee to identify national goals and their prioritys. Itwill consult departmental heads, relevant professionals, and other organisations who have a professionally and logically justifiable connexion wit this task. At this juncture,  we are not concerned with the specific ways of achieving goals.
  2. Goals so identified will be made public insofar as it does not compromise national security, and made open to debate with a view to their revision as to their content and priority. This process may be conducted at several levels, parliament, local authorities, while other interested bodies may feed their views to  them.
  3. After the above activities, a national goal set will be submitted to the parliament or a local authority for approval.
  4. Means of effective liaison between different participants will be established and how to use them will be made public.
  5. Mechanisms will be established to ensure the broadest participation of the concerned parties, and to monitor and ensure their participation.

The purpose of 1 to 5 is to ensure the greatest possible relevance of the national goals to the greatest possible number. But, even though it is democratic, it may not guarantee direct and immediate help to those who are really deprived, unless their ethical sense motivates the population of a country to demand remedial action, or that of the politicians compels them to do so. However, to justify the second clause of the previous sentence, I must invoke the charity principle.

If the political leadership of a country (at what levels may vary)is required by the law to undertake  the above steps, and are willing and able to do so, then it would be possible to identify the needs of a nation on the widest possible basis.

This willingness is not a given by any means. But if it can be induced by popular demand, one might have a reason to be optimistic, provided that it is directed at the general good, and not for the good of some vociferous minority.

In some countries, the legal possibility of undertaking this kind of joint decision-making, may require a constitutional change.

Are there any global or regional bodies that can provide a country meaningful help at this stage of the proceedings? I cannot envisage what contribution they can make, but another country with commensurable background might be able to offer some relevant technical help. Here, one must take into consideration the country’s culture, demography, socio-political factors, etc., should one want to provide it useful help. Some regional bodies may also help a country to set up what the law requires with respect to finance and technical expertise.

I wonder if and when SDG’s are accepted at the UN whether the national leaders would accept it all, or whether they would concentrate on those goals that are of the greatest interest  to a nation as determined by a public consultation.

My reason for the foregoing is that an integrated approach to resolve national problems would be of little use, unless we can ensure their relevance to a given country.

Some might suggest the regional groupings in S. America, East and South Asia andAfrica  as possible partners for their members to work together towards an integrated approach. I would certainly advise great caution here, because the goal of these organisations is traditional economic growth, and so areas like education, health, food and shelter for the really needy can easily become junior partners with little real influence.

It is often believed that the notion of best practice offers a panacea to everything including social inequity.  It is vital to remember this will be tenable only if  the best practice to be used by a country comes from a culturally, geographically, climatically and economically commensurable land.

It is true that the global organisations can offer some norms of universal applicability. We have not made enough progress even here as the number of ignored UN resolutions indicate. It is time that we began to work seriously on agreeing on binding modes of conflict resolution between nations, environmental regeneration and conservation, dealing with organised crime, and the rational demiliterisation of countries, which would release considerable resources for other much needed purposes.

Once again, let me remind the reader that the embodiment of these norms is a move towards civilised national behaviour, but it does not represent sufficiently integrated policy or means of integrated goal-achievement.

Perhaps, reasoned newspaper articles, and similar radio and television programmes may serve as a means of  getting more people interested in the pressing issue we face today. Of course, www is useful, but I do not think it can really reach those millions who now live under appalling conditions.

As I see it, international bodies may use financial inducement to encourage the national governments to adopt integrated goal achievement.  However, it is vital that such inducements are not tied to a particular  sort of ‘economic action’, which only serves the perpetuate the current reductive approach, which embodies some theory or the other, but do not enable the deprived to meet their fundamental needs.

In order to guard against this harmful partisanship that may be displayed by potential partners, I have outlined a layered approach to forming partnerships in a previous post. Briefly, it requires the authorities not to compromise national, regional or local autonomy, but to begin cooperation with partners with the understanding that those authorities will determine the policy in consultation with the people concerned, while all appropriate help on how to implement and  finance it would be welcomed.

A dream? No, not quite, because I think there are still enough reasonable people in the world who are able and willing to understand the fact that the world looks complex not because it is really so, but because some believe that imposing an artificial complexity on it is the hallmark of progress and civilisation.

Lal Manavado.

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Merci beaucoup pour vos suggestions. La volonté politique de libérer les pauvres de la pauvreté ne peut que passer par l'adoption et la publication des ODD et les relations entre les parties prenantes( governement, société civile et secteurs privés) avec des responsabilités bien définies et claires.

Lincoln Villanueva

If we were to drill down the world of 7 Billion people into only 100 people, .how would the world look like, then?

That's what the campaign and initiative 100people.org did- and they came up with some fascinating statistics: Go to Statistics.

Just to mention here a couple: 6o people will be from Asia, and only 5 from North-America, only 7 out of the 100 would have a college degree, and 48 people are living with less then 2 $/day. 15 would be undernourished, 22 would not have electricity, and 16 will be without a toilet.

Now- as we may find ourselves living a world full of statistics, our world does not behave or function in statistics.

The fact is- we are living in a world with many needs and many different views and cultural nuances- of how and what we like or want to achieve or change.

Earlier I have made the following brief presentation- on some of the typical arche-type behaviours and mind-sets out there- when we speak about progressing our economies or our (self) interests:

Worldviews from Energy for One World



Very much simplified:-

In our world, we find people and corporations who are convinced that the free market and free enterprise- say capitalism- can and will be the source of all good. There are people who believe that a more balanced version between State and Free (or liberalised) markets will be a good thing- so-called State-Capitalism.
There are  people who believe, that the world is a rough-place or a place of survival (their personal views on history or experience shows)-  and that by applying Darwinism - the best, the most strong and disciplined among us will secure a position or advance interests.
And there are people who work in governments and large organisations (finance, energy, etc.) - who actually combine both or more of the above traits.
There are people who like the force of science & technology: humanity will find it's proper progression (and saviour) thanks to the rise and invention of new goodies- beyond our today's imaginations.  And there are people who are a little bit more concerned on the sustainable path and journey taken in the acceleration of our civilisation, the rapid pick-up of mass consumerism, gathering of wealth and industrialization- and find more peace and trust in the re-invention of an eco-conscious lifestyle.
Finally- there are people who believe in inspired humanity- and are working towards growing their own awareness (with God, with Humanity) in order to live and serve well.

As you may understand, these world views- or ideologies- affect our believes, our relationships, our inter-actions and our decision making - and determine to a large degree how prepared we are to make "acts" in order to advance our and our neighbours societies. Today and Tomorrow.

As the UN is  are transiting from the MDG towards the SDG- and we acknowledge that we are shape-shifting from an agenda solely focussed on the "bottom of the pyramid" towards an agenda focussed on the "whole of the pyramid"- it is clear that we may have to change our minds and mind-sets on this as well.

Within the UN and UN organisations. In the way we speak, relate and discuss the topic of Sustainable Development.

It's a new order of magnitude. It is a new order of thinking.

As the order and magnitude of the program is so much "bigger and all encompassing"- we may want to spend a little time in re-thinking of how we approach this massive new change challenge- as it will require new working pacts and new mind-sets between and in businesses, governments, academia, and society.

 And as these working approaches, mind-sets and organisational forms may be different in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South.

Personally - I like to think in the term - "building" sustainable societies, or sustainable organisations and communities.

And this process and program of "building" is and will be different in the more developed economies of this world- then e.g. the under-developed or rapid developing nations.

And when we speak about this process of "building"- we are actually also to include in our plan-making and considerations- the different and local perspectives hold (around the globe) on the ways and methods by which societies progresses itself.: The hard-ware and soft-ware of the whole constellation we find ourselves in.

 Now comes some thinking:

In the more developed economies we may clearly see the invitation to re-form, transition, and transform  our todays achievement towards a much more balanced, aspirational, advanced and sustainable form in, within and between our societies.

To dampen the problems and make room for the new.

To take time and effort to remove much of the shadow-sides from and within our economies (e.g. inequality, finance, banking & business models, global corporates vs. local communities, sustainability) and to make time and room available for the creation of the new:

to actually build and organize Sustainable societies 2.0.

Top-down and Bottoms-up. To let it unfold.

To become perhaps (again) the shining and leading beacons of hope for the many: "This is (truly) the future we want"..where everybody can and feel included.

This is also very much true in the sector of Energy & Sustainability: a re-orientation and overhaul in the ways by which we power and transport ourselves is clearly needed- and can be done:

Climate science is real. We live in One world- shared between many people- and the West (most developed nations) uptake of fossil fuels is clearly un-sustainable and in no relation to it's share in global population.

In the under-developed and rapid developing world- the change challenge (or the "building"  of sustainable societies) will require different programs and skills.

But it is our Minds and Mind-sets that we can and will find our Common spirit.

With everything said and done- "sustainability"- and again , to my mind- is something which goes "deep" and "comes from within".

It's a personal journey inside. It's an awareness. It's a State of Being.

( I have said this earlier, but) When we move from Me to We- everything changes. And everything becomes so much simpler.

On the moment we know-how to transcend from personal interests (and believes and thoughts) into common interests- we find the healthy pathways forwards, amongst and between ourselves

On the moment we realize we are part of nature, and we have and found self-love, we will find love, dignity and respect for the others, and nature.

So- the UN (and our) ambitions to rise to the occasion and develop the world to a next realm or realization- can, and to my mind, be not only an effort solely based on scientific goals and targets, but has also very much to do with a path of raising the Minds and Mind-sets of our diplomats, of governments, of leadership in corporations, and in our (UN) organisations of campaigns.

It is this new "State of Being", this true and honest way of talking and walking, this inspired spirit or leadership- which in effect may have the biggest effect on us all.

When this makes sense to you- then the good news is - you are not alone:

Perhaps a good moment to  watch and read the Fuji Declaration (1996) of the Club of Budapest:

Go to the Fuji Declaration




The good news is:

Today, there are so many wonderful and good initiatives on this path.-which are hopeful and inspirational- and which surely are going to make a difference.

