SDG 01: No Poverty Dynamic Briefing Generated 09 October 2020 for Marco Antonio Gonzalez
SDG 01: No Poverty Last review on Tue 03 September 2019
About This dynamic briefing draws on the collective intelligence of the Forum network to explore the key trends, interconnections and interdependencies between industry, regional and global issues. In the briefing, you will find a visual representation of this topic (Transformation Map – interactive version available online via intelligence.weforum.org ), an overview and the key trends affecting it, along with summaries and links to the latest research and analysis on each of the trends. Briefings for countries also include the relevant data from the Forum’s benchmarking indices. The content is continuously updated with the latest thinking of leaders and experts from across the Forum network, and with insights from Forum meetings, projects communities and activities.
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Executive summary This Transformation Map provides a contextual briefing for one of the Sustainable Development Goals the United Nations’ framework for making real progress towards a more sustainable future by the year 2030 - by mapping related strategic issues and interdependencies. The content, including attached key issue headings and texts, is drawn from expert- and machine-curated knowledge on the World Economic Forum’s Strategic Intelligence platform; it is not a reproduction of the official text of the SDG. The UN introduces this Goal as follows: 'While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions are still living with their families on less than the international poverty line of US$1.90 a day, and there are millions more who make little more than this daily amount. Significant progress has been made in many countries within Eastern and Southeastern Asia, but up to 42% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to live below the poverty line. Poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making. Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality. Social protection systems need to be implemented to help alleviate the suffering of disaster-prone countries and provide support in the face of great economic risks. These systems will help strengthen responses by afflicted populations to unexpected economic losses during disasters and will eventually help to end extreme poverty in the most impoverished areas.'
1. Sustainable Development and Universal Coverage
7. Impact Investing Thanks to growing interest and innovation, investing in the greater good is now more feasible.
Poverty is a persistent impediment to achieving good health worldwide.
2. Trade and Development Trade can be an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction.
3. Agricultural Inclusivity The agriculture sector must create more economic opportunity for smallholder farmers, women and young people.
4. Human Mobility and Exploitation Criminal enterprises are wreaking havoc on vulnerable people.
5. Inequality and Human Rights As inequality worsens, it undercuts efforts to maintain basic human rights.
6. Valuing Human Dignity Inequality is only getting worse, and exacting a heavy toll on dignity.
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Sustainable Development and Universal Coverage Poverty is a persistent impediment to achieving good health worldwide The World Health Organization has estimated that about 1.2 billion people around the world are living in extreme poverty - a significant cause of poor health outcomes, as people with limited resources face greater exposure to risks and disability due to inadequate sanitation, food, shelter, and medical care. The cost of health care is also a major contributing factor to poverty; according to a 2016 WHO fact sheet, 100 million people were being stricken with poverty due to health care costs every year, and 150 million people were suffering financial catastrophe every year because of out-of-pocket expenditures on health services. In addition, a 2017 report published by the World Bank estimated that roughly 800 million people are spending more than 10% of their household budget on health care, while nearly 200 million people must spend one quarter of their household budget on health care. The cyclical nature of poverty and sub-optimal health outcomes is evident in both high- and low-income countries. A major contributing factor is the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancer or diabetes, and related risk factors that can burden individuals, their families, and entire communities; these include impoverishment from long-term treatment and care costs, and a loss of income due to reduced productivity. In 2015, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals in order to help the global community address complex, interconnected issues related to poverty, global health, human rights, economic growth, environmental sustainability, and equality. The third development goal features targets including the reduction of the burden of NCDs, and achieving universal health coverage by 2030 - including access to quality health services, effective and affordable essential medicines and vaccines, and protection from related financial risk. In a progress report on the Sustainable Development Goals published by the UN in 2017, it noted that it will be necessary to avert an anticipated shortfall of about 18 million health workers by 2030, if it is to remain possible to achieve and sustain universal health coverage by that point; major shortages of such workers are a serious concern in nearly all of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report. Related insight areas: Infrastructure, Human Rights, Gender Parity, Agriculture, Food and Beverage, Sustainable Development, Education and Skills, Cities and Urbanization, Future of Food, Public Finance and Social Protection, Healthcare Delivery, Development Finance
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Latest knowledge Science Daily
Project Syndicate
Older adults using cannabis to treat common health conditions: Data indicates 61 percent of patients who used cannabis began after age 60
Herd Immunity Will Not Defeat COVID19 02 October 2020 Although White House officials deny that US President Donald Trump's administration has adopted herd immunity as a strategy for combating COVID-19, Trump's words and actions tell a different story. But with coronaviruses, such an approach is not and should never be an option.
