The Millenium Development Goals-where to now?

Tags

poverty, sustainable development

We are nearing the last year of a fifteen year program, the Millenium Development Goals. In the year 2000, eight goals including the alleviation of poverty, education for all children until year 6 and the eradication of HIV AIDS and malaria were agreed to by 192 member nations of the United Nations.

The latest report examines the progress towards achieving the MDGs. It can only be said that the MDGs have made a profound difference in people’s lives. Global poverty was halved by 2010. It is believed poverty can be eradicated within the next generation. Ninety per cent of children in developing regions now enjoy primary education, and enrolment of girls has increased. Remarkable gains have also been made in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis, along with improvements in all health indicators. The likelihood of a child dying before age five has been nearly cut in half over the last two decades. We also met the target of halving the proportion of people who lack access to improved sources of water, although that is not uniform across the globe.

A new agenda has been formed resulting from the outcomes of the UN MDGs and looking forward to the needs of the people of this planet over the next fifteen years. A blueprint, The Road to Dignity by 2030:
Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet, indicates that the international community has come a long way in its deliberation on the new development agenda.

The way we think about charity is dead wrong

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entrepreneurship, innovation, partnerships, social justice

Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. In this bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.

Source: www.ted.com

 

Why shouldn’t CEOs of NGOs earn their living and even a profit by making it their business to help others. With that kind of thinking we’ll attract more innovative people to NGOs who otherwise might be attracted to multinational, multigreedy for profit-at-all-cost organisations. 

See on Scoop.it – Human Rights and Social Justice

Sustainability and Global Competence

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Global competence, globalisation, sustainability, sustainable development, Sustainable Futures

Have you asked yourself,
“What REALLY IS sustainability?”

“What should sustainability look like in my curriculum?”
“In what ways could sustainability augment each of the learning areas?”
“How could I amplify sustainability throughout my school?”
Sustainability has become a vast social, political, economic and educational issue. The UN has devoted a decade to Education for Sustainability. The Australian Curriculum considers sustainability important enough to be delivered across the curriculum.
A learner who has the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance such as sustainability, is globally competent.
Read more about Global Competence

Global Competence

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Global competence, School curriculum

I’m inspired by Dr Tererai Trent, an education activist who, when asked what advice would she would give to teachers to help make schooling for current students focus more on global competence, said…..

“This is beyond an individual teacher’s capability, rather, global competence should be woven into the foundational fabric of our school systems — the school curriculum. School curriculum should encourage students to look beyond their major disciplines and also take classes in other disciplines. The world itself is more “wholistic” than the way current majors are packaged, which in my opinion is too linear. An education system that promotes a broad world-view is bound to produce global thinkers.
Given limited resources, global competence has to start at the K-12 level. This means that K-12 teacher-training programs have to include global education to become a more significant part of the curriculum. This is what inspires our learners; it opens authentic dialogues among learners and teachers, and ultimately the ripple effect is felt and seen in the world.
Universities with global competencies should provide support and offer incentives to teachers and administrators to become internationally fluent. This can be achieved by:
• Teacher training: Train teachers in global competence, hence, teachers’ training should provide courses with international content.
• Student classroom environment: Offer global subject offerings and research methods to support and produce internationally rounded and critical thinkers.
I believe that the real measure of global competence lies in what our students become as a result of their education — a whole person with integrity who takes responsibility for the real world. Global competence helps all of us to be better citizens who understand global issues and their implication to the world we want our children to inherit”.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty-Thursday 16 October 2014

Tags

food security, human rights, poverty, social justice

Poverty rates were halved between 1990 and 2010, but 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty and one in eight people are still hungry.

World Food Day on 16 October highlights the need to ensure that all people have physical and economic access at all times to enough nutritious, safe food to lead healthy and active lives.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Thursday 16 October is an opportunity to acknowledge the struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and for the community to recognise and support poor people in their fight against poverty.

Poverty and food security are intricately interlinked. Without an income or resources to grow food people are likely to become ill and to be unable to work to produce food or earn an income.

