Partnerships for the Goals

Amartya Sen, often referred to as the father of the concept of ‘human development’, reminds us of a quote by H.G. Wells, where he said that “human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe”. Sen maintains that “if we continue to leave vast sections of the people of the world outside the orbit of education, we make the world not only less just, but also less secure”. To Sen, the gender aspect of education is a direct link between illiteracy and women’s security.

Migration forms a natural part of the human condition. It is one of mankind’s oldest strategies for reducing poverty and, on an individual level, has proven to be one of the most direct and effective ways of improving one’s well-being. The 2009 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report highlighted how people migrating from low-income countries to higher income countries on average could gain a 15-fold increase in income, a doubling of the education enrolment rate and a 16-fold reduction in child mortality.

A Ithough the term global citizen dates back to ancient times, it is only in recent decades that it has gained extensive usage in academic circles. It is an objective of many mission statements and has also gained credence as a personal way of life, as an awareness of oneself not as an isolated individual but as one inextricably linked to others. Lest such common usage of the phrase become a cliché, I think it behooves us at the outset to define, albeit in broad strokes, what we mean by global citizens. Is it a shared sense of a world identity, even though human beings have not yet evolved into a world community? Is it a commitment to some common universal values? Or is it a way of approaching, embracing and attempting to resolve global challenges from a perspective that is much broader and more inclusive than the one that until recently placed sovereign states at the centre of global discourse. In terms of institutions of higher learning and what they offer, we will concentrate on the latter definition which we have implemented in our own university.

“As educators…you can help students grow into…a global civic identity and understand how their decisions have an impact ranging well beyond their immediate vicinity. The United Nations is uniquely placed to work with you in instilling a sense of global citizenship in today’s youth.”

When world leaders vowed at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty”, they recognized that special measures would be required for the weakest members of the international community to achieve this goal.

Paradoxical as it seems, protecting migrants’ rights may be the best way to enhance state sovereignty in a globalized world. The protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms should not depend on where one is in the world. However, it is the state’s responsibility to uphold human rights through its laws and enforcement.

When I was a child, the neighbourhood children would gather on the street in front of my house to play dodgeball. With the hot summer sun blazing down on our backs, we raced from side to side, bending and twisting, to avoid getting hit by the ball. I enjoyed every second of those games.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have an intrinsic relationship to peace and stability. Without peace, all other goals—from focusing on youth and women’s needs, to addressing climate change and water, energy and food security—will be impossible to achieve. At the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), we have long been aware of the obstacles to development that are posed by conflict and fragility. Nowhere has this challenge been felt more acutely than in our programmes in the rural areas of the Near East and North Africa (NENA), where we have supported US $5.5 billion of investment in agricultural and rural development over the past four decades.