07 October 2020 Researchers report that older adults are increasingly using cannabis to treat a variety of common health conditions, including pain, sleep disturbances and psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression. UN Women
World Economic Forum
After the Beirut blasts, Lebanon urgently needs medical and mental health care
How to build a better health system: 8 expert essays 02 October 2020
06 October 2020
We need to build health systems that are more resilient, patient-centred and sustainable. Here is a series of stories illustrating why change must happen, and how to effect it.
One of UN Women’s partner on the ground, the Restart Center, is providing treatment, psychosocial support and distributing medicine to the most vulnerable.
London School of Economics and Political Science
Project Syndicate
Primary Primers: Biden and Trump go big for Minnesota – a state which may matter less than they think.
Preventing the Next Zoonotic Pandemic 06 October 2020
02 October 2020
The COVID-19 crisis was the predictable result of a careless approach to conservation that we have yet to correct. Now that we have witnessed how much economic destruction and human dislocation a single virus can cause, there can be no excuse for further delay.
As a Midwestern state with ten electoral votes, Minnesota is often seen as a key battleground in the 2020 presidential election. But, writes Rubrick Biegon, barring any ‘October surprises’, the North Star State is very likely to vote for the former Vice President, Democrat Joe Biden on 3 November. How President Trump and Biden are campaigning in Minnesota, he writes, […].
Harvard Kennedy School - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Trump's Illness Is Not a National Security Crisis 06 October 2020 There's a lot to worry about these days—a pandemic, economic recession, shifting balances of power, resurgent nationalism, a potentially contested election in the United States, and so on—and then President Donald Trump was infected with the virus he once promised would disappear "like magic" and taken to Walter Reed Hospital. To make sure we were maximally worried, the Washington Post offered a click-baity headline: " National Security Experts Describe a Distracted and Potentially Vulnerable Country ." The implication was that Trump's illness had created new national security dangers for the United States. Perhaps an adversary (or conceivably, a restless ally like Turkey) might see Trump's weakened condition as an ideal moment to challenge the status quo in some fundamental way.
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Trade and Development Trade can be an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction Roughly 8% of the global population, with the majority in sub-Saharan Africa, is suffering from extreme poverty, according to the Overseas Development Institute. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (adopted in 2015) recognize the importance of trade as an engine for more inclusive global economic growth. However, annual global trade volume growth is expected to slow to 2.6% in 2019 from 3% in the prior year, according to the World Trade Organization. And the figures for least-developed countries look particularly bleak - their share of global merchandise exports fell to 0.9% in 2016, from 1.1% in 2013, after having risen from 0.6% between 2000 and 2013, according to the 2018 Sustainable Development Goals Report. One encouraging sign has been the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area in April, 2019, with the goal of fostering intra-African trade by reducing the many impediments in place (the biggest holdout has been Nigeria, however, which boasts Africa’s biggest economy and is home to more than 90 million people living in extreme poverty). The challenges that have mounted for the WTO are therefore worrying for developing countries that could potentially benefit from healthy, open global trade flows guided by the steadying hand of a respected international organization. The US has pursued openly protectionist trade policies, for example by slapping tariffs on billions of dollarsworth of goods not only from China but also from traditional allies such as Canada - potentially encouraging other world powers to follow suit (in addition, the US has blocked the appointment of WTO Appellate Body members, rendering this dispute settlement mechanism dysfunctional). In this context, a joint statement published by a diverse group of developing countries (from China to Uganda) declared the “pre-eminence of the WTO as the global forum for trade rules setting and governance” in 2019. This group’s view that Special and Differential Treatment provisions for developing-country WTO members must be preserved and strengthened is another area where its positions stand in stark contrast to those of the US and many other Western nations - though there may be room for related compromise, at least regarding the biggest economies that are still within the developing-country designation. Related insight areas: Agile Governance, Workforce and Employment, United States, Sustainable Development, Africa, Values, Human Rights, Global Governance, Emerging Multinationals, Social Innovation
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Latest knowledge Center for Global Development
Project Syndicate
USDFC Monitor: A Q&A with Senator Chris Coons
Greening the Transatlantic Relationship 07 October 2020
08 October 2020 Far from derailing Europe's plans to achieve net-zero emissions, the COVID-19 pandemic has put climate action at the very center of EU policymaking. The only question now is whether Europe's oldest friend and ally will stop dragging its feet and come back to the table to help lead on this globally defining issue.
While reflecting on DFC’s progress in implementing its core development mandate, and confronting the challenges posed the COVID-19 pandemic, we reached out to Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), a lead sponsor of the BUILD Act and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We asked Senator Coons for his take on how the newest US development agency is faring and what he hopes to see in DFC’s future.