Poverty and food security were linked in Millennium Development Goal 1 – eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The target of reducing extreme poverty rates by half was met by 2000 and the hunger reduction target is within reach by 2015. But there is still more to be done to make the world a fairer place for all.

What will your school do to acknowledge the 1.2 billion people who are food insecure?

Going further-
Caritas Australia Food security and sustainable agriculture
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Global education website Food security
Action Make poverty history
TED talk Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of Kiva.org talks about how her attitude to poverty changed — and how her work with microloans has brought new power to people who live on a few dollars a day. Jessica Jackley on poverty
TED talk Esther Duflo takes economics out of the lab and into the field to discover the causes of poverty and means to eradicate it.
Esther Duflo on poverty
Practical Action is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) that uses technology to challenge poverty in developing countries Practical Action
Oxfam Climate change poverty and women
Young Lives – an international study of childhood poverty Young Lives
World Vision – What is Poverty? A Day in the Life of Lucy
World Vision – What is Poverty? Film Clip Lucy’s film clip

Families and Farming

Tags

family farming, food security, globalisation, social justice an human rights, sustainable development, Sustainable Futures

Family farming is inextricably linked to national and global food security. As the International Year of Family Farming sees its last 100 days I want to mention climate change and family livelihood from the land.

Did you know that there are 570 million farms around the world and 500 million of them are owned by families?
These families live in both developing and developed countries.
Did you know that floods that occurred every 100 years are predicted to occur every 25 to 50 years?

http://www.fao.org/family-farming-2014/home/what-is-family-farming/en/

So it makes sense to not only acknowledge the work these families do, but to also think about the ways we can continue to support them to continue feeding themselves and us.

When we plan a unit of inquiry around food, add a global perspective and look at families, farming, affect of the climate and our connections. In this way we can foster insight, understanding, empathy and the learning needed to find sustainable ways to overcome the challenges that face us.

Take a virtual tour of a farm http://www.target100.com.au/Tips-resources/Take-the-Virtual-Farm-Visit linking to the Australian Curriculum Year 4 – 7 Technologies Curriculum and Year 4 and 5 Geography

Activities for investigating agriculture in Australia can be found at AgriFoods http://www.agrifoodskills.net.au/?page=Educationresources

Cool Australia http://www.coolaustralia.org/curriculum-materials/#body-wrapper

Behind the Brands Exploring the connection between big companies, sugar and land grabs http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/behind-the-brands

A game for learning about small scale farmers and fairness in the global food system http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/food-for-thought-english-learn-resources

Take action at Aussi Smart http://www.resourcesmartschools.vic.gov.au/

Poverty reduction | Global Education

Tags

cultural diversity, food security, globalisation, health, housing, human development index, population

Source: www.globaleducation.edu.au

Poverty reduction for all levelsF to 10,  dealing with microfinance, Millenium Development Goals, urbanisation, tourism and housing. Through case studies, teaching activities, resources and discussion points, learners have opportunities to ask questions on this immensely enabling topic.

What Matters Most? -a resource on poverty

Source: www.globaleducation.edu.au

Published by the One World Centre in WA, this learning resource provides activities for understanding poverty. Using individual stories, large projects and international responses, learners can pose questions, investigate and act upon their findings using the inquiry approach.  With Australian Curriculum links and without resorting to hopelessness, this classroom resource will provide many opportunities to understand this complex and rewarding topic. It also questions fundraising and school partnerships as pathways to increased global awareness. 

DEPweb

See on Scoop.it – GEP Education for a Sustainable Future

Marilyn Snider‘s insight:

World Bank’s glossary in its Development for Sustainability Learning Modules defines many social, economic and environmental terms linked to sustainability.

See on www.worldbank.org

Story of Stuff

See on Scoop.it – GEP Education for a Sustainable Future

The Story of Stuff Project’s journey began with a 20-minute online movie about the way we make, use and throw away all the Stuff in our lives. Five years and 40 million views later, we’re a Community of 500,000 changemakers worldwide, working to build a more healthy and just planet. 

Marilyn Snider‘s insight:

Creating a sustainable is more than caring for the environment and more than reusing or recycling.  It has at its heart the setting of goals for a better future for all.

See on storyofstuff.org