Lincoln Villanueva

Good afternoon!

We are students studying in Sciences Po and we have thought about the issue and come up with couple of solutions for this topic.

 

In today's world there exists a great a diversity of environments where young people are growing up. In developing countries they are facing difficult challenges, which include among other things limited and unequal access to different resources, medical aid, education, employment, etc. In addition, they are suffering from poverty and hunger, which further limits their possibilities for a better future. To fight this kind of inequality different policies should be implemented, such as implementation of formal education system, which would provide the students all the necessary skills, knowledge and values and thus enable them to increase their self-confidence and engage more in public life. There should be put in place some workshops, which would allow the students to be more engaged on a more personal-level and give more practical value of the experience. In addition, there should be more initiative from the firms to allow the youth to participate in their every-day processes and become more familiar in the way they are operating.  

 On the other side we have the developed countries, where youth acts as a main tool of digital innovation. Unfortunately they are usually excluded from decision-making processes. Nonetheless, with the complexity of today's world, the youth have also great opportunities to prove themselves as responsible and able citizens by self-organizing and proposing new innovations.

Thus, the youth should be motivated and encouraged to take action. We propose that at the community level there should be a representative of youth to be engaged in the decision-making. Furthermore, we believe that governments should finance different youth projects in order for them to get the practical experience. 