South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
African agency and Chinese power: The case of Djibouti
Bruegel
What should Europe expect from American trade policy after the election?
07 October 2020 It seems unlikely that Djibouti – smaller than Belgium and with fewer than 1 million inhabitants – can expect to enjoy any agency vis-à-vis the Chinese behemoth.
08 October 2020 A Joe Biden Administration would have to decide to what extent to unpick the major United States trade policy shifts of the last four years. A quick return to comprehensive trade talks with the European Union is unlikely and the US will remain focused on its rivalry with China. Nevertheless, there would be areas for EU/US cooperation, not least World Trade Organisation reform.
Sustainable Development Policy Institute
Governance and development model of China 07 October 2020 Introduction The sudden emergence of China as a global power has amazed many across the globe. Once an isolated and economically deprived country, China has defied Fukuyama’s prediction of continued American dominance through its stunning social and economic development (Fukuyama, 1989). In the light of ever increasing Chinese influence in global economic and power structure, […].
London School of Economics and Political Science
Observing COVID-19 in Africa through a ‘public authorities’ lens 08 October 2020 Most discussion of Africa’s response to COVID-19 takes place at the national level, focussing on the role of formal state authorities. However, less is known about the role of ‘public authorities’: traditional chiefs, self-help groups, kinship networks, professional associations, faith-based groups, civil society organisations, multinational companies, humanitarian agencies, organised criminal gangs, militias and rebels. Pew Research Center
Voters anxiously approach an unusual election – and its potentially uncertain aftermath 07 October 2020 Many Americans are heading into the 2020 election with a sense of uncertainty that goes beyond their traditional concerns over who will win.
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Agricultural Inclusivity The agriculture sector must create more economic opportunity for smallholder farmers, women and young people Agriculture plays a key role in poverty reduction, job creation, and food security; there are an estimated 2.5 billion people directly involved in agricultural production, and smallholder farms produce up to 80% of the food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Food access, however, remains unevenly distributed - as nearly 800 million people still suffer from hunger, according to the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems. Agricultural productivity levels vary significantly across regions, with much of the developing world experiencing a so-called yield gap. Limited access to things like fertilizers or improved seeds, information (such as market prices for produce), and poor rural infrastructure have the effect of constraining yields in developing economies. Other hindrances include a lack of knowledge about pesticides, enhanced seeds, machinery, and crop management techniques. Increasing agricultural productivity is crucial for improving the livelihoods of the poor. A study published in 2011 showed that agriculture has a stronger poverty reduction effect than non-agriculture activities - it showed that a 1% increase in agricultural per capita GDP was five times more effective in reducing the poverty gap than the same increase in other sectors.
Related insight areas: Youth Perspectives, Digital Economy and New Value Creation, Future of Economic Progress, Workforce and Employment, Education and Skills, Ageing, Gender Parity
Women play a crucial role in agriculture. According to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Bank in 2016, women account for half of the agricultural labour force in subSaharan Africa (and more than 60% in countries such as Lesotho and Sierra Leone). Research has shown that a persistent gender gap in terms of agricultural yields, however, is the result of women’s inadequate access to productive resources and technical knowledge. Young people, meanwhile, tend to not see the agriculture as an attractive professional option. They also often lack sufficient access to the knowledge necessary to gain related entrepreneurial skills. This is unfortunate, as the global interconnectedness and importance of agricultural systems means that related shocks can severely affect the most vulnerable populations. Research has shown that the urban poor spend as much as 80% of their income on food, for example, meaning that there are serious economic and social consequences for price swings. Efforts to build more stable and equitable markets have included providing farmers with access to index-based insurance structures; implementing multilateral agreements to limit distortionary trade policies; developing adequate emergency food stocks; and using mobile apps to better connect smallholder farmers with market information.
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Latest knowledge Land Portal
United Nations Environment
COVID-19, reverse migration, and the impact on land systems
No time to waste: using data to drive down food waste
07 October 2020
30 September 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world abruptly, affecting nearly all of humanity with breath-taking speed. At the time of writing in mid-September 2020, almost 20 million people have contracted the disease and more than 900,000 have died. [1] Besides its tragic direct toll on human lives, the pandemic is triggering a cascade of unexpected and dramatic effects that will deeply impact the global economy, social inequalities, and human– nature relationships in the coming years. Here, we wish to draw attention to an ongoing process that could have important consequences for land systems: that of reverse migration , or the return of migrant workers from cities to their rural areas of origin, especially in low- and middleincome countries.
Approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption gets lost or wasted – around 1.3 billion tonnes every year. This amounts to roughly US$680 billion in developed countries and US$310 billion in developing countries, with a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to 8 per cent of global greenhouse emissions. Cutting food waste is one of the most effective ways to reduce…. World Economic Forum
How investing in nature can help tackle the biodiversity and climate crises 30 September 2020 The health crisis is a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of overlooking biophysical risks on human wellbeing, businesses and economies.
United Nations Environment
Halving food waste and raising climate ambition: SDG 12.3 and the Paris Agreement
International Crisis Group
Watch List 2020 – Autumn Update
30 September 2020
30 September 2020
Food loss and waste generate an estimated 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions while using land and water resources needlessly and increasing pressure on biodiversity. Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 calls for a halving of food waste at retail and household level, and a reduction of food loss across the supply chain. Champions 12.3, a high-level coalition formed to deliver this strategic target, counts….
Every year Crisis Group publishes two additional Watch List updates that complement its annual Watch List for the EU, most recently published in January and May 2020. These publications identify major crises and conflict situations where the European Union and its member states can generate stronger prospects for peace. The Autumn Update of the Watch List 2020 includes entries on Afghanistan, Colombia, Kosovo-Serbia, Lebanon and Somalia.
RAND Corporation
Developing Recovery Options for Puerto Rico's Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan 30 September 2020 This report summarizes the strategic planning process in support of the government of Puerto Rico in its development of a congressionally mandated recovery plan.
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Human Mobility and Exploitation Criminal enterprises are wreaking havoc on vulnerable people There are more than 240 million international migrants in the world, equivalent to about 3.3% of the global population, and the total number of displaced people is the highest on record, according to the International Organization for Migration’s World Migration Report 2018. This spike has been driven by efforts to find refuge or seek out economic opportunities. However, concerns about integrating migrants and security have ensured that legitimate opportunities for the displaced fail to match demand. As a result, a massive number of people are being exploited by an unscrupulous and exploitative system that profits from human trafficking and illicit labour. According to a report published by Europol, in 2015 alone smugglers transporting people to and from Europe created an industry that was worth more than ₏6 billion and employed more than 40,000 workers. While smugglers have become an important lifeline for people caught up in conflict or chronic poverty, they have also become a potent source of violence, insecurity, and brutal exploitation. Human trafficking is a universal problem; it occurs everywhere and can take many forms. On any given day in 2016, 40 million people were victims to modern slavery, including 25 million people in forced labour and 15 million people in forced marriages, according to a report published in 2017 by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Women and girls account for 71% of modern slavery victims, according to the report. This impacts both public well-being and private sector operations; the ILO report noted that the manufacturing sector, which accounted for 15% of forced labour exploitation cases, includes a medical gloves industry that is worth more than $5 billion annually and largely relies on migrant workers at outsourced factories in Asia. Documented concerns at many of these factories included excessive working hours and the illegal retention of passports, according to the report. While related legal provisions and protections exist, they are insufficient. A report published in 2014 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that more than 2 billion people were still not benefitting from protections included in the United Nations Trafficking in Persons Protocol - which had entered into force in 2003. Public-private partnerships are essential for addressing human rights abuses, and the private sector can play a particularly important role by fostering healthy debate about the global mobility of labour. Related insight areas: Systemic Racism, Human Rights, International Security, Future of Mobility, Migration, Workforce and Employment, Future of Economic Progress
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Latest knowledge ReliefWeb
War on the Rocks
Child Marriage in Humanitarian Settings in South Asia: Study Results from Bangladesh and Nepal
The Central American Conundrum: Toward a New Regional Security and Economic Order
08 October 2020
05 October 2020
Child marriage, defined as formal marriage or informal union before the age of 18, violates every child’s right to reach their full potential. Despite laws and international commitments to reduce the practice, child marriage remains widespread, with one in five girls married before their eighteenth birthday, globally (UNFPA, 2020). In both development and humanitarian contexts, child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and sustained by cultural and social norms, poverty and lack of opportunities. However, crises may amplify or alter pre-existing drivers, or introduce new drivers, or even potentially, new moderators.
Why has U.S. foreign policy toward Central America failed, and failed badly? For over a hundred years, the United States has struggled to find a policy toward Central America that improves its economic prosperity and security. The region’s challenges today are many : weak and failed states, drug and human trafficking cartels, and an exploding migration and humanitarian crisis. At a time when the U.S. military is deployed across the globe to promote U.S. interests, it is grossly ironic that Central America remains one of the most dangerous places on the planet. The spillover effects are striking. The New Humanitarian
Corruption continues to threaten Iraq’s stability
Conflict in the Caucasus, Venezuelan venting, and non-profit NDAs: The Cheat Sheet
08 October 2020
02 October 2020
Al Monitor
"Iraq is expected to experience a 9.7% decline in GDP. Oil revenues, severely affected by a steep crash in oil prices, have nearly halved,” said Hennis-Plasschaert, who urged Iraqi politicians to move speedily forward with reforms. Hennis-Plasschaert also warned about the increasing trend of "silencing of peaceful voices — by exerting pressure on activists and media, by confusing the scene or even worse, by shedding blood." Much of this is being done by outlawed militias backed by Iran. Iraq's weak rule of law is the core reason for corruption as political leaders, influential businessmen and even tribal sheikhs exploit the system in their favor.
