Achieving rights and inclusion: how WeSolve can contribute to the mission of the United Nations

With this article, I aim to provide an overview on the importance of SDGs and on how WeSolve can contribute to the agenda created by the United Nations in 2015. 

The first question I want to answer is thus the following one: 

What are the SDGs?

For those who do not know, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute an agenda of goals and challenges, aiming not to let anyone behind. 

This agenda, specifically, created by the United Nations in 2015, is  formed by 17 goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators, which need to be accomplished by every country within 2030. (Allen, Metternicht and Wiedmann, 2018)

The 17 goals summarize the social, political and economic challenges  the world will have to face, in conjunction to Coronavirus, from now onwards: 

Why were they created and for which purpose? 

The previous attempt, before the SDGs became well-known, was the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Since MDGs were only aiming to empower poor countries and inhabitants, the SDGs were created as an inclusive solution so that everyone could benefit from a decent and respectful life. The purpose behind the goals presented was thus to provide better living standards to everyone, to empower marginalized individuals, and less-developed countries. 

Denmark and the SDGs 

Now that a general contextualization has been provided, I would like to nationalize the SDGs in the Danish context. 

To highlight, firstly, is the fact that rich countries located in the Global North will be the first ones to reach the SDGs by 2030. 

As asserted by Michael Green,economist and social progress expert, in his talk for TED, Denmark will be the first country to achieve the goals by 2030. 

Although it can be considered a big achievement, Micheal Green reports how the way is still long before completely achieving the SDGs. Especially for what concerns rights and inclusion, national states are facing difficulties promoting basic values such as the ones aforementioned.

So then, how should we promote basic rights in Denmark while carrying forward the mission proposed by the United Nations?

WeSolve and the SDGs

As an answer to the question above could be related to WeSolve and its app. WeSolve, as a network of communities, social organizations and municipalities, has developed an app which aims to include every societal party. With this app, individuals can engage and promote their ideas to the organization they are interested to follow, improving decision-making processes. As local citizens know their community best, the importance of including everyone can turn into better cities and quality of life. 

Not only WeSolve aims at including everyone and by doing so reducing inequalities (SDG 10) but this organization aims to achieve the SDGs 11 and 16. 

By including and empowering citizens, more sustainable and resilient cities can be created (SDG 11) and at the same time institutions can be reinforced thanks to the contribution of every single individual (SDG 16).

Reference

Michael Green (2018)  The global goals we have made progress on and the ones we haven’t [online] accessible here.

Allen C. & Metternicht G. & Wiedmann T. (2018) Initial progress in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a review of evidence from countries, Sustainability Science, 13, 1453-1467