Global Goalscast

His name is Ibrahim Adnan Kondeh. He is one of thousands of young African’s who have crossed the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea in search of opportunity. Thousands more have died trying. We usually hear the tragedy and the controversy about migration, as cohost Edie Lush notes. So in this episode, Global GoalsCast wants you to meet one migrant and to hear his story, from him. Ibrahim is a remarkable young man. Courageous, resourceful and, it turns out, poetic.       "In plastic boats, we are choked up as much as they can    just like fishes in a sardine can.    Irrespective of our religions, we pray for God's mercy.   For it was only by his grace that we made it through that great sea.  A true hero is what we are..." Ibrahim retraces his journey from his village in Sierra Leone to the Libyan seashore. A trip that took him a harrowing nine months. He started as a teenager running away from tribal initiation. But by the time he was done he had joined an extraordinary stream of humanity flowing north. 

Is it possible to eradicate extreme poverty? Here is the remarkable thing. For the first time in history, the answer is yes. Co-hosts Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman talk about the new thinking about how to end the worst poverty. Macro solutions like growth, trade and migration still matter, a lot, they agree. But so do local solutions. Tanya Accone of Unicef explains how a failed effort to involve Silicon Valley in anti-poverty efforts produced a different approach in which solutions are developed with local communities not just for them. A good example from Uganda is Spouts of Water, which has invented clay pot filters that cost no more to use than the previous system of burning wood or coal to boil the water. Plus, Ugandans like the flavor! One of the basic lessons is that to help very poor people, often at the end of long dirt paths or isolated in slums, solutions must be designed for their situations, Accone explains. Context is crucial. Edie and Claudia also discuss the meaning of two Nobel prizes th

Is the zeitgeist shifting toward action to curb global warming and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals? Veteran Financial Times journalist Gillian Tett joins Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman to consider that question in the aftermath of the United Nation’s climate summit and General Assembly. While the actions of governments were disappointing, they see a new attitude among many businesses, who were far more engaged in UN activity this year. “The balance of risks in the eyes of many business executives have shifted,” says Tett. Many executives now think it is “riskier to stand on the sidelines and do nothing than to actually be involved in some of these social and climate change movements,” Tett reports. The challenge now is not whether to act but how. Edie completes her visit with Professor John Sterman at MIT, whose En-Roads computer model of the climate lets Edie identify policy actions that will hold contain heating of the atmosphere. “The conclusion here is it is, technically, still possible to l

The climate challenge is sprawling and extraordinarily complex. It is too much for any individual to hold all of it in their head. That knowledge void has become a major political obstacle to effective climate action (SDG 13) as we fill it in paralyzing ways, from denial to apocalyptic fear.     The best way to learn that we can curb climate change is to do it. So Global GoalsCast co-host Edie Lush sat down with John Sterman, professor of Management at MIT, to solve the climate crisis on his ClimateInteractiv model of the world’s climate and economy. Edie tried everything from energy efficient homes to a steep tax on carbon in a search for solutions that would hold global temperature increases under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). How did she do? Listen to this special two-part episode of Global GoalsCast, timed to coincide with the United Nations Climate Summit and the global journalism effort to increase awareness of the climate challenge, #CoveringClimateNow.

Sustainable Development Goal 12 calls for responsible production and consumption. As co-host Claudia Romo Edelman points out in this episode, that does not sound as dramatic as ending poverty or educating everyone, but it may be just as important.  There is a disparity of consumption between the Global North and South. SDG 12 is the only goal that specifically calls on rich nations to lead.  In our interview with Jared Diamond, he says that one American consumes as much as 32 Kenyans. Diamond, UCLA professor and author of the new book,  Upheaval: Turning Points for Nation’s in Crisis,  says this inequality is unsustainable as citizens of poorer countries demand better lives. The only sustainable world, he says, is a more equal world. Our most dangerous overconsumption is energy from fossil fuels.  Co-host Edie Lush reports on a Financial Times chart which shows only a small percentage of the worlds largest corporations on track to reduce their carbon emissions enough to meet the goals of the Paris Climate acc

The single largest cause of acute hunger in the world is not a lack of food, it is war and conflict. The World Food Program says conflict has pushed 74 million people to the edge of starvation. One of the most severe situations is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where militias and marauding gangs have driven millions of farmers off their land. GGC discusses the crisis with the director of the World Food Program in the DRC, Claude Jibidar, Rosette Kasereka, a farmer and Zachary, a former child soldier. The fertile DRC could easily grow enough food for all its people and all of Africa, for that matter, if the fighting would only stop, Jibidar tells co-hosts Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman. Humanitarian groups and governments have adopted a new approach focused on ending need rather than merely delivering aid. In the DRC, that need is an end to violence. So WFP and other groups have focused on peacemaking. Kasereka credits a WFP program for uniting farmers. “Through union is power,” she says, ”we hav