Nik Sekhran
Nik Sekhran Moderator
Summary of Week 2 of the ECOSOC e-discussion on “Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda” It has been over two weeks since we launched this dynamic e-discussion and I would like to thank all participants for your contributions. Please find below a summary of key points. What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at different levels? • The UN and other development partners can play a catalytic role in stimulating integrated approaches. For instance, the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) is an innovative programme that assists governments in mainstreaming sustainable development into national policies, plans and budget frameworks, through practical approaches, mainstreaming tools, and capacity building. By adapting PEI’s poverty-environment mainstreaming approach to specific national and subnational contexts, close to 30 governments have started examining the poverty-environment nexus and explored new ways to address these challenges. Mozambique is a good example of how the Government has adopted an integrated approach to policy-making. A PEI supported economic study of natural resources found that the yearly economic loss due to environment degradation and the unsustainable use of natural resources equaled 17% of the country’s GDP while the estimated cost to remediate these damages was 9% of GDP. A separate study on public environmental expenditure showed that only 1.4%of GDP was the expenditure on environment. Such economic paradoxes go to the very core of the sustainable development problem. Influenced by these studies, the Government was determined to move towards inclusive sustainable development by adopting an integrated cross-sectoral approach to development planning and budgeting. The economic findings from the studies helped the Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs successfully lobby for the appointment of three environment focal points within the Ministry of Finance who are championing the inclusion of environmental sustainability objectives in the country’s budget processes. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance introduced a budget code for climate change which will help track climate change expenditure and monitor commitments by sectors to address climate change. • Mozambique’s Ministry of Planning and Development adopted a mainstreaming matrix for cross-cutting issues including environment and gender, with PEI support. This matrix now serves as an important tool to ensure that sector plans and budgets include objectives that aim to promote inclusive sustainable use of natural resources. The Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs (MICOA) has played an instrumental role in operationalizing the mainstreaming matrix and supporting sector ministries to appoint environmental focal points. As a result of the cross-sector collaboration between MICOA and the Ministry of Planning and Development, nine sector social and economic plans integrate poverty-environment objectives. • In Mozambique’s Zambezia province, where the well-being of the population is closely linked to the sustainable management of natural resources, over-exploitation of mangroves has increased riverbank erosion impacting negatively on housing, settlements, and agriculture. Most riverbank villages have been forced to relocate at least once. The adoption of ecosystem based approaches has prevented relocations and communities are now able to focus on income generating activities inspired by sustainable agriculture practices. The implementation of integrated policy approaches contributed to sustainability efforts on the ground. • Many developing countries have financed their development through resource extraction. However, there are risks related to natural resource wealth, including volatile economic growth, limited job creation, violent conflicts, corruption, environmental degradation, etc. Such negative outcomes of resource extraction can be tackled through effective strategies, legal frameworks and policies. Government, industry, civil society and other stakeholders have been working together to advance sustainable development in the extractives sector. International government bodies like the APEC Mining Task Force, industry groups such as the International Council on Mining and Metals and international agencies like the World Bank and UNDP are very active in promoting sustainable development in the mining sector that take into account gender and indigenous peoples issues and small scale mining. The African Minerals Development Centre, launched by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, and UNDP, is a new hub which will help implement the African Mining Vision, which aims to ensure Africa’s mineral resources can support economic growth and development. It will translate that vision into practical solutions for reducing poverty and involving people in development. UNDP has also launched a Strategy to guide its work on supporting countries to govern their extractive sector sustainably. Support includes facilitating formal and informal participatory decision making processes to institutionalize representation of communities, women’s organizations and indigenous peoples in the governance of extractive industries; strengthening the capacity of artisanal and small-scale miners and of the public institutions that regulate and promote them; and helping countries develop strategies to invest resource revenues in economic transformation, social development and environmental regeneration. • Numerous programs and local initiatives already serve as incubators for the roll-out of integrated approaches -- so-called ‘triple wins strategies.’ If properly documented these can serve as important entry-points for scaling up and mainstreaming sustainable development at the core of policy making processes. UNDP’s Triple Wins for Sustainable Development report highlights, with country examples, what it takes to move towards sustainable development. Instead of focusing on the tradeoffs between the three strands of development, this report highlights the range and significance of the complementarities between them. It describes ‘triple win’ development policies and programming that regenerate the global commons by integrating social development with economic growth and environmental sustainability. • Ensuring ownership of an integrated agenda requires adopting a bottom-up approach by including local communities in decision-making processes and in implementation. Examples of successful case studies can be found in the “Science for Environment Policy In-depth Report: Social Innovation and the Environment”, by the European Commission DG Environment. What are the approaches to, and changes in behavior required for integrated policy-making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing this mindset? • The integrated approach that underpins the emerging SDG agenda clearly underscores shifting focus from ‘symptoms’ to ‘root causes’ of development challenges. Critical in this process is the need to examine how access to various natural or man-made resources, services, as well as opportunities, related inefficiencies and inequalities, governance and capacity deficits and other systemic constraints influence progress against particular as well as across goals and targets. The ‘bottleneck analysis’, which lies at the heart of the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) could lend itself to a deeper analysis of the structural challenges as well as the economic, social and environmental policy trade-offs or synergies surrounding ‘solutions’ to the achievement of particular SDG targets. In Western and Central Africa for instance, inequality and exclusion, governance deficits, and resilience building and environmental sustainability challenges were captured at various stages of the MAF roll-out chain. • Integrated policy-making, planning and programming towards the SDGs requires acknowledging and understanding the potential trade-offs as well as complementarities and synergies between various development resources and policies. The adoption of a ‘nexus approach’ to the SDGs offers a promising avenue in this regard (poverty-environment nexus, water-energy-land-food nexus). However, ‘resource nexus thinking’ cannot be confined to purely technological and economic considerations and needs to touch upon issues surrounding people, especially poor and disadvantage people’s control and access to resources and the national and local governance frameworks that facilitate or undermine this control. • There is need for adopting dynamic and flexible approaches to integrated policy-making for the new agenda. National policy pathways towards the SDGs are likely to differ across countries and over time. In the Arab region, for instance, the SDG ‘policy mix’ in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may involve reducing the ecological footprint while preserving human wellbeing (second order condition) – while for LDCs and some middle-income countries, this would rather entail accelerating human development, while minimizing environmental impacts (second order condition). LDCs and middle-income countries should still be pro-active in investing in environmental sustainability (including renewable energy etc.) but possible trade-offs need to be considered and the prioritizations to be made over time. • Policy approaches need to be more inclusive and all local stakeholders, particularly the poor and marginalized should be better empowered to engage in decision-making processes. Spaces and opportunities for dialogue and constructive interaction, with a hands-on focus on issues and agendas of immediate relevance to the poor and marginalized should be created. The appropriate legal, policy, political, and more broadly institutional conditions need to be fostered (through policy dialogue, advocacy, or other means) that can enable the effective operationalization of an integrated approach. • Traditional and religious leaders, women, and youth can be key drivers of change for sustainable development. Women’s empowerment is a key process in reaching gender equality and, through that, sustainable development. This requires involving women actively in decision-making at all levels, integrating their concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes, and establishing ways to assess the impact of development policies on women. Policymakers are also encouraged to pay attention to the views and concerns of young people, and actively engage with them in the sustainable development process. • The inclusion of key institutions such as parliaments, the judicial system, political parties, and finance and planning bodies is required for integrated policy-making and operationalizing an integrated approach. Country experiences show that there are challenges and opportunities in working with these actors. For instance, parliaments may not be involved in all stages of development planning, may have limited awareness of sustainable development issues, and may face conflicting interests. Despite these challenges there are opportunities in working with them, including leveraging their legislative role and fostering their advocacy role especially for budgeting. Challenges in working with the judicial system include its limited awareness of sustainable development issues, lack of enforcement of laws, and conflicting interests. Developing synergies with laws related to good governance, for instance, could be an opportunity. Integrated approaches must be accompanied by legal or other relevant instruments that facilitate operationalization. While political parties lack direct involvement in development planning, the election process can be used to raise awareness on sustainable development issues and these issues can be made a theme of political campaigns. • Technological innovation has led to an enormous increase in the availability and use of data. This ‘data revolution’ provides unprecedented opportunities to chart progress towards the SDGs and provide citizens with the tools they need to hold their governments to account. • New technologies and social media provide the world with creative outlets to discuss the sustainable development agenda and ‘keep it alive.’ As social media has changed the way that constituencies can be engaged, the approach to communications and messaging on the sustainable development agenda must be adapted to reflect this new reality. Traditional media continues to be an important avenue to inform the public about the integrated agenda. Campaigns are also effective ways to support change in mindset for an integrated approach to development. The World We Want 2015 campaign is an example of enabling citizens around the world to debate the sustainable development agenda. It helped gather the priorities of people from every corner of the world and build a collective vision that is being used directly by the United Nations and World Leaders to plan the new sustainable development agenda. This could perhaps be transformed to a sustained campaign into 2030. • UN teams and international financial institutions working in countries must improve working together to better support governments in implementing their sustainable development agendas. What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels? • Monitoring and evaluation of the MDGs already do offer a number of lessons learned that can be compiled to provide a tool and benchmark for the SDG’s. As we near the final week of this e-discussion, I look forward to receiving further contributions, specifically on potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda. Nik Sekhran (moderator of Thematic Window I, posted on 13 March 2015)
Nik Sekhran
Nik Sekhran Moderator
Summary of Week 2 of the ECOSOC e-discussion on “Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda” It has been over two weeks since we launched this dynamic e-discussion and I would like to thank all participants for your contributions. Please find below a summary of key points. What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at different levels? • The UN and other development partners can play a catalytic role in stimulating integrated approaches. For instance, the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) is an innovative programme that assists governments in mainstreaming sustainable development into national policies, plans and budget frameworks, through practical approaches, mainstreaming tools, and capacity building. By adapting PEI’s poverty-environment mainstreaming approach to specific national and subnational contexts, close to 30 governments have started examining the poverty-environment nexus and explored new ways to address these challenges. Mozambique is a good example of how the Government has adopted an integrated approach to policy-making. A PEI supported economic study of natural resources found that the yearly economic loss due to environment degradation and the unsustainable use of natural resources equaled 17% of the country’s GDP while the estimated cost to remediate these damages was 9% of GDP. A separate study on public environmental expenditure showed that only 1.4%of GDP was the expenditure on environment. Such economic paradoxes go to the very core of the sustainable development problem. Influenced by these studies, the Government was determined to move towards inclusive sustainable development by adopting an integrated cross-sectoral approach to development planning and budgeting. The economic findings from the studies helped the Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs successfully lobby for the appointment of three environment focal points within the Ministry of Finance who are championing the inclusion of environmental sustainability objectives in the country’s budget processes. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance introduced a budget code for climate change which will help track climate change expenditure and monitor commitments by sectors to address climate change. • Mozambique’s Ministry of Planning and Development adopted a mainstreaming matrix for cross-cutting issues including environment and gender, with PEI support. This matrix now serves as an important tool to ensure that sector plans and budgets include objectives that aim to promote inclusive sustainable use of natural resources. The Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs (MICOA) has played an instrumental role in operationalizing the mainstreaming matrix and supporting sector ministries to appoint environmental focal points. As a result of the cross-sector collaboration between MICOA and the Ministry of Planning and Development, nine sector social and economic plans integrate poverty-environment objectives. • In Mozambique’s Zambezia province, where the well-being of the population is closely linked to the sustainable management of natural resources, over-exploitation of mangroves has increased riverbank erosion impacting negatively on housing, settlements, and agriculture. Most riverbank villages have been forced to relocate at least once. The adoption of ecosystem based approaches has prevented relocations and communities are now able to focus on income generating activities inspired by sustainable agriculture practices. The implementation of integrated policy approaches contributed to sustainability efforts on the ground. • Many developing countries have financed their development through resource extraction. However, there are risks related to natural resource wealth, including volatile economic growth, limited job creation, violent conflicts, corruption, environmental degradation, etc. Such negative outcomes of resource extraction can be tackled through effective strategies, legal frameworks and policies. Government, industry, civil society and other stakeholders have been working together to advance sustainable development in the extractives sector. International government bodies like the APEC Mining Task Force, industry groups such as the International Council on Mining and Metals and international agencies like the World Bank and UNDP are very active in promoting sustainable development in the mining sector that take into account gender and indigenous peoples issues and small scale mining. The African Minerals Development Centre, launched by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, and UNDP, is a new hub which will help implement the African Mining Vision, which aims to ensure Africa’s mineral resources can support economic growth and development. It will translate that vision into practical solutions for reducing poverty and involving people in development. UNDP has also launched a Strategy to guide its work on supporting countries to govern their extractive sector sustainably. Support includes facilitating formal and informal participatory decision making processes to institutionalize representation of communities, women’s organizations and indigenous peoples in the governance of extractive industries; strengthening the capacity of artisanal and small-scale miners and of the public institutions that regulate and promote them; and helping countries develop strategies to invest resource revenues in economic transformation, social development and environmental regeneration. • Numerous programs and local initiatives already serve as incubators for the roll-out of integrated approaches -- so-called ‘triple wins strategies.’ If properly documented these can serve as important entry-points for scaling up and mainstreaming sustainable development at the core of policy making processes. UNDP’s Triple Wins for Sustainable Development report highlights, with country examples, what it takes to move towards sustainable development. Instead of focusing on the tradeoffs between the three strands of development, this report highlights the range and significance of the complementarities between them. It describes ‘triple win’ development policies and programming that regenerate the global commons by integrating social development with economic growth and environmental sustainability. • Ensuring ownership of an integrated agenda requires adopting a bottom-up approach by including local communities in decision-making processes and in implementation. Examples of successful case studies can be found in the “Science for Environment Policy In-depth Report: Social Innovation and the Environment”, by the European Commission DG Environment. What are the approaches to, and changes in behavior required for integrated policy-making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing this mindset? • The integrated approach that underpins the emerging SDG agenda clearly underscores shifting focus from ‘symptoms’ to ‘root causes’ of development challenges. Critical in this process is the need to examine how access to various natural or man-made resources, services, as well as opportunities, related inefficiencies and inequalities, governance and capacity deficits and other systemic constraints influence progress against particular as well as across goals and targets. The ‘bottleneck analysis’, which lies at the heart of the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) could lend itself to a deeper analysis of the structural challenges as well as the economic, social and environmental policy trade-offs or synergies surrounding ‘solutions’ to the achievement of particular SDG targets. In Western and Central Africa for instance, inequality and exclusion, governance deficits, and resilience building and environmental sustainability challenges were captured at various stages of the MAF roll-out chain. • Integrated policy-making, planning and programming towards the SDGs requires acknowledging and understanding the potential trade-offs as well as complementarities and synergies between various development resources and policies. The adoption of a ‘nexus approach’ to the SDGs offers a promising avenue in this regard (poverty-environment nexus, water-energy-land-food nexus). However, ‘resource nexus thinking’ cannot be confined to purely technological and economic considerations and needs to touch upon issues surrounding people, especially poor and disadvantage people’s control and access to resources and the national and local governance frameworks that facilitate or undermine this control. • There is need for adopting dynamic and flexible approaches to integrated policy-making for the new agenda. National policy pathways towards the SDGs are likely to differ across countries and over time. In the Arab region, for instance, the SDG ‘policy mix’ in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may involve reducing the ecological footprint while preserving human wellbeing (second order condition) – while for LDCs and some middle-income countries, this would rather entail accelerating human development, while minimizing environmental impacts (second order condition). LDCs and middle-income countries should still be pro-active in investing in environmental sustainability (including renewable energy etc.) but possible trade-offs need to be considered and the prioritizations to be made over time. • Policy approaches need to be more inclusive and all local stakeholders, particularly the poor and marginalized should be better empowered to engage in decision-making processes. Spaces and opportunities for dialogue and constructive interaction, with a hands-on focus on issues and agendas of immediate relevance to the poor and marginalized should be created. The appropriate legal, policy, political, and more broadly institutional conditions need to be fostered (through policy dialogue, advocacy, or other means) that can enable the effective operationalization of an integrated approach. • Traditional and religious leaders, women, and youth can be key drivers of change for sustainable development. Women’s empowerment is a key process in reaching gender equality and, through that, sustainable development. This requires involving women actively in decision-making at all levels, integrating their concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes, and establishing ways to assess the impact of development policies on women. Policymakers are also encouraged to pay attention to the views and concerns of young people, and actively engage with them in the sustainable development process. • The inclusion of key institutions such as parliaments, the judicial system, political parties, and finance and planning bodies is required for integrated policy-making and operationalizing an integrated approach. Country experiences show that there are challenges and opportunities in working with these actors. For instance, parliaments may not be involved in all stages of development planning, may have limited awareness of sustainable development issues, and may face conflicting interests. Despite these challenges there are opportunities in working with them, including leveraging their legislative role and fostering their advocacy role especially for budgeting. Challenges in working with the judicial system include its limited awareness of sustainable development issues, lack of enforcement of laws, and conflicting interests. Developing synergies with laws related to good governance, for instance, could be an opportunity. Integrated approaches must be accompanied by legal or other relevant instruments that facilitate operationalization. While political parties lack direct involvement in development planning, the election process can be used to raise awareness on sustainable development issues and these issues can be made a theme of political campaigns. • Technological innovation has led to an enormous increase in the availability and use of data. This ‘data revolution’ provides unprecedented opportunities to chart progress towards the SDGs and provide citizens with the tools they need to hold their governments to account. • New technologies and social media provide the world with creative outlets to discuss the sustainable development agenda and ‘keep it alive.’ As social media has changed the way that constituencies can be engaged, the approach to communications and messaging on the sustainable development agenda must be adapted to reflect this new reality. Traditional media continues to be an important avenue to inform the public about the integrated agenda. Campaigns are also effective ways to support change in mindset for an integrated approach to development. The World We Want 2015 campaign is an example of enabling citizens around the world to debate the sustainable development agenda. It helped gather the priorities of people from every corner of the world and build a collective vision that is being used directly by the United Nations and World Leaders to plan the new sustainable development agenda. This could perhaps be transformed to a sustained campaign into 2030. • UN teams and international financial institutions working in countries must improve working together to better support governments in implementing their sustainable development agendas. What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels? • Monitoring and evaluation of the MDGs already do offer a number of lessons learned that can be compiled to provide a tool and benchmark for the SDG’s. As we near the final week of this e-discussion, I look forward to receiving further contributions, specifically on potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda. Nik Sekhran (moderator of Thematic Window I, posted on 13 March 2015)
Nik Sekhran
Nik Sekhran Moderator

Summary of Week 2 of the ECOSOC e-discussion on “Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda”

 

It has been over two weeks since we launched this dynamic e-discussion and I would like to thank all participants for your contributions. Please find below a summary of key points.

