Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate Dr. Alaa Murabit spoke with Jake Horowitz, founder of Mic for SDG Live on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Their discussion focused on gender equality, the role of local leadership and how to transform aspirations into practice to achieve the SDGs.
Dr. Murabit highlighted the importance of business leaders and politicians sharing their values and strategies to implement the SDGs. However, she also cautioned that more still needs to be done to transform messages into deliverable actions and sustainable changes. For instance, in her opinion, despite participants at Davos acknowledging that girls’ education and reproductive rights are two of the most effective solutions to tackle climate change, when the conversation shifts to deliverable actions, companies and shareholders are often more interested in sharing their latest innovations and technologies that they are developing. Dr. Murabit said Davos is a place where different stakeholders can discuss what the planet and people really need and how to ‘meet in the middle’ on implementing inclusive solutions to achieve the SDGs.
She emphasised how expressing values and aspiration is not enough and that what we need to see are changes and results. In the area of gender equality, these changes will come from political will and investment. She added that if we want to transform institutions, bring social change, and challenge centuries of male-dominated leadership, we need investment. Dr. Murabit illustrated how women do not need to be ‘empowered’ because this term diminishes both their agency and the recognition of their centuries of work building institutions and implementing social change. Women need to be given recognition of their work and actively identified as role models and leaders.
According to Dr. Murabit, local leadership, which is dominated by women, plays an important role in implementing the SDGs. Dr Murabit emphasised the importance of listening to people on the ground whose voices are often silenced. For example, speaking about the #metoo and #timesup movements, Dr. Murabit stressed that it is essential to pay attention not just to the celebrities attached to the movements, but also to minority women. She adds that the best way to amplify their voices is to let them speak and listen to what they have to say.
Dr.Alaa Murabit’s messages on the SDGs, and particularly on gender equality, at Davos are clear: implementation needs to be accelerated; male forms of leadership need to be challenged; leaders need to show their political will by backing up their aspirational messages with investment, and local leaders play a crucial role in implementing the SDGs. The full interview can be watched here.