No child should die of measles in 2019. Or any disease that can be prevented by Vaccine or basic preventive care. That’s the view of Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaking to Edie lush on this Episode. Yet children still do die needlessly. Which shows the world still has work to do to continue to grow healthier. Progress over the last decades has been remarkable. The near abolition of measles is just one example.  A good part of the credit goes to two organizations, The Global Fund and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Their work has helped people live longer healthier lives, particularly in the poorest places on earth. But now governments must decide whether to replenish their funds. Sue Desmond Hellman argues that it is the best investment in the future.

How will Artificial Intelligence shape the next decade? Will thisrevolution be a positive force, spurring global growth and improving lives around the world? Or will the benefits flow heavily to those who already have the knowledge and wealth to use these revolutionary technologies?  Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman pursue those questionsaround the world. They speak to an author of a major United Nation’s report who says that AI will spur global growth more than earlier innovations like steam power. But who benefits from that growth will be shaped by how well Africa, Latin America and the rest of the Global South absorb and adapt these powerful tools and manage the inevitable disruptions to work. “In some ways, the Luddites weren’t wrong,” says the co author of the report, Michael Chui of McKinsey.  In other words, AI can either help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals or move them out of reach.  To understand what is already being done in Africa, Edie and Claudia speak with two African experts, Natha

Annie Lennox is the special guest on this episode of Global GoalsCast. The rock star talks about why she moved away from music and into an activist role fighting HIV / AIDS and working to improve the lives of girls and women around the world. She urges women -- and men -- to embrace the term Global Feminism. “If you use the term Global Feminism to describe what you represent and what you stand for,” Lennox says, “you understand feminism all around the world. It is not only from a western perspective.” At its heart, Global Feminism recognizes that there are millions of girls and women around the world that “don't have a voice and by using the term you're making them present and known.”  Facts and Actions are offered by Sioned Jones, Executive Director of The Circle, the organization founded by Annie Lennox. You will also hear about the Index of Women Entrepreneurs created by our sponsor MasterCard.

Co-hosts Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman meet three female comics who challenge bias through their jokes and their lives. “I like to play with stereotypes,” says Irish comic Catherine Bohart. “I like to upend them. I like to use them.” Noam Shuster, an Israeli, took up comedy after she failed in more traditional approaches to peacemaking. “Through comedy and performance you can reach more audiences and diverse audiences and audiences maybe I would have never met.” Sindhu Vee (her real name is Venkatanarayanan. Guess how funny she makes that!) explains that her comedy is powered by the “outsiders gaze” of being a bit different all her life. She was born and raised in South India, became a banker, moved to London and married a Dane (they have 3 kids).  “I think the biggest stereotype is a mother in comedy,” She says. Co-Host Edie Lush notes how similar these three modern female comics seem to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, who fought to break into a man’s world of comedy sixty years ago. That’s a fictional TV sh

The Global GoalsCast regularly highlights the importance of educating girls. This episode Co-hosts Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman talk with two remarkable women whose lives dramatize how much difference a woman can make when she is trained in technology. Marieme Jamme, founder of #Iamthecode, tells her story: Sold into prostitution as a teenager in Senegal, she escaped the traffickers, taught herself to read, write and code and ultimately founded the program that intends to teach a million girls to code by 2030.  Victoria Alonso Perez grew up in Uruguay dreaming of Mars. Uruguay has no space program but Victoria persisted and became a trained engineer working with small satellites. Now she is using that training to help her country’s ranchers solve their biggest problems -- tracking their cattle herds, preventing theft and reducing the carbon footprint of raising beef. Also, Shamina Singh, President of the Center for Inclusive Growth and EVP for Sustainability at our new sponsor, MasterCard, describes Gir

Food is powerful in ways you may not often think about. Farmers in Zambia couldn’t get a market for their crops until a mobile phone application connected  them to buyers. Now, their income is up and their community is growing. They’ve gone from being subsistence farmers to agricultural entrepreneurs, reports cohost Edie Lush. The same technology that others use to find cabs on Uber or dates on Tinder has now created “eBay for farmers” who otherwise would remain isolated at the end of a long dirt road.

This bonus episode features an episode of Business Extra by The National AE where Global GoalsCast co-host Edie Lush and Business Extra co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi discuss the Sustainable Development Goals which are large-scale, ambitious and inspiring. They are also changing the way we seek out investment opportunities as we move to meet this defined future with over $12 trillion up for grabs for the private sector according to the UNDP.  The podcast was produced as part of The National’s Future Forum initiative which will examine how advancements in technology and societal developments will impact our future, and also coincides with The National’s tenth anniversary.