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues. Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
So. Africa: Report calls for end to export credits to coal operations 01 October 2020 ‘Up in Smoke: Human rights and environmental impacts of export credits to coal. The case of South Africa, 23 September 2020 The coal industry is well-known for its serious climate implications and effects on local communities. Still, European export credits have contributed to expand the coal industry in countries already dependent on coal, including South Africa, a new Swedwatch report finds. Coal is the most polluting source of energy and emissions from coal-fired power plants the single largest contributor to climate change.
RAND Corporation
The Future Role of the U.S. Armed Forces in Counterterrorism 06 October 2020 This essay provides observations on the future role of the armed forces in counterterrorism and the future role of counterterrorism forces in great power competition. The New Humanitarian
What’s at stake in the US election for refugees and asylum? 05 October 2020 If he wins, Biden is promising a return to more humane policies, but rolling back Trump-era changes, given their scale, will not be straightforward.
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Inequality and Human Rights As inequality worsens, it undercuts efforts to maintain basic human rights The richest 1% of the global population owned 45% of all wealth as of 2019, following years of post-financial crisis worsening of inequality, according to a report published by Credit Suisse. As inequality has intensified, more attention has been paid to its relationship with global governance and economic policy - and to the serious implications it has for the realization of basic human rights to education, healthcare, and housing. There is a growing appreciation of the consequences of poverty for human rights. The first of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which were released in 2015 to put the world on a more sustainable development path by 2030, is devoted specifically to the elimination of poverty. According to the UN, as of 2015 roughly 736 million people were still living on less than $1.90 a day, while economic progress in China and India had been uneven, and women were disproportionately affected by poverty because they had less paid work and education. One specific target of the goal is to ensure all men and women have equal rights to economic resources. The challenge is to not only identify how human rights are affected by growing inequality, but also to devise ways for a human rights framework to be built into policy development. This issue could not be more pressing. As UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston argued in a 2015 report, a human rights framework that does not grapple with the connection between extreme inequality and extreme poverty is doomed to fail. There are a number of potential related areas of focus, including tax policy - as taxation is a critical means for governments to address economic inequality and protect rights. A comprehensive approach to taxation would address problems created by both tax evasion and the availability of tax havens (which collectively cost governments as much as $600 billion in lost corporate tax revenue annually, according to a report published by the International Monetary Fund). Understanding the links between corruption and human rights is crucial, as is the collection and disclosure of reliable data on inequality - which can enable better tracking of the development of indicators that measure progress, or a lack thereof. Related insight areas: Global Health, Systemic Racism, Public Finance and Social Protection, Corruption, Education and Skills, Sustainable Development, Global Governance, Gender Parity, Taxation, Corporate Governance
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Latest knowledge GovLab - Living Library
MIT Sloan Management Review
Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society
Addressing Racism, Word by Word 06 October 2020
08 October 2020 As protests against racism have filled streets across the country this year, I’ve been hearing from businesses looking for ways to navigate these controversial times. They generally have good intentions. But all too often, their efforts to take action devolve into petty battles over language.
Book by Ronald Deibert: “Digital technologies have given rise to a new machine-based civilization that is increasingly linked to a growing number of social and political maladies. Accountability is weak and insecurity is endemic, creating disturbing opportunities for exploitation. Drawing from the cutting-edge research of the Citizen Lab, the world-renowned digital security research group which he founded and directs, Ronald J. Deibert exposes the impacts of this communications ecosystem on civil society. He tracks a mostly unregulated surveillance industry, innovations in technologies of remote control, superpower policing practices, dark PR firms, and highly profitable hack-for-hire services feeding off rivers of poorly secured personal data.
Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
UAE: Yacht firms face allegations of COVID-19 regulation breaches 05 October 2020 Yacht firms latest industry to face criticism relating to COVID-19 regulation breaches, as case numbers increase and anecdotes emerge of boat rental companies allowing large parties and gatherings above social distancing limit.
