The UN Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all 193 Member States of the United Nations in September 2015. 

These goals are ambitious (ending poverty world wide), and comprehensive (including people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership). The more people who know about and support the goals, the more likely countries are to achieve them.  

However, on 24 September 2019 UN Secretary-General António Guterres gave a speech at the first Global Goals Summit, saying: 

We are far from where we need to be. We are off track... We must step up our efforts.  And we must do it now... I am issuing a global call for a decade of action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

In spite of the best efforts of the UN and of UN Member States, the majority of people around the world remain unaware that the SDGs exist. Without adequate awareness and support, we will collectively fail to achieve these goals. 

In 2020, FAWCO launched SDG Awareness for the Decade of Action: 2020 – 2030.

FAWCO Supports the Global Goals

FAWCO’s 2021-2023 Resolutions & Recommendations state:

Resolved, that FAWCO advocates for a better and more peaceful world and improves the lives of women and girls through global initiatives.

Recommended, that FAWCO:

2.1. Champion the role of the United Nations (UN) in promoting peace, security, equal rights, justice for all, and improving lives. Raise awareness among FAWCO members of UN-related endeavors and promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)*, and update FAWCO members on the progress towards the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 

Raising SDG Awareness in FAWCO Clubs 

FAWCO's Global Issues Teams and UN Reps promote the SDGs. FAWCO’s Youth Program encourages the next generation to connect to the SDGs, and the Target Program and the FAWCO Foundation also invoke the SDGs in their work. Member Clubs around the world contribute to achieving the SDGs with projects in their local communities.

To reinforce the efforts already in place within FAWCO, the SDG Awareness Team is developing actions to inspire FAWCO Member Clubs to integrate the SDGs into their club communications and activities. Many materials exist for Clubs and FAWCO volunteers to use, but searching through them is time consuming. Also, not all materials are adapted to the FAWCO Club context. The benefit of this project is that materials will be adapted to the FAWCO audience. The tools selected will integrate a gender perspective. Additional tools will be selected to emphasize the connection between the SDGs and the current Target Program.

In 2020, as part of the SDG Awareness launch, we challenged FAWCO Member Clubs to participate in the SDG Photo Project.