For the launch of the UN's groundbreaking Global Goals one of Skillshare's returned volunteers Fletch Williams writes from the Sustainable Development Summit in New York, now is your time to act!
This weekend in New York, 193 countries are meeting to launch a new international development agenda – the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. There are 17 Goals and 169 targets contained within the agenda which cover a whole range of issues from the environment to education, to industrial development to gender equality, health, technology and more.
These goals are the next guiding framework for actions that will transform the world by 2030. Or at least that is the plan.Whilst it is impressive that after two year of inclusive negotiations all UN member countries have agreed to the most progressive and multidimensional development agenda yet, there are a series of challenges facing the global goals.
The agenda is highly ambitious. It has huge potential, but it also requires a vast amount of resources. Now that governments have committed to the agenda it's critical that we all act to make its vision a reality. This is where you come in.
The Global Goals are very much our agenda; at this transition point in international development, this is the opportunity for us to leave our mark on the world and make it the world we want it to be. This is probably the last time we will have the chance as a global community to save the planet environmentally and it is certainly the first time we can condemn poverty to history.
Our generation will be able to see these goals through to their end – out of all stakeholders the enthusiastic contribution of young people is absolutely vital. Never before has a development agenda covered so many aspects of political, environmental, economic and social development. Whatever you are passionate about, it will be in this agenda – and this means you can play a role in making the goal you care most about a reality.
What’s even better is that following on from the Millennium Development Goals, governments have acknowledged that they cannot do it alone. They have recognised that there is a need for all countries, organisations and individuals to contribute.
There has never been a better time to make a change: to campaign, raise-awareness and start projects in your communities.