 

What are current examples of an integrated approach to policy-making and what is their degree of success? What are the existing tools and approaches for operationalizing an integrated approach at different levels?

 

  • The UN and other development partners can play a catalytic role in stimulating integrated approaches. For instance, the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) is an innovative programme that assists governments in mainstreaming sustainable development into national policies, plans and budget frameworks, through practical approaches, mainstreaming tools, and capacity building. By adapting PEI’s poverty-environment mainstreaming approach to specific national and subnational contexts, close to 30 governments have started examining the poverty-environment nexus and explored new ways to address these challenges. Mozambique is a good example of how the Government has adopted an integrated approach to policy-making. A PEI supported economic study of natural resources found that the yearly economic loss due to environment degradation and the unsustainable use of natural resources equaled 17%of the country’s GDP while the estimated cost to remediate these damages was 9% of GDP. A separate study on public environmental expenditure showed that only 1.4%of GDP was the expenditure on environment. Such economic paradoxes go to the very core of the sustainable development problem. Influenced by these studies, the Government was determined to move towards inclusive sustainable development by adopting an integrated cross-sectoral approach to development planning and budgeting. The economic findings from the studies helped the Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs successfully lobby for the appointment of three environment focal points within the Ministry of Finance who are championing the inclusion of environmental sustainability objectives in the country’s budget processes. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance introduced a budget code for climate change which will help track climate change expenditure and monitor commitments by sectors to address climate change.

 

  • Mozambique’s Ministry of Planning and Development adopted a mainstreaming matrix for cross-cutting issues including environment and gender, with PEI support. This matrix now serves as an important tool to ensure that sector plans and budgets include objectives that aim to promote inclusive sustainable use of natural resources. The Ministry of Environment Coordination Affairs (MICOA) has played an instrumental role in operationalizing the mainstreaming matrix and supporting sector ministries to appoint environmental focal points. As a result of the cross-sector collaboration between MICOA and the Ministry of Planning and Development, nine sector social and economic plans integrate poverty-environment objectives.

 

  • In Mozambique’s Zambezia province, where the well-being of the population is closely linked to the sustainable management of natural resources, over-exploitation of mangroves has increased riverbank erosion impacting negatively on housing, settlements, and agriculture. Most riverbank villages have been forced to relocate at least once. The adoption of ecosystem based approaches has prevented relocations and communities are now able to focus on income generating activities inspired by sustainable agriculture practices. The implementation of integrated policy approaches contributed to sustainability efforts on the ground.

 

  • Many developing countries have financed their development through resource extraction. However, there are risks related to natural resource wealth, including volatile economic growth, limited job creation, violent conflicts, corruption, environmental degradation, etc. Such negative outcomes of resource extraction can be tackled through effective strategies, legal frameworks and policies. Government, industry, civil society and other stakeholders have been working together to advance sustainable development in the extractives sector. International government bodies like the APEC Mining Task Force, industry groups such as the International Council on Mining and Metals and international agencies like the World Bank and UNDP are very active in promoting sustainable development in the mining sector that take into account gender and indigenous peoples issues and small scale mining. The African Minerals Development Centre, launched by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, and UNDP, is a new hub which will help implement the African Mining Vision, which aims to ensure Africa’s mineral resources can support economic growth and development. It will translate that vision into practical solutions for reducing poverty and involving people in development. UNDP has also launched a Strategy to guide its work on supporting countries to govern their extractive sector sustainably. Support includes facilitating formal and informal participatory decision making processes to institutionalize representation of communities, women’s organizations and indigenous peoples in the governance of extractive industries; strengthening the capacity of artisanal and small-scale miners and of the public institutions that regulate and promote them; and helping countries develop strategies to invest resource revenues in economic transformation, social development and environmental regeneration.

 

  • Numerous programs and local initiatives already serve as incubators for the roll-out of integrated approaches -- so-called ‘triple wins strategies.’ If properly documented these can serve as important entry-points for scaling up and mainstreaming sustainable development at the core of policy making processes. UNDP’s Triple Wins for Sustainable Development report highlights, with country examples, what it takes to move towards sustainable development. Instead of focusing on the tradeoffs between the three strands of development, this report highlights the range and significance of the complementarities between them. It describes ‘triple win’ development policies and programming that regenerate the global commons by integrating social development with economic growth and environmental sustainability.

 

 

What are the approaches to, and changes in behavior required for integrated policy-making for the new agenda? What kind of communication strategies are needed for changing this mindset?

 

  • The integrated approach that underpins the emerging SDG agenda clearly underscores shifting focus from ‘symptoms’ to ‘root causes’ of development challenges. Critical in this process is the need to examine how access to various natural or man-made resources, services, as well as opportunities, related inefficiencies and inequalities, governance and capacity deficits and other systemic constraints
    influence progress against particular as well as across goals and targets. The ‘bottleneck analysis’, which lies at the heart of the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) could lend itself to a deeper analysis of the structural challenges as well as the economic, social and environmental policy trade-offs or synergies surrounding ‘solutions’ to the achievement of particular SDG targets. In Western and Central Africa for instance, inequality and exclusion, governance deficits, and resilience building and environmental sustainability challenges were captured at various stages of the MAF roll-out chain

 

  • Integrated policy-making, planning and programming towards the SDGs requires acknowledging and understanding the potential trade-offs as well as complementarities and synergies between various development resources and policies. The adoption of a ‘nexus approach’ to the SDGs offers a promising avenue in this regard (poverty-environment nexus, water-energy-land-food nexus). However, ‘resource nexus thinking’ cannot be confined to purely technological and economic considerations and needs to touch upon issues surrounding people, especially poor and disadvantage people’s control and access to resources and the national and local governance frameworks that facilitate or undermine this control.

 

  • There is need for adopting dynamic and flexible approaches to integrated policy-making for the new agenda. National policy pathways towards the SDGs are likely to differ across countries and over time. In the Arab region, for instance, the SDG ‘policy mix’ in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may involve reducing the ecological footprint while preserving human wellbeing (second order condition) – while for LDCs and some middle-income countries, this would rather entail accelerating human development, while minimizing environmental impacts (second order condition). LDCs and middle-income countries should still be pro-active in investing in environmental sustainability (including renewable energy etc.) but possible trade-offs need to be considered and the prioritizations to be made over time.

 

  • Policy approaches need to be more inclusive and all local stakeholders, particularly the poor and marginalized should be better empowered to engage in decision-making processes. Spaces and opportunities for dialogue and constructive interaction, with a hands-on focus on issues and agendas of immediate relevance to the poor and marginalized should be created. The appropriate legal, policy, political, and more broadly institutional conditions need to be fostered (through policy dialogue, advocacy, or other means) that can enable the effective operationalization of an integrated approach.

 

  • Traditional and religious leaders, women, and youth can be key drivers of change for sustainable development. Women’s empowerment is a key process in reaching gender equality and, through that, sustainable development. This requires involving women actively in decision-making at all levels, integrating their concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes, and establishing ways to assess the impact of development policies on women. Policymakers are also encouraged to pay attention to the views and concerns of young people, and actively engage with them in the sustainable development process.

 

  • The inclusion of key institutions such as parliaments, the judicial system, political parties, and finance and planning bodies is required for integrated policy-making and operationalizing an integrated approach. Country experiences show that there are challenges and opportunities in working with these actors. For instance, parliaments may not be involved in all stages of development planning, may have limited awareness of sustainable development issues, and may face conflicting interests.  Despite these challenges there are opportunities in working with them, including leveraging their legislative role and fostering their advocacy role especially for budgeting. Challenges in working with the judicial system include its limited awareness of sustainable development issues, lack of enforcement of laws, and conflicting interests. Developing synergies with laws related to good governance, for instance, could be an opportunity. Integrated approaches must be accompanied by legal or other relevant instruments that facilitate operationalization. While political parties lack direct involvement in development planning, the election process can be used to raise awareness on sustainable development issues and these issues can be made a theme of political campaigns.

 

  • Technological innovation has led to an enormous increase in the availability and use of data. This ‘data revolution’ provides unprecedented opportunities to chart progress towards the SDGs and provide citizens with the tools they need to hold their governments to account.  

 

  • New technologies and social media provide the world with creative outlets to discuss the sustainable development agenda and ‘keep it alive.’ As social media has changed the way that constituencies can be engaged, the approach to communications and messaging on the sustainable development agenda must be adapted to reflect this new reality. Traditional media continues to be an important avenue to inform the public about the integrated agenda. Campaigns are also effective ways to support change in mindset for an integrated approach to development. The World We Want 2015 campaign is an example of enabling citizens around the world to debate the sustainable development agenda. It helped gather the priorities of people from every corner of the world and build a collective vision that is being used directly by the United Nations and World Leaders to plan the new sustainable development agenda. This could perhaps be transformed to a sustained campaign into 2030.

 

  • UN teams and international financial institutions working in countries must improve working together to better support governments in implementing their sustainable development agendas.

 

What are the potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda at the national, regional and global levels?

 

  • Monitoring and evaluation of the MDGs already do offer a number of lessons learned that can be compiled to provide a tool and benchmark for the SDG’s.

 

 

As we near the final week of this e-discussion, I look forward to receiving further contributions, specifically on potential complementarities and synergies involved in the pursuit of a universal agenda.

 

 

Nik Sekhran

(moderator of Thematic Window I, posted on 13 March 2015)

Dr.Priya Prabhakar
Dr.Priya Prabhakar

POVERTY- ENVIRONMENT INITIATIVE - Development through and inline with environment. How to develop without regressing the quality and balance of the environment? PEI is an initiative to answer this question. To orient the activities of individuals towards progressive development, the world first needs to fix its functioning inline with the principles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

How will UDHR regulate the world towards progressive use of resource for development. What scopes does it have to accomplish this regulation?

