As part of the ongoing campaign on the Sustainable Development Goals carried out by the United Nations, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) is presenting a weekly series of articles on #SDGSinAcademia that highlights the importance of higher education in achieving the Goals. Featuring additional sources for use by faculty and students alike, this series is intended to inspire action on the SDGs and showcase activities and initiatives of UNAI member institutions.

30 April 2018 - This week we are featuring in our #SDGsinAcademia series Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Targets:

  • 1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
  • 1.2 By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
  • 1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
  • 1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance 
  • 1.5 By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
  • 1.A Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions
  • 1.B Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions

What are UNAI member institutions doing about Goal 1? Here are some examples:

  • The University of Southampton (United Kingdom) is the project lead for the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA Deltas), which aims to provide policymakers with the knowledge and tools to enable them to evaluate the effects of policy decisions on people's livelihoods.  This is being done by a multidisciplinary and multinational team of policy analysts, social and natural scientists and engineers.  Collectively they are using a participatory approach to create a holistic approach to formally evaluating ecosystem services and poverty in the context of the wide range of changes that are occurring. These changes include subsidence and seal level rise, land degradation and population pressure in delta regions. The approach is being developed, tested and applied in coastal Bangladesh, but is expected to ultimately be applicable by other deltas.
  • Kristu Jayanti College (India) has developed the Jayantian Extension Services (JES), aimed to address poverty and societal imbalances while preparing students to be socially responsible citizens committed towards poverty alleviation. Students take part in various community-based social outreach programmes and volunteer in various extension activities that help to explore social issues, promote equity and social justice, educate and work towards economic empowerment. The activities addressing poverty are primarily carried out by the Centre for Social Activities supported by volunteers. The institution has organized 81 extension programmes since last year. Among them, one in particular targeted poor school children by providing them study materials and sports supplies donated by the students themselves.

Here you can take a look to a selection of the Activity Reports submitted by UNAI member institutions.

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The following resources can help improving your knowledge and understanding about Goal 1 in particular and the SDGs in general:

  • This is a comprehensive research guide made by the United Nations Library in Geneva listing resources about the SDGs in general and about each one of the Goals, including books and articles (some of which are fully available on line free of charge), UN documents such as resolutions and reports and additional resources.
  • The SDG Fund has created this online library featuring over 1,000 online publications. The publications are categorized by the Goals they represent, by geographical regions they relate to and by authors, to facilitate easy searchability. Each publication also has a short summary attached to it which helps with keyword searches.
  • This is an initiative supported by UNDP, UN-HABITAT and the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, which offers a selection of tools such as concept notes, papers, case studies, compilation of best practices and guides providing contextual and practical information about the SDGs.
  • This is a guide entitled Getting Started with the Sustainable Development Goals intended for stakeholders and designed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to serve as an initial basis for implementing the SDGs.
  • This guide entitled Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities also developed by the SDSN intends to help higher education institutions to accelerate their contributions to the SDGs highlighting the important role they have in implementing the SDGs through their teaching, research, operations and leadership, and providing practical guidance and examples.
  • This guide entitled Sustainable Development Goals - Human Response Alignments features the human element of change and the human response corresponding to each of the SDGs in order to quicken the global conversation about vital issues and to encourage the movement that supports the vision of the SDGs.

Sustainable Development Goals Explained: No Poverty

Sustainable Development Goals Explained: No PovertyUnited Nations - We've come a long way in reducing world poverty over the past 15 years--but there's more to be done. How can the Sustainable Development Goals help us finish the job? Nik Sekhran, Director for Sustainable Development in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support at the UN Development Programme, gives us the answer.