LSE Business Review ReliefWeb
Transgender people suffer discrimination in the job market
Minority and Indigenous Trends 2020 05 October 2020
08 October 2020
Technology increasingly permeates every aspect of our lives, from the use of big data to information and communication technologies (ICTs) to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. These developments are often framed around issues such as efficiency, speed and innovation, but for minorities, indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups there are often very different forces at play – the replication of existing patterns of exclusion in new forms. In a context where discrimination against minorities and indigenous peoples remains strong, technologies alone are not enough to deliver positive change. Indeed, without the appropriate checks and protections in place, they may side-line these communities even further.
Some may take the statement in the title of this post as completely obvious. It was therefore quite surprising to us that no study had previously attempted a rigorous experimental test of whether transgender applicants face discrimination in the hiring process. Previous studies have instead tended to rely on self-report measures where transgender people report experiencing relatively high rates of […]. Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
Europe’s new law to end corporate abuse should learn from Obama's legacy 07 October 2020
VoxDev
For those in Europe seeking evidence that robust due diligence laws work both to end abuse in business and promote prevention, there are powerful lessons to learn from the new assertiveness of the Forced Labour Division of the Customs and Border Patrol.
Does caste identity affect labour supply? Evidence from India 05 October 2020 Caste identity concerns constrain labour supply decisions, causing Indian workers to avoid certain jobs even at large economic costs.
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Valuing Human Dignity Inequality is only getting worse, and exacting a heavy toll on dignity The world is getting richer, but wealth is being concentrated in fewer hands. That is, while global inequality has generally declined as millions of people are lifted out of poverty, inequality within countries has continued to rise. The world’s 2,153 billionaires hold more cumulative wealth than 4.6 billion people - a group equal in size to more than half of the global population - according to a report published in early 2020 by Oxfam International. The issue of inequality relative to economic development is receiving renewed public attention, as it has only worsened in many parts of the world since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. That in turn has helped trigger the rise of populist political movements that exploit fears about job security and immigration. The risks created by persistent inequality threaten to trigger long-term impacts on individual rights and on personal dignity. This assault on dignity further fuels the appeal of populist rhetoric, aggravates levels of political polarization, and threatens to erode the social fabric in many countries. In addition to the wealth gap, other forms of inequality have also robbed many people of their dignity. The World Economic Forum has noted that the global gender parity gap in terms of health, education, politics, and the workplace only continues to widen, for example. And reports have detailed systemic racial discrimination creating significant social and financial barriers in countries including the US and the United Kingdom. Developments like this have a very real human cost, not least in the form of psychological and emotional strain. Indeed, young people are increasingly suffering from mental health problems. The recognition of the inherent dignity of every living person must be shared by all societies - and translated into action aimed at reducing economic and social inequality, providing equal access to essential services and goods as well as equal opportunities, and securing human rights and individual freedom. These rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to work and receive an education. Related insight areas: Education and Skills, Justice and Law, Gender Parity, Public Finance and Social Protection, Global Risks, Taxation, Civic Participation, United States, United Kingdom, Systemic Racism, Workforce and Employment, Inclusive Design, LGBTI Inclusion
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Latest knowledge World Economic Forum
Overseas Development Institute
Social justice, inclusion and sustainable development need a ‘Great Reset’. Here are 3 key steps we can take
Justice for all and Afghanistan’s future 07 October 2020 The November 2020 pledging conference in Geneva will provide a vital platform for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) and the international community to demonstrate progress and recommit to a peaceful future for the country. Given the recent deal between the United States of America and the Taliban, and tentative steps forward on an intraAfghan dialogue including all key domestic actors, the outcomes of the pledging conference will be decisive in determining how Afghanistan grasps the present prospect of a peaceful and stable future. Ensuring justice for all, in line with Afghan and international commitments to achieving SDG16+, is an essential prerequisite for a durable peace.
08 October 2020 Widespread environmental crises and global Black Lives Matters protests have sparked palpable restlessness for change. This is how we should respond. The Conversation
Government in a pandemic: how coronavirus caused a dramatic shift in our relationship with the state 08 October 2020 As we head into the colder months, the increased threat of a second spike in the pandemic has forced the UK government to reintroduce new restrictive measures, including targeted local lockdowns, new rules (“of six”) and early pub closures. At the same time, compliance is fraying. One of the deeper issues with the government restrictions, which has less often been discussed, is a moral one. It concerns the level of control we grant to the government over our individual healthcare decisions. Understanding this dimension helps to explain why many people around the world are disobeying restrictions.
London School of Economics and Political Science
A Response: In defence of Kurdish diaspora feminism 07 October 2020 Aven Aziz, Houzan Mahmoud, Rega Rauf and Shara Taher respond to the recent blog “Blaming the Feminists: Attempts to Debilitate a Movement”, in a call to highlight the importance of diaspora activism and to situate some historical and current work of diaspora feminists and the many achievements by academics and grassroots activists who have brought Kurdistan and its diaspora closer to gender equality.
