Module 6- THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) AND ME

<https://www.un.org/development/desa/socialperspectiveondevelopment/issues/sustainable-development.html>

I’m interested in ending hunger, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal two (2) out of the 17 goals. I hope to fulfill this vision by achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture in the Sri Lankan community to start with. I’ve recognized that my project ESHKOL is associated with the following suggested four primary targets and indicators to achieve the above-mentioned SDG Goal 2. Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

In 2030 when all commonwealth nations assemble to measure the success rate of the measures undertaken to achieve the SDG goals, ESHKOL would like to see its’ contribution to eradicate hunger in Sri Lanka and ensure access by its’ target audience, urban dwellers, the poor and people in vulnerable situations such as elderly, disabled, women, including infants, to safe, nutritious and abundance of food all year round. Our work would have created livelihood programs and established self-reliant neighborhoods for the above selected target audience in an attempt to stop unemployment issues in the community.

ESHKOL hopes to end all forms of malnutrition, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, disabled, and the elderly through the establishment of home gardens, food pantry and training programs. 

We also hope to double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women,minority groups, disabled  peoples, family farmers, through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment. ESHKOL aims to ensure sustainable food production systems and carry out resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality.

ESHKOL also wishes to help farmers and agricultural institutions maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, support in developing a national database including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels. We also hope to support to ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed. Setting up a seeds savings center at ESHKOL will support this endeavor more. Ensuring equal access to safe and nutritious food through our food pantries program. We hope to increase agricultural productivity by R&D and adopting resilient agricultural practices and ensure proper functioning of food commodity markets and reducing trade-distorting export subsidies.

Improving rural infrastructure and preserving genetic diversity of crops and animals. We also hope to increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation by tapping into Diasporas, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, by incorporating new agro technology to enhance the produce. Use of hydroponics, aquaponics, air phonics techniques in agro produce.  With the technology development, and plant and livestock gene banks ESHKOL hopes to enhance agricultural productive capacity. Awareness about SDG's at school, grassroots level, timely release of funds through improvement in MIS, increase awareness about schemes and rights provided under it and regular surveys to keep an eye on results and problems arising are some other ways that can help us understand the SDG framework better. 

Developing SDG strategies and plans should be a multi-stakeholder process, engaging national and local government representatives, civil society, businesses, faith-based groups and representatives from academia and science. In order to fully understand the SDG framework better  effective multi-stakeholder engagement should be  built on the expertise of individual actors to do collective problem solving. Different actors will need clearly defined roles and responsibilities to make the process work.  As an educator, I've come to realise my role in promoting SDG's in my classroom, so I use them in developing my lesson plans, incorporate social lessons and value education into the main curriculams. Also conduct training and help schools set up school gardens. 

I also think that Sri Lanka must mobilize adequate public and private resources to invest in key sustainable development areas such as in health, food insecurity areas. The regulations, taxes or subsidies that is currently present should help redirect private investments towards supporting SDG outcomes, while national budget outlays should be increased to finance a scaling-up of public services and infrastructure investments. If private and domestic public resources are insufficient to finance the SDGs we need to be complemented by non-concessional and concessional international public finance.