Prepare to transform the world!! |11 February 2017

At a UN summit, on September 25, 2015, world leaders adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

What is Sustainable Development?

The universal definition of sustainable development is ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ To achieve sustainable development, the harmonisation of economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection are crucial. Undoubtedly, this concept is at the heart of all 17 of the SDGs.

What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

These universal goals, which officially came into force on January 1, 2016, apply to the citizens of the world. The goals will guide and mobilise efforts in all countries to eradicate all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change while leaving no one behind. Over the next 15 years (to 2030), UN member states will be expected to frame their policies and strategic plans around the SDGs.

Despite building on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs are unique as they call for action by all countries regardless of the status of their economic development, to promote prosperity while conserving the planet.

How will the Sustainable Development Goals be implemented?

Although the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 goals. Governments can facilitate, mobilise resources and develop financing strategies but they cannot achieve the goals alone.  All stakeholders including civil society, the private sector and others must put efforts together to contribute towards the realisation of the new agenda. So yes, YOU are key to helping Seychelles contribute towards transforming OUR world.

How can YOU help to transform the world?

The first step is to familiarise yourself with the 17 SDGs. And to help you do this, 17 Seychellois, passionate about the SDGs, have contributed an article about each one of the SDGs. On November 26, 2016 Seychelles NATION published two articles about the first two SDGs. This was followed on December 14, 2016 by two more. Today we look at GOAL No. 5 (which is about gender equality) and GOAL No. 6 (which is about clean water and sanitation). In the articles the authors describe what the SDGs are, what is already being done in Seychelles to achieve them and how you can contribute towards achieving these SDGs.

Contributed by Kalsey Belle

 -------------------------------------------

“He asked me what position I like. I said ‘CEO’

SDG 5 is about achieving gender equality and female empowerment. While the world has achieved some progress toward this goal under the UN Millennium Development Goals, women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

The lack of equality between women and men is a serious obstacle to sustainable development and growth. This goal is about providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes. This goal is about eliminating violence, discrimination, and harmful practices toward women. This will undoubtedly benefit societies and humanity at large, and fuel sustainable economies.

Global progress so far

Gender equality and women’s empowerment have advanced in recent years. Girls’ access to education has improved, the rate of child marriage has declined and progress has been made in sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

• About 2/3 of countries in developing regions have gender parity in primary education
• Globally, women’s participation in parliament rose to 23% in 2016, representing an increase of 6% over a decade
• In 1990 in Southern Asia, 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys. In 2012 the enrolment rations were almost equal for girls as for boys
• The proportion of women in paid employment outside the agricultural sector in Northern Africa has increased from 35% in 1990 to 41% in 2015.

But there is more to be done

• Violence against women and girls still occurs, violating their human rights and hindering development.
  • In 52 countries, 21% of women aged between 15 and 49 experienced physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner in a year
  • 70% of victims of human trafficking detected worldwide are females
• Salaries are still not equal.
  • On average women in the labour market still earn 24% less than men globally
• Men and women still do not share the burden of domestic work.
  • In every region, women and girls do the bulk of unpaid work, including care giving and such household tasks as cooking and cleaning
  • On average, women report that they spend 19% of their time each day in unpaid activities, versus 8% for men
  • The responsibilities of unpaid care and domestic work, combined with paid work, means greater total work burdens for women and girls and less time for rest, self-care, learning and other activities
• Not all girls have access to education.
  • In sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and Western Asia, girls still face barriers to entering both primary and secondary school
• Gender equality before the law does not necessarily mean women have equal opportunities in practice. However, assuring women’s rights through legal frameworks is a first step in addressing discrimination against them.
  • As of 2014, 52 countries have yet to guarantee equality between women and men.

MEN – I would like to take this opportunity to extend to you a formal invitation – gender equality is your issue too.

Discrimination against women persists, directly and indirectly, through laws and policies, social norms and practices, and gender-based stereotypes.

Imagine how terrifying it is for your self-worth to be entangled with what others think of you. Let’s change that.

What SDG 5 means for Seychelles

The high level of social development and the absence of blatant discrimination against women here in Seychelles lead to the assumption that gender equality has been achieved. However, challenges still exist. These include:

• Gender Based Violence (GBV)
• High rates of teenage pregnancy
• Higher levels of poverty among single parent households that are predominantly female
• The increasing incidence of sex work
• The gender dimensions of illicit drug abuse and HIV and Aids.