Social Europe
Why Europe has a racism problem – Ojeaku Nwabuzo and Georgina Siklossy 08 October 2020
ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS)
Racism made unprecedented headlines for weeks in Europe, following the brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of the police in the United States and the ensuing mass protests around the world. It seemed Europeans were finally waking up to this reality but the news cycle has already moved on. Yet the racial-justice movement is pursuing its vital and relentless work to dismantle structural racism, as it has for decades.
The Anti-Royalist Possibility: Thailand’s 2020 Student Movement 06 October 2020 The current protest movement in Thailand is breaking new political ground while acknowledging their predecessors. Khorapin Phuaphansawat 6 October 2020 Recent months have opened up a new possibility in Thai politics. In addition to calling for the dissolution of parliament and constitutional reform, the anti-government movement, composed primarily of urban secondary school and university students, […] The post The Anti-Royalist Possibility: Thailand’s 2020 Student Movement appeared first on ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute .
15 SDG 01: No Poverty Briefing, October 2020
Impact Investing Thanks to growing interest and innovation, investing in the greater good is now more feasible Finance is an essential force for systemic change, and must find its way to projects and innovation that can actually improve lives. The United Nations estimates that $2.5 trillion in funding is needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals - the 17 goals established in 2015 to guide global development until 2030. They encompass a broad range of targets, including reducing the portion of the population living in poverty by at least half, ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition, and achieving the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. Recent financial innovation has helped to better harness investment to fund social innovation, and a deeper pool of capital is available than what had been established previously through philanthropy alone in order to support organizations aiming to have a social impact. For example, “blended finance” is an increasingly popular way to fund impact investing by tailoring risk for individual investors within a group - including those from the private sector. Impact investing is distinct from the growing trend of “ESG” investing, which involves funding publicly traded companies already demonstrating good environmental, social and governance practices. Impact investing focuses on creating measurable, positive impact, and several related, significant funds have been formed such as Vital Capital Fund, which is primarily focused on sub-Saharan Africa. A set of tools and resources has evolved to help impact investors measure the social and environmental benefits of their investments, such as the IRIS metrics developed by the Global Impact Investing Network, and GIIRS Ratings. However, a single, standard set of metrics has yet to be adopted by the impact investment industry as a whole. That means that investors use a combination of approaches to measure the impact of their investments, including qualitative and anecdotal evidence in addition to standardized tools. The greatest challenge to the growth of impact investing is a lingering lack of high-quality investment opportunities with measurable impact. In addition, social entrepreneurs, especially in the so-called “valley of death period” prior to realizing the initial revenue generated by a venture, often require additional training and support in order to gain a deeper understanding of their investment needs. Related insight areas: Private Investors, Development Finance, Circular Economy, Financial and Monetary Systems, Youth Perspectives, Family Businesses, Banking and Capital Markets, Corporate Governance, Future of Economic Progress, Institutional Investors
16 SDG 01: No Poverty Briefing, October 2020
Latest knowledge Bocconi Knowledge
Frontiers
CSR Destroys Value When Firms Stop Leading by Example
More Than Food: The Social Benefits of Localized Urban Food Systems
08 October 2020
29 September 2020
High CSR performance usually works as stock price insurance against negative events. If the event is due to management conduct that contradicts CSR principles, though, markets punish, not reward, high CSR performers, according to research by Bartov, Marra, and Momente'.
Localized urban food systems are gaining attention from policy makers, planners, and advocates for benefits that go well beyond food production and consumption. Recognizing that agriculture, and food systems more broadly, provide multiple, integrated services, this study measures the social, educational, civic, and nutritional impacts of four common types of local food system activity in an urban setting. Specifically, we examine the outcomes of two common types of urban agricultural production (home gardens and community gardens) and two common types of direct markets (farmers' markets and Community Supported Agriculture programs or CSAs) through a survey of 424 gardeners and 450 direct market shoppers in California's San Francisco Bay Area.
SpringerOpen
Determinants that influence the performance of women entrepreneurs in micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia 07 October 2020 The purpose of this study was to explore determinants that influence women entrepreneurs’ performance in micro and small enterprises in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia, and in turn contribute to entrepreneursh...
