New Webinars April 17 & 21: Building a Better World with Sustainable Development Goals

By Darien De Lu

April 2020

In April, WILPF is increasing online learning opportunities for members. For “sheltering” WILPF members and others, webinars on April 17 & 21 will offer insight on partnership issues that are an important part of international, national, and local work.

The April webinars will help answer the questions:

• How do informed choices for sustainable community development support a robust economy, where more people can benefit and thrive?
• Within the UN framework of human rights, what specific guideposts in the development process can countries rely on to get closer to achieving social justice and equality?

Even if you’re not “sheltering in place”, you’ll want to register for one – or both! – of these two webinars. Each webinar covers nearly the same material: introducing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and explaining how they are implemented by countries from the national down to the local levels, ultimately relating to local community development.

Preregistration is required for these two Maestro call webinars:

• Friday, April 17, at 7:15/6:15 pm CDT/4:15 pm PDT.
• Tuesday, April 21 at 9:15 pm EDT/8:15 pm CDT/6:15 pm PDT

Preregister for either or both here.

In each one-hour webinar, WILPF member Dawn Nelson relates the Sustainable Development Goals to community issues and explores how WILPF branches can apply the SDGs to local challenges for social justice.

Dawn Nelson has been attending the United Nation’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development since 2016. WILPF US has supported her attendance since 2018, but, initially it was entirely at her own expense. This is the annual UN meeting in New York that discusses and proposes policies for the accomplishment of the UN’s world-wide SDGs. As a committee member, Dawn also contributes to the environmental sustainability and justice advocacy work of the WILPF US Earth Democracy Issue Committee.

In recognition of her work with the UN and WILPF US, in 2018 the International WILPF Congress in Ghana chose Dawn to head International’s Environmental Working Group (EWG). The EWG has been somewhat inactive the last few years, but Dawn is in the process of reviving it. The work of the EWG is closely linked to the SDGs, because those goals cannot be sustainable if they are accomplished only through further degradation of the environment.

If you are interested in more information about the EWG, please email Dawn Nelson at environment@wilpf.org.

The SDGs as a Guidebook for Fair and Just Development

The economic, social, and environmental dimensions of development are the theoretical basis for the SDGs. The UN works within the context of human rights.  For example, SDG 1 is about No Poverty, 3 – Good Health and Well-being, and 5 – Gender Equality. They go all the way through 16, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions and 17, Partnerships for the Goals. Goal 17 brings us to a fundamental issue with the SDGs: How – by what means and what policies – can countries attain them?

These goals can be a way for civil society to hold governments accountable to act for the benefit and liberation of all people, according to an analysis of the SDG summit by WILPF International. However, corporations are pressuring at the UN for public-private partnerships – corporate involvement – to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals. While government or public sector costs may be reduced in such partnerships, direct consumer costs are higher, to ensure corporate profit margins. Not only do the service costs go up, but corporate administration harms community interests in other ways: Public-private partnership usually leads to a reduced public sector workforce, as well as reduced transparency and accountability to the public.

Where is the money?

While countries endeavor to reach the SDGs within the next ten years – under the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – for most countries, progress is slow, frequently due to lack of money.

Even in the US, many communities are struggling to meet SDG 6, on clean water. In the absence of government loans or other support, some cities had turned to corporate contracts, thinking to reduce the local burden of taxes or water utility rates. Yet US residents often saw their personal water bills shoot up under ill-advised privatization of their formerly public water services. Numerous cities have since waged long campaigns to reclaim water services from those contracts.

An alternative model to get the expertise – and, possibly, even some funding – for SDG infrastructure development is public-public partnerships (PUPs). These partnerships – supported by unions and those concerned about public oversight and service-provider costs – rely on well-established public services and utilities to assist fledgling ones in struggling communities. PUPs offer numerous additional benefits over public-private partnerships, such as avoiding monopoly pricing and corporate secrecy.

Still, funding can continue to be an issue: Where to get the money to pay for the costs of construction of infrastructure? Of course, in WILPF we advocate for investments in a peace economy and divestment from a war economy.

These UN-level money and partnerships discussions are very much like what has been going on in our own US Congress: Do we bail out the corporations, or do we bail out the people? Who will gain under different models? In Congress, with the help of the 2010 Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United, well-funded corporate lobbyists have loud voices. At the UN, corporations are claiming that they should have the same right to “be at the table” as governments and nongovernmental organizations.

WILPF Responds to the Times with More Virtual and Conference Call Offerings

Discussions like these are not “academic”! Prepared with the information these webinars provide, you can be an informed voice in your community. Bringing global insights to local SDG-implementation debates is a vital function of WILPF.

These April presentations are part of WILPF’s expanded virtual events offerings, responding to the need for more at-home connections to ideas, people, and activism.  Already, on the second Thursday you can participate in to our monthly ONE WILPF call. Also, on April 7 the national Program Committee conference call/meeting is open to all WILPF members (see related article).
 
You can find more ways to connect your local activism to national WILPF work. Our issue committees welcome WILPF members to their periodic conference calls. Contact the issue committee chairs to find out how to participate.

We’re also considering a series of webinars, conference calls, and virtual panels for a weekend in July – our Virtual Mini-Congress. Can you offer a few hours to assist on tasks for planning and/or organizing for the Virtual Mini-Congress? We’re a volunteer-based organization, so if you want it to happen, lend a hand! Contact President@wilpfUS.org for more information.