There is also a perception that boys and men are being marginalised in the provision of services. This needs to be rectified through reinforcing the role of men and boys as partners in promoting gender equality.

Violent crime, family disintegration, child abuse, poverty, domestic violence – all of the issues that affect our society have profound gender dimensions.

What is the government doing about it?

• Seychelles follows the targets set out by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development that represents commitments made in all sub-regional, continental and global instruments for achieving gender equality.
• Seychelles takes cognisance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
• Gender equality forms part of the broader commitment by the government of Seychelles to human rights and social justice as set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
• In 2015 the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports introduced the National Gender Policy that provides national guidelines for institutionalising and operationalising gender as an integral component of local sustainable development

These measures signal the government’s continued commitment to the attainment of Constitutional rights and gender equality as a cornerstone for ending poverty and achieving long-term sustainable social change by meeting the aspirations of all Seychellois.

What can you do about it?

For starters, don’t be like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast (pictured here).

For the goals to work, people need to know about them.

We need you to help us tell everyone about #SDG5, the #GlobalGoals, and advocate #Sey4SDG.

Our country will only meet these SDGs if we fight for them, so SHARE all the knowledge you got today. Tell your friends, your local community. Allow the information shared today to give you a new perspective. Perhaps now you are more aware of how the stereotypes of women we often use are damaging.

Join the global conversation. Use the hashtags, download the SDG app, visit globalgoals.org – help make the SDGs famous and tell the leaders of the world that this is what we want.

You can also visit http://www.globalgoals.org/take-action/ and choose an NGO to get involved with: Global Citizen, Save The Children, UNICEF, UNDP – the choice is yours.

Every voice should be heard – make yours count.

Contributed by Nandita Nair

Member of UN youth Seychelles

 --------------------------------------

SDG No. 6: CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

‘Think outside the sink…Water is more scarce than you think’

The significance of targeting water

Our planet’s surface comprises of less than 30% dry land and more than 70% water. To put it differently, for each area of land on our planet’s surface more than twice that is covered with water. So what’s all the hype about no water?

Well, of all of Earth’s water approximately 97% of it are oceans, seas or bays. The remaining 3% is spread out as underground water, glaciers and ice, water in our atmosphere, and surface water like lakes and rivers.

The only usable water for humans is in the last category – the fresh surface water, lakes and rivers. Even that is not all for humans, but for all plant and animal life as well.

The global volume of usable water worldwide is actually decreasing – increased global population means more people to use the limited resource; various forms of pollution affects the purity of the surface and ground water; improper treatment of sewerage and in some areas defecation in open fields lead to all sorts of contaminants getting into water systems.

SDG 6: Components

The SDG 6 consists of eight goals to alleviate the most prominent global issues pertaining to water and sanitation. They are as follows;

• By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
• By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.
• By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.
• By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.
• By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.
• By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.
• By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies.
• Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.

Actions on a global scale

There are many initiatives worldwide that target water in the form of non-profit organisations, for example Water.org, which works with local partner organisations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, to build wells and provide intensive training seminars on the importance of good hygiene practices and its link to better health. The nonprofit also created WaterCredit, an initiative that connects microfinance institutions to individuals and communities in developing countries who use their small loans to build themselves clean water mechanisms, from wells to toilets.

And then you have got trading organisations like Three Avocados, a social enterprise that generates funds for clean water in Africa through the sale of coffee. They donate 100% of their profits to building water projects in Uganda. They source the coffee from Uganda's Mt. Elgon by collaborating with small coffee growing cooperatives in Uganda. The coffee is fairly traded and organically grown - though uncertified because, as the nonprofit explains, the cost of certification is beyond the modest operation's budget.

Organisations WaterIsLife and PureMadi have used innovative filteration methods with the introduction of The Straw by WaterIsLife: which provides clean drinking water when immersed into a water source removing waterborne diseases with each sip. In the long term scope, the nonprofit teaches sanitation and hygiene education, as well as researches and implements sustainable long lasting clean water solutions that are tailored to each community, and monitored to ensure the longevity of clean water sources.

PureMadi, in South Africa, have developed ceramic filters that use local materials to effectively purify water. They built a sustainable filter factory that is locally run and produces the much needed product.