Social Europe
The Covid-19 wake-up call to buttress social investment – Anton Hemerijck and Robin Huguenot-Noël
World Economic Forum
28 September 2020
How COVID-19 deepens the digital education divide in India
Barely having had time to absorb the economic and social aftershocks of the Great Recession, the world is confronted with an even more disruptive exogenous shock —the coronavirus pandemic, costing above all human lives but also causing massive dislocation. As employment opportunities for Millennials are undermined, low-wage stagnation for essential workers is reinforced and work-life balance stresses for women are intensified, the resilience of the European welfare state is under scrutiny.
05 October 2020 Lengthy school closures and a rapid transition to elearning have highlighted long-standing issues of education inequality and a digital educational divide. Bocconi Knowledge
Optimists Are the Salt of the Earth. And Salt Can Burn the Roots of Innovation
South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
02 October 2020
Accelerating green energy transition in Africa through regional integration
Overly optimistic entrepreneurs are unable to revise expectations after negative feedback, according to a study on 205 Spanish entrepreneurs. They tend thus to invest in too many projects to the detriment to innovation effectiveness.
27 September 2020 This brief examines the challenges towards green energy transition in Africa and the prospect of regional integration in fast-tracking this process.
17 SDG 01: No Poverty Briefing, October 2020
References 1. Sustainable Development and Universal Coverage
4. Human Mobility and Exploitation
Older adults using cannabis to treat common health conditions: Data indicates 61 percent of patients who used cannabis began after age 60, Science Daily, www.sciencedaily.com After the Beirut blasts, Lebanon urgently needs medical and mental health care, UN Women, www.unwomen.org Preventing the Next Zoonotic Pandemic, Project Syndicate, www.projectsyndicate.org Trump's Illness Is Not a National Security Crisis, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, www.belfercenter.org Herd Immunity Will Not Defeat COVID-19, Project Syndicate, www.projectsyndicate.org How to build a better health system: 8 expert essays, World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org Primary Primers: Biden and Trump go big for Minnesota – a state which may matter less than they think., London School of Economics and Political Science, blogs.lse.ac.uk
Child Marriage in Humanitarian Settings in South Asia: Study Results from Bangladesh and Nepal, ReliefWeb, reliefweb.int Corruption continues to threaten Iraq’s stability, Al Monitor, www.almonitor.com The Future Role of the U.S. Armed Forces in Counterterrorism, RAND Corporation, www.rand.org What’s at stake in the US election for refugees and asylum?, The New Humanitarian, www.thenewhumanitarian.org The Central American Conundrum: Toward a New Regional Security and Economic Order , War on the Rocks, warontherocks.com Conflict in the Caucasus, Venezuelan venting, and non-profit NDAs: The Cheat Sheet, The New Humanitarian, www.thenewhumanitarian.org So. Africa: Report calls for end to export credits to coal operations, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, www.business-humanrights.org
5. Inequality and Human Rights
2. Trade and Development
Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, GovLab - Living Library, thelivinglib.org Transgender people suffer discrimination in the job market, LSE Business Review, blogs.lse.ac.uk Europe’s new law to end corporate abuse should learn from Obama's legacy, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, www.businesshumanrights.org Addressing Racism, Word by Word, MIT Sloan Management Review, sloanreview.mit.edu UAE: Yacht firms face allegations of COVID-19 regulation breaches, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, www.businesshumanrights.org Minority and Indigenous Trends 2020 , ReliefWeb, reliefweb.int
USDFC Monitor: A Q&A with Senator Chris Coons, Center for Global Development, www.cgdev.org What should Europe expect from American trade policy after the election?, Bruegel, www.bruegel.org Observing COVID-19 in Africa through a ‘public authorities’ lens, London School of Economics and Political Science, blogs.lse.ac.uk Voters anxiously approach an unusual election – and its potentially uncertain aftermath, Pew Research Center, www.pewresearch.org Greening the Transatlantic Relationship, Project Syndicate, www.projectsyndicate.org African agency and Chinese power: The case of Djibouti, South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), saiia.org.za Governance and development model of China, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, sdpi.org
Does caste identity affect labour supply? Evidence from India, VoxDev, voxdev.org
Acknowledgements
3. Agricultural Inclusivity
Cover and selected images throughout supplied by Reuters. COVID-19, reverse migration, and the impact on land systems, Land Portal, landportal.org Halving food waste and raising climate ambition: SDG 12.3 and the Paris Agreement, United Nations Environment, www.unenvironment.org Developing Recovery Options for Puerto Rico's Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan, RAND Corporation, www.rand.org No time to waste: using data to drive down food waste, United Nations Environment, www.unenvironment.org How investing in nature can help tackle the biodiversity and climate crises, World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org Watch List 2020 – Autumn Update, International Crisis Group, www.crisisgroup.org
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18 SDG 01: No Poverty Briefing, October 2020
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19 SDG 01: No Poverty Briefing, October 2020
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