When individuals are progressively enabled with an opportunity to meet the life standards they intend to live, eventually, they will regulate their functioning and living and fix themselves with progressive activities that will not harm or damage the environment and the life in it. 

The foundational purpose of Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to enable universal wellbeing that includes the heterogeneous functioning of the world towards unified development that encompasses the wellbeing and sumptuousness of all factors and components of the world. 

How?

Through Universal Declaration of Human Rights, EVERY SINGLE INDIVIDUAL have equal scope for their opportunity to life and development, irrespective of any discriminative identity such as race, colour, gender, language, religion, political origin, national origin, social origin, property status, birth status and the like.

The world through UDHR has just the government and the individual, it neither scopes for the government or the world to identify an individual with any of their additional identity, like traditional leaders, religious leaders, women, youth, men, rich, poor nor to have stratified or special treatments based on these additional identity of individuals. 

Therefore, it enables equal access of opportunity to all based on their interest and skills. 

SCOPES OF UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights has entire scopes for development in it, opportunity to individual specific life and development; opportunity to comfortable working environment; opportunity to generous remuneration; opportunity to relaxation and re-energising; opportunity to deserving ownership of property and wealth; opportunity to knowledge and growth; opportunity to participate in the governance; opportunity to balance and reciprocate the opportunities enabled by the world for our development.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an holistic guideline that will be valid and true eternally. The reason is, it doesn’t carve the facilitation into a specific mode, pattern or structure that would limit the opportunity enabled to the world. Since Universal Declaration of Human Rights, transparently and progressively includes all claims of individuals, bringing the worlds activity into accountability is not an difficult task and with accountability, bringing in progressive use of resources is simple, because when we bring in the activities of the world into accountability, we needn’t brand things illegal or wrong that would tempt individual with secretive use of an approach or resource, instead we can regulate the use of resource and approach in a way that it abides the legal measures of human rights.

Finance for development: It is to be noted and remembered that the world has a money system called FIAT MONEY system, that enables nation to own currencies needed to facilitate the policy designed inline with the fundamentals. Government being the ultimate facilitating and regulating institution of the nation it must be full-fledged. Therefore, it is not bad idea or destructive concept for government to include fiat money in its design. Simultaneously, when the functioning of the world is oriented towards the principles of human rights, bringing in transparency and accountability to the economic resources is possible. 

In this discussion, I could see suggestion for reforms based on the goals of development agenda, MDGs and Post-2015 development agenda are not the fundamental guidelines of the world but they are a set of goals listed for the world that are to be accomplished through the universal declaration and national constitutions adopted. The functioning of the world should not reform based on the goals but the reforms must be based on the fundamentals (UDHR and Constitution) adopted to accomplish the goals in the agenda. 

Jan Goossenaerts
Jan Goossenaerts

A contribution regarding mindset change and social media.

In the current way of using social media we are really missing a lot of its possibilities.

One example is how hashtags are used. Most posts, on Twitter, Google+,  use the same tags, such as #SDGs to discuss content that pertains to one of the 17 proposed goals, or to one or more of the over 160 proposed targets. 

In order to deepen and make more inclusive the discourse via social media we must really start tagging content in such a way that the overal discourse is segmented along topic lines. Here is how this can be done:

In an inclusive culture, the leadership gives each individual personal attention and room to contribute, ask, learn and develop.

Bringing a similar inclusion capability to a global partnership with billions of citizens using many languages is a major Public Communication challenge. Systematically defined hash-tags or ”structured tags” offer an opportunity for overcoming prevalent divides that threaten the inclusive public-private discourse.

The proposed tags are for: //sustainable development goals, economic activities, functions of government and territorial areas.
  • Draft sustainable development goals (17 SDGs) and targets (169) have been proposed by an OWG of the United Nations.
  • In ISIC, the United Nations has coded over 400 economic activities for statistical purposes - that means, as many root tags - search #isic9101!
  • They also coded over 100 functions of government in COFOG. More tags… check out #SDG17, #cofog0112. 
  • The EU has coded about 1300 NUTS-3 regions, and other countries have codes for states, counties, provinces, municipalities. Combine with ISO country codes (and EU) to create #isic9101EU, #cofog0112BE and #BE211.

Language-neutral tags that cover every function of government, every economic activity and every locality matter for the relationship between institutions and citizens: there is a tag for everyone's livelihood or public service needs. Public content, shared with a structured tag, is like a word in a dictionary: it will be found when needed. Moreover, other tagged content merges into a focussed news stream, including one for every NUTS-3 region (or every municipality when using national statistics codes). With their coarse grain the proposed tags are not too specialised, nor too general. They are just fine for structuring the public-private discourse.

How would structured tags affect the “top” of the #TalkDigital pyramid?

When an Parliament Committee or any public agency puts a topic on their agenda, this event deserves a post tagged suitably. Stakeholders in the debate follow-up a tag’s timeline and can contribute their views “in the open” by tagging their posts or by “liking” what others contributed ( See also the E-Parliament tagger , elaborated during a European hackathon in Brussels, early 2014: http://debategraph.org/Details.aspx?nid=226384 ).

Authors and public communicators only need a simple search for a structured tag to assess a topic’s coverage or neglect. When readers observe neglect, structured tags empower them to ask questions, “like” prior questions, or contribute content to fill content gaps.

At the base of the #TalkDigital pyramid consider farmers in a developing country using a tablet on a time-share basis, paying access to internet per minute, with low bandwidth. Remembering the tags that matter to their livelihood, they can find recent, relevant and popular content in seconds. A short period of using a tablet will allow them to find answers, or to contribute to a topic or post their questions.

Using the contemporary internet and social media, the collaborative use of systematically defined hash-tags is a small step that would nurture a radically more inclusive public-private discourse. Such a discourse is a key characteristic of a civilized and open society, both in the EU and globally.It is a way to give everybody a voice in both global and local debate.To avail of this service, people have to easily find a tag for a topic. This is the purpose of the SDG tag pivot which is already avaible in English, French and Spanish.The use of these #tags should be started by those who share most content.When communicating, they must think first about the citizen with limited time and topic span.

 

 

Lincoln Villanueva

Sustainable development will be meaningful only when Tradutuinal Knowledge of an area is properly integrated in development policy. TK actually develop and evolve in several thousand years keeping local resources ans needs in mind.

Lincoln Villanueva

brings me to the idea and suggestion:

 

Refinement, and sensible granularity and clustering of SD outreach (communities, cities, regions, countries) - in order to organize and share sensible and best practice and development pathways seems to make very good sense.

A  better - perhaps smarter way of organizing from Global to Local- and on-demand!.

Lincoln Villanueva

From September 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will become the defining paradigm for international development for at least the next 15 years. Governments and organizations will be aligning their programmes and objectives in order to fit the new universal targets specified in the SDGs, which promise to deliver a more inclusive and comprehensive kind of development than their Millennium predecessors. For countries committed to achieving the SDGs, the role of new technologies will feature prominently as catalysts to drive performance, measurement, and accountability to beneficiary populations.

In 2000, when the MDGs were being drafted, the role of mobile phones for global development was modest. In the intervening period the contribution of mobile phones has expanded across all categories of development. Mobiles have already played a key role in improving access, quality, and efficiency of health systems, and ensuring accountability to their beneficiary populations. For the health workforce, they have facilitated various angles of disease control and health systems management: providing citizens with information, overcoming barriers to service access, carrying out routine and emergency surveillance, and improving supply management in remote areas. Their application, it seems, is limitless – and critical.

So how do we capitalize on the potential of mobile technology to deliver sustainable health care: how do we keep the M in the SDGs? This time the technology’s role in health care is more easily identifiable, standing out in three of the seventeen SDG goals. We need to ensure that these opportunities are followed up in the new policies based around these aims.

Goal 3: Ensure Healthy Lives and Promote Well-being

The topic of healthy lives is based on a standard understanding of improving access for all, irrespective of gender, geographical or any other concern. Yet it also extends access in the sense of increasing public awareness of health risks, in particular for the chronic diseases which are now responsible for the majority of deaths in the world annually. These diseases – cancers, diabetes, heart disease and lung disorders – lead to more than 36 million deaths every year, with 85% occurring in LMICs. Estimates from a study carried out by the World Economic Forum and Harvard set the cost of NCDs to developing countries at $47 trillion dollars between 2011 and 2025, representing almost 75% of GDP in 2010. It is difficult to argue that these diseases and their risk factors should not be an area of focus for health system development.

The keystone of technology is that it is agnostic. It does not require there to be an investment choice made between chronic and communicable diseases, since the same base technology platforms can be used to coordinate mHealth programmes for any or multiple diseases: prenatal check-ups and cervical cancer vaccination, TB and tobacco, Ebola and diabetes. This is a prime example of how to reverse the current trend of vertical disease programmes, replacing it with a genuinely integrated health agenda. It also offers a way to improve well-being through preventative behaviour and chronic care management, maximizing health impact thanks to its ability to adapt delivery method according to need or preference: daily SMS, recorded voice message, interactive smartphone application. By making information and treatment more accessible, mobiles can bring greater autonomy to individual health control regardless of setting, age or gender.

Goal 10: Reduce inequality between countries

Telecommunications infrastructure can be considered a kind of intermediary public good, meaning it can be used for improvements across national infrastructure: health, education, agriculture, industry, and so on. For many countries this is important because it permits them to leapfrog existing gaps in health infrastructure, in the same way that mobile financial innovation like M-Pesa compensates for the absence of banking infrastructure.

Development is not necessarily a linear process. By accepting and encouraging the simultaneous adoption of mHealth across income groups, there is also the potential for countries to learn from each other without the developed/developing divide. Providing the core health content is relevant, programmes can be adapted from one country to suit the technological and health system needs of another, as shown by the joint mHealth initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The initiative creates evidence-based national mHealth guides for targeting NCDs, adapting them to the specific health needs and technological infrastructure of a country. This encourages global policy on mHealth practices whilst simultaneously supporting a bottom-up approach; creating a universal resource to which any country can contribute or turn to as a health care resource.