In terms of transboundary cooperation when it comes to water, the Democratic Republic of Congo is setting the trend by establishing ties between itself and neighbouring countries of central Africa to trade water which the Congo Basin surely provides more than the people of Congo can use. They can potentially help out countries like Zambia who recently suffered power cuts because effects of climate change meant they had too little water to rely on their usual hydropower plants for electricity.

International cooperation is facilitated and reinforced through bodies like the World Water Council which hosts conferences and forums to discuss policies and guidelines on a regional and international level related to water use and conservation. Incidentally, last year they hosted the Budapest Water Summit 2016 which adopted the Budapest Statement aimed at giving momentum to the implementation of this SDG in relation to the Paris Climate Agreement, link political decision-making to technology development, financing and public perception, and facilitate reform of international institution architecture supporting cooperation on water.

SDG 6: Seychelles perspective

The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) being the main municipality on water and wastewater in Seychelles has ensured that some of these goals are already being tackled if not already achieved. For example, at present more than 95% of homes have access to affordable drinking water. However, the general public have concerns as to the quality of the water. Whether it is unsafe to drink, or this is simply a matter of public perception is yet to be defined.

PUC has come a long way in providing reliable supply to homes, even as far as maintaining a now good level of desalinated water when we face long periods of dry weather. They have also gone quite a distance in reducing non-revenue water and aiming to improve water storage capacities.

Sewer lines have been laid in three main regions on Mahé, however, as is with similar systems in other countries, the general public is reluctant to connect to the lines in existing establishments. For new developments in the sewered areas, the authority for land development Planning Authority makes conditions such that developers find a great benefit in connecting to the lines, which in turn have a positive effect on the environment and allow for us to move one step closer to achieving adequate and equitable sanitation systems.

Nonetheless, the traditional method of using a septic tank and soak-away pit to handle waste water is fast becoming outdated, adding to the fact that they are poorly maintained in most cases. This results in poor conditions of ground water as was made apparent on La Digue island following floods in 2012. La Digue can no longer rely on their usual ground water supply for fear of contamination and use PUC’s desalinated water across the island. A sanitation master plan is being developed for the island at present.

All-in-all, we can see that Seychelles is getting a grip on supply of drinkable water, providing adequate sanitation systems to prevent ground water pollution, and awareness campaigns on the efficient use of water such as rain water harvesting methods and merits are on the rise through grassroots movement by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and one of the more prominent NGOs – Sustainability for Seychelles, better known as S4S.

A new NGO is in the making – WASPro. This is being done under the guidelines set by South African Developing Countries SADC Youth on Water as adopted in their Regional Strategic Action Plan IV. Together with other stakeholders like PUC, S4S and the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change it is expected to educate the general public on the importance of these goals under this SDG in the hope that everyone plays their part in achieving them.

Next step for Seychelles

Seychelles, despite having healthy annual rainfall, still experiences water cuts during drought because storage of water is not at its optimum and water is not being used efficiently. One of the solutions is therefore to reduce the per capita consumption which is currently at 150 litres of water per day per person, while many countries in Africa averages below 100 litres.

Getting more people to connect to the sewer lines in order to have more control over sanitation solutions and potentially re-use of treated waste water provides good opportunities for Seychelles.

Protection of our rivers by limiting our pollution levels and littering is a must. More education and awareness campaigns on all levels in this direction is a must.

Seychelles was represented at the Budapest Water Summit. Hopefully, in future, we can be more active in our participation in such events and adopt innovative yet simple solutions to prevent future crises relating to water, especially seeing as climate change is not making the task any simpler.

What can you do to help?

It is not difficult to make a difference if everyone is doing one small step each. Here are some tips you can start adopting immediately:

• Close the tap when you brush your teeth. Don’t let the water run.
• Use a glass of water for cleaning the mouth when brushing your teeth.
• Have a rain water storage tank and use this water to wash the car and water the garden.
• Rinse the dishes with water from a large bowl or large container rather than letting the water run.
• Close the tap while applying soap in the shower. Don’t let the water run unnecessarily.
• Defrost frozen food in the refrigerator.
• Check all pipes and toilets for leaks.

By starting with these you can go a long way maintaining a better supply of water for our nation.

No action is too small to be significant. Save Water. #BeBetter

Contributed by Loni Adeline