How to be a Leader in Sustainable Development
At the beginning of the year, the world officially began work to address some of the most pressing global challenges we are facing. Our roadmap for this is a 15-year plan agreed by the United Nations that highlights 17 key markers for success; the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Earlier this month, officials from UN member States descended on New York to conduct a first review of these goals, issue advice on achieving them and of course, track progress.
We felt that this was an important opportunity to tell you more about how the British Asian Trust is making strides in many of the key areas, through our high impact and scalable programmes in South Asia.
Gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls is very high on the 2030 Agenda, and rightfully so. Amongst other factors, we know that financial empowerment is an integral part of social and political empowerment and in our experience, women are very good at running businesses. Over 60% of women will grow their businesses successfully. We have been pleased to work with our long-term partner, Mann Deshi, to challenge gender inequality in access to finance and support for developing micro-enterprises.
We also know that if provided with the right skills training and support, women can access decent work opportunities and be active contributors to boosting economic growth. The Trust has been working closely with another key partner,Kaarvan, to look at how we can improve livelihoods for rural women in Pakistan, who want to work and be independent.
Our work around disability in Sri Lanka is heavily focused on reducing social inequality, whilst promoting quality education and lifelong learning. We work with effective local partners to deliver inclusive and quality education to disabled children in Sri Lanka because we know that this hugely improves the lives of these children, especially by reducing the stigma associated with disability within communities.
Disabled people there are still five times more likely than average to incur catastrophic health expenditures and many do not have access to prompt healthcare they desperately need to maintain a decent standard of living. Therefore another arm of our work in Sri Lanka works tirelessly to deliver healthcare to those in need, as well as supporting disabled people to develop their livelihoods and earn a living.
Promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies has always been at the top of our agenda and over the last two years we have significantly ramped up our working around the very challenging problem of child trafficking in India. Once again, we are working with some highly effective partners to identify key vulnerabilities of children to abuse, exploitation and trafficking and we are introducing interventions to keep them safe across 6 states in India.
Currently some of our team are in South Asia visiting partners, building relationships and meeting the remarkable people we support, whose stories amplify the need to pursue truly sustainable development. We are truly grateful for your support and I will take immense pleasure informing you about the impact we are able to make together.