Goal 17: Strengthen implementation and revitalize sustainable global partnerships

National mHealth is an interesting test case for public-private partnership in development. The technology requires all content shared to be effectively open source, meaning there is minimal room for private ownership of interventions within public health services. Because of the early-mover advantage within innovation, there is still a business model for companies, but mobile technology in health care is a delivery mechanism, not a product in itself. This makes it more difficult to capitalize on individual apps or programmes.

What will be needed are clear, universal rules governing the Intellectual Property of products developed within PPPs. By establishing these it will be relatively straightforward to avoid the development of a consumer industry at the cost of accessible, affordable services for the public. This will be one of the critical needs of the mHealth industry: regulatory frameworks for design and implementation, for evaluation of products, and at least one global institution responsible for mandating and assessing the fulfilment of these criteria. Without these governing frameworks, mHealth will continue to generate entirely reasonable professional and patient concerns over its effectiveness and contribution to population health.

Conclusion

In the intervening 15 years between the MDGs and the SDGs, technology has advanced at arguably a faster rate than at any other point in history. Any kind of sustainable development needs to take advantage of the opportunities technology already offers the tools to improve access, quality of services and affordability: all the tenets of universal health care which will ultimately define the health areas of the SDGs. These will include both physical access to services and resources, and what may be defined as mental access via individual empowerment in health decisions. The greatest sustainable impact technology will have on global health will be to provide entire populations with the knowledge and resources needed to take control of their day-to-day health needs – and more importantly, an interest in doing so.

The authors are staff members of the World Health Organization. They alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the World Health Organization.

Lincoln Villanueva

Before understanding the challenges we are facing during the transition process from MDGs to SDGs, we need to understand the special features of sustainable development which is global and long-lasting. The sustainability means the maintenance of the developmental potential for not only the current generation but also the future generations. The sustainable development goals involve a wide range of continue supply of public resources. When relating to public sectors, the economic activities need more regulation from government, who should make use of their influence through policy and law.

1. Legislation
A sound law system will help the implementation process of SDGs. Transition process from MDGs to SDGs need to slow down the pace of previous routines of economic development, which might jeopardize the interests of some groups, and also against the nature of market-oriented economy. To ensure the markets operates in the sustainable way we expect, the most efficient way is to write the standards in law. To legislate the sustainable requests means the strong supports from government and also the determination of pursuing SDGs.

2. Equality
There are still lots of inequalities all over the world, showing in different forms, like the uneven access to nature resources, the more and more big gap of the wealth, the unequal employment opportunities based on gender and race. The worldwide spread equalities will provide a stable environment of development, on the contrary, the extreme inequalities will cause the desperate approach to develop, no matter for individuals or countries. Because the SDGs need the global cooperation, also the integrated agendas from various industrials. To realize SDGs needs the active participation of countries, dominate companies, policy-makers and every individual, thus the widespread equality could strength people's faith to pay for the SDGs which might not payback in their lifetime.

3. Education
Education is also an important part of SDGs. The police choices are about the quality and equality of education. In my view, for the quality part, how to cultivate people based on his/her own talent is the biggest challenge. Each country faces different situation. In China and India, the huge population makes the low ratio of teachers to students, also their education method and examination system require huge amount calculation and recite works. For the equality of education, the urge problem needs to be solved is the uneven distribution of education resources. Education is the source of technology innovation, and technology innovation is solid guarantee of sustainable development.

The above are the comments I made about the Policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda under the discussion of “Managing the transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals: What it will take’’. 

Lincoln Villanueva

I- Friends,

About the MDG acceleration mecanism. It is a fantastic tool, and it is looking smart, however the tool is not out of risks. alike what UNSECGEN said Sustainable Development has to be sustained and sustainable. so, according to the little assessment where I used the definition of an acceleration, it looiking as if MDG acceleration mecanism is smart, but sustainable. In fact, if one consider a resource like food, Food production is linked to land, labour, time. It is clear that according to the math formula of acceleration that MDG1 (starvation reduction can be accelerated, but as food production is in a nexus with land, the more food produced and the less land availability. Note, today, it is not food, which is a problem, but land. Food production is too, important. 1/3 of the world food produced is going to the garbages (bins) while 660 millions of people are starving in the world). Conclusion. For me if I consider mecanism to multiply the acceleration of food production, it could give a castastophic event, because the more food produce, the more water, the more land, the more deforestation, the more water cleaning...So, it is ,not a virtuous cycle but a vicious cycle, event I I recognize that the progress is smart.

And genrally speaking for other MDG and the acceelration mecanism. We do not know what it is triggering as a negative process beside the good. It may not be the Accelertion mecanims, which is critical, but  (statistic over 5 to 10 years period to test and validate a process, may not suffix, in fact, my fear much about the control of the bottlenecks in developpment that can make a differencs (like with the food produced, were there is 1/3 of food waste, which is not anodine.

II- Knowlegde on speed and the variation of speed over time
(acceleration is described in term of  quantitity of volume of
goods overtime derive by the time

Acceleration = d[ dq] > 0

                       dtdt

q (x, y, z,t) , with x:  quantity of resource x (here is x
is food),  y is the labor, z is land, t : time

a) the assessment of the acceleration is a triple integration of q (x,y,z,t)
             ∫∫∫ [dq] = [∫d(x)/dtdydz ]  + [∫d(y/dt dx dz ] + [∫dz /dtdxdy]  = Acceleration

                    dt²

b) now, assuming on 1 variable is
moving at the same time, while the other are constante :

dQ(t)= y°z° (dx/dt) + x° z°
(dy/dt) + x°y° (dz/dt)  => Q(t) = yozo [x(t)] + x°z° [y(t)] + x°y° [z(t)]

c) again, with the same equation by using fixed terms (K)

Q(t) = K1 x(t) + K2 y(t) + K3 (zt)

K1= kyz, K2 = kxz, K= xy

d) so, acceleratrion is a function of quantity of resource of MDGi (i = 1..8)  x(t)  + labor and  y(t) =
land,  time (t)

d) One has to come to the  conclusion

I think that in reality, if one takes  Food as the resource for
MDG1, there is a link between food and land

If food is accelerated, land is deccelerated.

Also, he more food, which is grown and the less land for food.

Therefore  thus, one refers to the equation as a nexus. In
fact, the global nexus is the link with water.

What is the worth to accelerate MDG1, because if MDG1 is
accelerated, one will need more water, more water needs more water
pollutions, more water popuations mean more invetment to clean water,
more resource, more deforestation for land and for water...etc.

One has to be aware that the MDGs race does not lead to another

Lincoln Villanueva

I- Friends,

About the MDG acceleration mecanism. It is a fantastic tool, and it is looking smart, however the tool is not out of risks. alike what UNSECGEN said Sustainable Development has to be sustained and sustainable. so, according to the little assessment where I used the definition of an acceleration, it looiking as if MDG acceleration mecanism is smart, but sustainable. In fact, if one consider a resource like food, Food production is linked to land, labour, time. It is clear that according to the math formula of acceleration that MDG1 (starvation reduction can be accelerated, but as food production is in a nexus with land, the more food produced and the less land availability. Note, today, it is not food, which is a problem, but land. Food production is too, important. 1/3 of the world food produced is going to the garbages (bins) while 660 millions of people are starving in the world). Conclusion. For me if I consider mecanism to multiply the acceleration of food production, it could give a castastophic event, because the more food produce, the more water, the more land, the more deforestation, the more water cleaning...So, it is ,not a virtuous cycle but a vicious cycle, event I I recognize that the progress is smart.

And genrally speaking for other MDG and the acceelration mecanism. We do not know what it is triggering as a negative process beside the good. It may not be the Accelertion mecanims, which is critical, but  (statistic over 5 to 10 years period to test and validate a process, may not suffix, in fact, my fear much about the control of the bottlenecks in developpment that can make a differencs (like with the food produced, were there is 1/3 of food waste, which is not anodine.

II- Knowlegde on speed and the variation of speed over time
(acceleration is described in term of  quantitity of volume of
goods overtime derive by the time

Acceleration = d[ dq] > 0

                       dtdt

q (x, y, z,t) , with x:  quantity of resource x (here is x
is food),  y is the labor, z is land, t : time

a) the assessment of the acceleration is a triple integration of q (x,y,z,t)
             ∫∫∫ [dq] = [∫d(x)/dtdydz ]  + [∫d(y/dt dx dz ] + [∫dz /dtdxdy]  = Acceleration

                    dt²

b) now, assuming on 1 variable is
moving at the same time, while the other are constante :

dQ(t)= y°z° (dx/dt) + x° z°
(dy/dt) + x°y° (dz/dt)  => Q(t) = yozo [x(t)] + x°z° [y(t)] + x°y° [z(t)]

c) again, with the same equation by using fixed terms (K)

Q(t) = K1 x(t) + K2 y(t) + K3 (zt)

K1= kyz, K2 = kxz, K= xy

d) so, acceleratrion is a function of quantity of resource of MDGi (i = 1..8)  x(t)  + labor and  y(t) =
land,  time (t)

d) One has to come to the  conclusion

I think that in reality, if one takes  Food as the resource for
MDG1, there is a link between food and land

If food is accelerated, land is deccelerated.

Also, he more food, which is grown and the less land for food.

Therefore  thus, one refers to the equation as a nexus. In
fact, the global nexus is the link with water.

What is the worth to accelerate MDG1, because if MDG1 is
accelerated, one will need more water, more water needs more water
pollutions, more water popuations mean more invetment to clean water,
more resource, more deforestation for land and for water...etc.