The fight to end extreme poverty is one of the great success stories in the modern world as more than a billion people have risen out of extreme poverty since 1990. SDG #1 is to eliminate all extreme poverty by 2030, yet as the date gets closer the work gets harder. The Gates Foundation Goalkeepers annual report states the worst poverty is increasingly concentrated in the places least able to fight it, especially countries south of the Sahara. In this episode, Bill Gates shares his surprising projection numbers and Dr Joyce Banda, former president of Malawi, President Emmanuel Macron, and other guests, share their ideas for how we can take increased action in the fight to end extreme poverty. Finally, hear how our sponsor, Cisco, uses their technology and expertise to accelerate global problem solving to benefit people, society, and the planet and to create an inclusive digital economy.

In this episode, we share the newly-launched results of the Hispanic Sentiment Survey, showing how Hispanics are the main driver for the middle class in America, and yet underestimate their own contributions.  Latinos are launching more new businesses, achieving higher levels of education, and reaching the C-suite of Fortune 500 companies in greater numbers than ever, but more than three-quarters of Latinos recently surveyed were surprised by at least one of these and other well-documented facts, as reported by the We Are All Human Foundation. Listen and understand how the time is now for perceptions to catch up with the many significant contributions being made by the Hispanic community in the U.S. 

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will make the world a better place for all, but the world cannot reach these goals without the active energy and new thinking of young people. Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman explore that idea in this episode about youth and political activism. Speaking to young people on every continent, they find a strong desire to team up with friends to solve social problems, though, they also hear concerns about “clicktivism,” a tendency to confuse expressing a desire for action on social media with real action. This episode touches on the increasing role of young women as leaders and the shapers of agendas, including more attention to issues of concern to women, such as menstrual health, as well as efforts to bring more women into politics and governing. Also, hear how our sponsor, Cisco, introduces you to a valuable resource for youth, Global Problem Solvers: The Series.

Even here in the 21stCentury human beings are still enslaved by other human beings. Hard to believe? Listen to HRH Princess Eugenie of York and her friend and colleague, Julia de Boinville, describe their campaign to stem the scourge of Modern slavery. An estimated 40 million people, many of them women and children, are sold into bondage for sex or labor. The ISIS slave market described by Princess Eugenie may sound much like slave markets of old, but modern slavery can look very different from what you imagine from history. Modern slaves often work in domestic labor or even cleaning offices. They walk among us, explains Ms de Boinville. Edie Lush points out that Sustainable Development Goal eight calls for ending slavery by 2030, as part of creating proper working conditions for all. Princess Eugenie urges every one to play a role by asking how your food and services are brought to you, especially if they seem surprisingly inexpensive. Unquestioning consumers help make Slave labor hugely profitable for busin

On this episode of Global GoalsCast, UN Foundation is taking over to discuss SDG progress, specifically in regards the High Level Political Forum, or HLPF, an event where country representatives come from all over the world to share the progress they are making on the Sustainable Development Goals.  From Rajesh Mirchandani, Chief Communications Officer of the UN Foundation, on this episode, he states: 'where I hope we are in 2020 is that we have not only identified what are the key blockers, the key transformative issues, and the key questions that we need to solve by that time to really accelerate SDG progress, But we're well on the way to solving. Because we want to kind of make sure that people keep on track. Now we've made it three years in [to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change]. There is progress. We need to do more. But you know what? As a Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed said 'we can do this and we have to do this.'

In the developed world, refugees are often viewed as a menace or a burden. That is just one of the myths busted in this episode of the Global Goalscast. For one thing, nine out of ten refugees don’t come to the developed world. They flee from one poor country to another. For another, in many of those countries, innovative thinking has turned refugees into an opportunity to develop the economy and make life better for both newcomers and their hosts. Uganda gives out land to refugees. Kakuma Camp in Kenya creates business and agriculture zones where hosts and refugees can work together. Edie Lush and Claudia Romo Edelman talk to the International Rescue Committee, UNHCR, Western Union and others about this urgent topic. Urgent because in the years to come the number of displaced persons will climb as climate change adds to the disruption.

The Sustainable Development Goals have excited the creative industry - fierce rivals in marketing and communications have found common ground to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.  In its June 2018 Episode, Global GoalsCast will explore the stories behind the partnerships that have resulted in some surprising changes in consumer behaviour.  We’ll also examine how the new Sustainable Development Goals Lion with Cannes Lions and initiatives by creative forces such as SAWA are increasing attention on the Global Goals. Partnerships forged for good are partnerships that create positive change.