One has to be aware that the MDGs race does not lead to another

Dosse SOSSOUGA
Dosse SOSSOUGA

Oui, Dieu créa la terre, le ciel, les arbres. Il met des relations entre eux pour entretenir le cycle de l'eau pour la production agricole qui alimente l'homme. La sécurité alimentaire dépend alors de la terre. L'homme vit alors au dépend de la terre. Les terres cultivables dans le monde représente 60% pour l'Afrique et 40% réparti en europe, Asie et en Amérique pour nourrir 9 Milliards de personnes en 2030. Hors les 660 millions de personnes meurent de faim aujoudhui dans le monde. pour pallier à ce problème il sufit de moderniser l'agricuture africaine qui demeure traditionnelle et d'éviter le gaspillage alimentaire. Il faut une éducation des populations sur la gestion des denrhées alimentaires. Eviter l'égoïsme, l'égocentrisme, cultiver la compassission et l'esprit de partage.

Lincoln Villanueva

Friends,

I want to explicit the expression of interest, which is about the abnormal demands. We are living in a world where Supply are not meeting demand. And this is the causes of crises. When the supply and the dmeande for good and services are not converging, it ia creating a risk source. I think it is happening regulary, as it is much easier, to increase a production by investing more, than reducing a production. In fact, crisis normally should be an opportunity to adapt the poduction capacity and new norms to adaptabilité, however how often is it happening. For food, we could produce less because of 1/3 of food is produced, instead of saving, we keep producing more, same for oil, unless for strategic reason. It is jsut about strategic and ethics? There still have businesses, which believe that planning in details is the rule, event if there is less customer, they will produce as if the demand was maximize (and thy will loose. This aspect of consumption . This aspect of supply and demand, which si not met is problematic and abnormal. In fact, organisation need to be more proactive, anticÎPATOrY? PROSPECTIVE; So that any change that occurs does not ruin the social business life.

In a complex envrionement, it less likely to be  

Working together

Working together is not easy because of the cultural diffencces. If you take an orgnaisation like a bank, it is not so systematic that shareholders will keep  the control on their activities. They
need to implements a process

Synergie increases flexibility- either on the source or the
usaes of resources

Firstly, for an agenda to be universal, there is a need to a havea continuous coverage of the universal item, by reducing the losses or ensuring harmonization or making homogeous the universal practice.

Example, one has seen when Obama wanted to implement the Obama carereform, it has been delayed, because

 of the failure of the computeur system in charge of the implementation.

New Texhnologies and Social Media- I think about Management
Infoirmation Sytems (MIS) and Information Communication Technologies
(ICTs). It is an opportunity and a risk. An opportunity because these
technolgies are new and also, it an opportunity because  it is designed
for increasing (augmented reality)  . Now, all depends about others.        

 

Use of data- until the digtal divide

Ethics and strategy

MAF : Millenium Acceleration Framework (MAF) – MAF
Bottlenecsk

Can we say taht without the MAF, MDG
would not be a succès, Also how can one explain that in Asia,
despite of MAF, Asia is  continent where the MDGs are uneven compared
to other part of the world. Example og MDG1 -there are still 660
millions people going hungry to b ed in Asia. …

Probably the technology MAF are
helping, but they do not make all

Issue with the digital divide and
UNSECGEN data revolution, and also the Post 2015 SDG and the road to
dignity

Also lack of prerequisite for
successes and the so call MAF challenges

 

Case of MDG1- country planning and
good development plan

So, it can be the plan or the
development. Does it ? In my analysis I have describe the
abnormal demand and the rôle of ethics. Complex environment

Solution given by UNDP on the quick
impact to remove the bottleneck is shortermiste-

some countries may not have policy
base on profit, but sustainable development, which is long term
development solutions so the bottleneck cannot be rmove quickly, but
over a longer horizonline than  1 year (short term). For example, in
term of waste treament, energy depletion,...the solutions are not
immediat, but can take several years . For example, the ozone
layer…

However UNDP is optimistic...and it
has payed.

I think also that one does not have
enouhg time to confirm the value of technolgies in Accelerating MDGs.
To be truly correct, the statsitiques must be over serveral decades,.
Most of technoliges that are used in the world (internet are less
than a decade, so can we truly acertain that ICTs and MIS are the
sources of the speed up of MDGs. It is not certain for me. Mybe they
are underlying factors or variable that the  reserachers have not
tested, or validated, and are unknons. For example, if I take for
example, migrations. If on the long term, it is clear that migrants
are a benefit for the foreign country, opposite on the short term,
migrants can be nuisance for the foering country because the new
migrants have to adapt in its new country, and learn a new culture,
...Etc, so, in order to have a true valuation of immigration accross
border, one should compound short term impact of migration + long
term impact of migrations. Thus, I believe , what is correct for
migration is also real for poverty eradication and the imapct of
technology on the short term and on the long term to conclude that
technology is a MAF (MDG accelarator). Maybe it is but it is unclear .
And the statistic are not a good proof

Conclusion ; do not look only at
the technologies, but also at bottlenecks

In some cases technology can  be
profitable, in other cases bottle necks can be detrimental to growth
and jeopardize development.

Also, problem of supplies and demands
without convergence

Lincoln Villanueva

Friends,

I want to explicit the expression of interest, which is about the abnormal demands. We are living in a world where Supply are not meeting demand. And this is the causes of crises. When the supply and the dmeande for good and services are not converging, it ia creating a risk source. I think it is happening regulary, as it is much easier, to increase a production by investing more, than reducing a production. In fact, crisis normally should be an opportunity to adapt the poduction capacity and new norms to adaptabilité, however how often is it happening. For food, we could produce less because of 1/3 of food is produced, instead of saving, we keep producing more, same for oil, unless for strategic reason. It is jsut about strategic and ethics? There still have businesses, which believe that planning in details is the rule, event if there is less customer, they will produce as if the demand was maximize (and thy will loose. This aspect of consumption . This aspect of supply and demand, which si not met is problematic and abnormal. In fact, organisation need to be more proactive, anticÎPATOrY? PROSPECTIVE; So that any change that occurs does not ruin the social business life.

In a complex envrionement, it less likely to be  

Working together

Working together is not easy because of the cultural diffencces. If you take an orgnaisation like a bank, it is not so systematic that shareholders will keep  the control on their activities. They
need to implements a process

Synergie increases flexibility- either on the source or the
usaes of resources

Firstly, for an agenda to be universal, there is a need to a havea continuous coverage of the universal item, by reducing the losses or ensuring harmonization or making homogeous the universal practice.

Example, one has seen when Obama wanted to implement the Obama carereform, it has been delayed, because

 of the failure of the computeur system in charge of the implementation.

New Texhnologies and Social Media- I think about Management
Infoirmation Sytems (MIS) and Information Communication Technologies
(ICTs). It is an opportunity and a risk. An opportunity because these
technolgies are new and also, it an opportunity because  it is designed
for increasing (augmented reality)  . Now, all depends about others.        

 

Use of data- until the digtal divide

Ethics and strategy

MAF : Millenium Acceleration Framework (MAF) – MAF
Bottlenecsk

Can we say taht without the MAF, MDG
would not be a succès, Also how can one explain that in Asia,
despite of MAF, Asia is  continent where the MDGs are uneven compared
to other part of the world. Example og MDG1 -there are still 660
millions people going hungry to b ed in Asia. …

Probably the technology MAF are
helping, but they do not make all

Issue with the digital divide and
UNSECGEN data revolution, and also the Post 2015 SDG and the road to
dignity

Also lack of prerequisite for
successes and the so call MAF challenges

 

Case of MDG1- country planning and
good development plan

So, it can be the plan or the
development. Does it ? In my analysis I have describe the
abnormal demand and the rôle of ethics. Complex environment

Solution given by UNDP on the quick
impact to remove the bottleneck is shortermiste-

some countries may not have policy
base on profit, but sustainable development, which is long term
development solutions so the bottleneck cannot be rmove quickly, but
over a longer horizonline than  1 year (short term). For example, in
term of waste treament, energy depletion,...the solutions are not
immediat, but can take several years . For example, the ozone
layer…

However UNDP is optimistic...and it
has payed.

I think also that one does not have
enouhg time to confirm the value of technolgies in Accelerating MDGs.
To be truly correct, the statsitiques must be over serveral decades,.
Most of technoliges that are used in the world (internet are less
than a decade, so can we truly acertain that ICTs and MIS are the
sources of the speed up of MDGs. It is not certain for me. Mybe they
are underlying factors or variable that the  reserachers have not
tested, or validated, and are unknons. For example, if I take for
example, migrations. If on the long term, it is clear that migrants
are a benefit for the foreign country, opposite on the short term,
migrants can be nuisance for the foering country because the new
migrants have to adapt in its new country, and learn a new culture,
...Etc, so, in order to have a true valuation of immigration accross
border, one should compound short term impact of migration + long
term impact of migrations. Thus, I believe , what is correct for
migration is also real for poverty eradication and the imapct of
technology on the short term and on the long term to conclude that
technology is a MAF (MDG accelarator). Maybe it is but it is unclear .
And the statistic are not a good proof

Conclusion ; do not look only at
the technologies, but also at bottlenecks

In some cases technology can  be
profitable, in other cases bottle necks can be detrimental to growth
and jeopardize development.

Also, problem of supplies and demands
without convergence

Lincoln Villanueva

Hello Everyone,

 

My apologies for entering the discussion so late. My response is directly addressing the summary point seen in Week 2 concerning the incorporation and importance of women in sustainable development. Women should not be misrepresented nor underrepresented; rather, their voices should be heard and their counsel heeded. I agree wholeheartedly that women have the capability to further sustainable development and make great progress in the coming years. This exact phenomenon can be seen readily in the transnational social movement known as La Vía Campesina. Women fought tirelessly to be on equal footing with their male counterparts and were able to establish their political and social presence. La Vía Campesina has been widely considered as one of the most successful social movements in history, uniting peasants, farmers, landowners, and many more with a common cause. The women of this movement have proved to be a great factor in their success and continued growth. Think of the progress that could be made in other parts of the world if women were given the opportunity to speak their opinions loudly and assert their needs. In order for this to come to fruition, women must be made an equal asset in the policy-making process. As seen in La Vía Campesina, women bring a multitude of diverse experiences and philosophies to the conversation, as many of them assign cultural and social significance differently. It is this uniqueness that deems them so valuable. 

Lincoln Villanueva

Friends,

Comparing HFA and other social business models (tools)

Now Hyogo framework for Actions and the 5 Priorities are going to be soon aged for the new Post 2015 SDG and 17 indicators and 169 targets unless you can organize your brain for the new contest, personnally, I am not going to put aside the old Hyogo Framework for Action, which is still an important tool for Generals, strategists, political stakehokders. HFA and Priorities has this advantage to give quicky the physionomy (the picture of the landscape, in  such a way, in the instant an organisation knows where to pull its forces in order to maximize its leverage without a sophsiticated investment of time and resource. I am offering to keep the tool (HFA) because the disasters are still there, all surveys said that disasters have increased inspite of progresses made. So, out brain should be clear about that and how the HFA can enrich our set of tools (models) to reduce crises or create windows of opportunities. It does not prevent to use the new Post 2015 SDG framework by the side of MDGs and HFA. How I am using, I describe it below as a tool with an equivalent importance of best tool in business analysis. Have you heared about a tool call SWOT- before any action, managers should be able to have a description of the landscape of future actions according to the SWOT: Strength- Weakness- Opportunity-Threats of the nevironement in order to build their paln for the orgnisation leverage - SWOT could be weighted according to the importance given to each item of the model either S or W or T or O. It work very well either you want to cook and egg and you want to organize you kitchen to boil the egg, or you feel you have the skill of a general and you want to plan a move in Mali against terrorists.

So, HFA that I have re-design and work in the same way  a SWOT, or MICHAEL Porter tool of 5 forces that shaped market, To rememeber clearly the link between HFA sources and uses between 2005 and 2015 and the new sources and uses after 2015 (either single or in a grouping with Post 2O15  SDGs or MDGs and also, the new framework of International Strategy Disaster Reduction of UNISDR, I invite you to have imagination and talent. and follow my receitp below where I have described, HFA 5 prioities ar a rational between an Hazard (in the previous framework disaster managers used to call it the underlying factors. Now it is just hazards (natural, technology or wars) which are migrating in position of risk underlying factor, and so on, you can make the same correspondance with the 4 other HFA to see how policies (local, national, and reigional) or the resilience...monitoring your organisation in the adversity too organize a risk strategy on the spot..All of this thanks to Hyogo Framework For action. When Hyogo Framework For action is dead, Maybe it is not and these important tool of disaster management can have a new life.

Another motive to avoid to put HFA concept in the trash and to use what looks more fashionnable and a novelty, it is because today, there is not difference between planning and cation. Managers are mercenaires in complex environment. If managers want to reduce  crises, they need to be prompt, alert and dynamic. Today, one cannot imagine in a turbulent environment, they will be able to sit down and use a paper and a pen to organize their resources in a planning, control, organize their resources and lead staffs as they have been taught at school, like 100 years ago when Engineer Fayol codifies  managment.  Now the action is the strategy (Havard University) and the management job is made with a mindset of  crisis manager and reduction strategy. It means planning and acting are indifferently linked and one cannot be separated overtime from one another. So, again HFA helps to have a compacted strategy-action and a global package of solution in your mindset, in order to maximize your resources, in instant (real time). Mintzberg said strategies are not emerging, nor in real time, but combining. 

 

II- A POSSIBLE REVIEW OF HYOGO FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION AND THE 5 PRIORITIES

HFA DEFINITION

 

Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) is a Framework that has been used from 2005 to 2015. It is in process of being replaced by a new framework (Post 2015 framework for disaster risk reduction) 

 

The figure below is a model that I have just built for your own convenience on HFA and priorities. There is an important literature on the definition of the Disaster Risk Reduction Framework http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/8720, which has been used after South Asia Tsunami that to change organization mindsets on how and why to manage disasters.

 

So, if you follow Business Innovation Research Development (BIRD) group model, you cannot ignore UN International Strategy Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the 5 priorities for Actions

 

(No need to learn them by heart, but to understand the rational of HFA and Priorities)

 

RATIONAL OF HFA

 

A system: organization, under the constraint /tense of a hazard (natural, technology or war). It will attempt to avoid the aggression -being affected, and will mobilize the system resource in order to reduce the harms to peoples, systems and organizations

 

POSSIBLE MODEL

 

In order to remember the HFA and the 5 priorities, you need to be a bit strategist, and imagine, what can happen if an organization is under a risk (natural hazard, technology or war). If you are able to have a mental picture of the organization and its global architecture. That is set, you can map the interaction between the organization and a hazard with 5 priorities. It is exactly what Hyogo Framework and Priorities are. These are an answer for policy makers, strategists, managers, and the operation to mobilize the resources along these 5 forces.

To have a summary of these Priorities (or forces), you can go online and download UNISDR document on Hyogo Framework (there is one page document from UNISDR that I have joined with BIRD group model - see Annex)

 

 

 

MODEL DESIGN

 

What is Hyogo framework for Action (HFA) and the 5 Priorities:

 

It is visualizing HFA (Hyogo Framework Actions and 5 priorities (HFA1, HFA2....HFA5)

HFA4:A 

   

system, with tenses, which are attempting to destroy it (risks) -> Risk underlying Factors

 

HFA2 this can lead to the system breakdown (being affected) and eventually monitors will give an insight into the process change(s) 

 

HFA4:A system, with tenses, which are attempting to destroy it (risks) -> Risk underlying Factors

HFA2 :this will led to the system being broken (affected), the monitors give an insight in the process. 

HFA5 :the system will protect itself, by reacting to the underlying factor, 

HFA1 :establish policies at all level (local, national and regional

HFA 3:in order to build a resilient system, it need to be compact (ensure a cohesion)

 

If you still nees some help to use the tool, feel free to contact me so I can send you a more documented  Research studies. 

Have a winning strategy.

GEORGES RADJOU

BIRD

[email protected] 

Lincoln Villanueva

It is very refreshing to see such rich and converging perspectives here.

 

I have seen some comments on governance and I would like to contribute on this particular issue that does not always get the attention it deserves. Here in Brazil, Instituto Ethos worked really hard to include integrity and the fight against corruption first in the Brazilian positioning paper for Rio+20 and, later on, to make sure it was part of The Future We Want. It is quite peculiar that, until a group of organizations, together with the Brazilian delegation, pushed for this agenda there was not a single line about it on the draft.

 

I think people often forget causality or even conditions for development; solid democratic institutions, however delicate the subject might be, are fundamental to make sure goals and agendas turn into concrete actions and effective policies.

 

Therefore, when talking about an integrated agenda, governance should be at the center of discussions.

 

Finally, an integrated agenda is a wonderful perspective, one that allows for better planning and studying of cause and effect, but one that should also take into account the different scenarios around the world. This is evident when one looks at the numbers, but the active participation of civil society is even more revealing, since cultural, ethnic, and political differences impact results just as much as availability of resources does. 

 Saúl Morales
Saúl Morales

 

IDEOLOGICAL NUCLEI IN THE NATIONS

 

And to make a conclusion of this forum, I would like to give a short comment

About ideological nuclei in the nation ...making a clear announcement about the negative effect

Can do the ideological nuclei WITHOUT CONTROL.

 

This cause can be harmful or negative to transfer factor Of the Millennium Development objectives To sustainable development objectives

 

The conservative, traditional, liberal and neoliberal nuclei, they can be dangerous factors when their ideologies NOT HAVE CONTROL.

 

Ideologies unchecked can make bad policy and ideologies unchecked can destroy the laws and justice.

 

I'll make some examples of this negative result:

 

In Mexico roses traditions of feminism they abusive and political dictatorship. The pink color is selected by the Mexican rulers because pink is a symbol of ancient traditions. The pink so much used before "women adelitas" and "marías women." Nineteenth and twentieth century

 

In recent years new years The government of the city of Mexico, They use pink as taxation and dictatorship ideologies, They put the pink in public announcements, and the color pink is mandatory in taxis in Mexico City And use the pink In any public place they want.

THAT'S DICTATORSHIP AND IS NOT DEMOCRACY

In Mexico City ideologies and beliefs the traditional ideological core are dictatorship.

 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

 

In the country of United States, The conservative ideological core they look migrants

As unwelcome invaders visitors, Because Americans believe that migrants Exterminate economic resources united states and take away their rights to migrant people

 

The beliefs of conservative ideological nuclei they attack human rights of migrants in America.

But the ideological core liberal Look migrants as an active workforce and then they defend rights

Of migrants

 

 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

The country of India A country with strong religious ideologies, they now have the problem of double moral personality On the one hand defend and promote their religion ... On the other hand kill a man accused of rape Within a maximum security prison. The traditions of the people of the country of India Destroy the law and justice.

 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

 

The country of Spain With his government's parliamentary monarchy Where the king has a national kingdom But NO governs the country of Spain And the king participates in economic development Causing economic problems at home. Ideologies of Spain make bad economic policies

 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

 

The country of England It has a queen monarchy but conservative leaders they have to make treaties with liberal rulers to form his government but the country of England has strong economic problems Because their rulers have much money Here ideologies make bad economic policies

 

 

And in the same way I can continue with other countries having the same ideological problem

But the main point is that no ideology can destroy the laws because that is NOT democracy

 

Shortly

 

The conservative ideological core WITHOUT CONTROL...

It is repression and dictatorship

 

 

The traditional ideological core WITHOUT CONTROL...

It is violence

 

The liberal ideological core WITHOUT CONTROL...

It is anarchy

 

The neoliberal ideological core WITHOUT CONTROL...

It is slavery

 

Imagine us that the world has a single currency, the questions is how all ideological cores will be at peace? Or this single currency is it because of war?

 

The economy is not the main road to transfer the millennium objectives To sustainable development objectives

 

The main road is to meet the needs in each of the ideological core According to their own beliefs and ideologies and the only economic aid

 

In other words, the ideological nuclei are the driver of the car and the economy is the automobile.

 

He sent good wishes to the world

 

Thank You

 

Saul Morales