The Nation Newspaper

Category: Impact Journalism Day

  • “La Mocha,” Argentina’s first high school for transgender adults

    Currently 150 students aged 16 to 70 are working towards their high school diploma at this groundbreaking institution.

    Viviana Gonzalez was eight years old when she realized that she was a transgender girl. She was living in Buenos Aires with her older sister and her mother, who had moved there from the Corrientes province when she was very young. “She raised us as a single mother to the best of her abilities; we grew up fast. When I was 10, I started working selling groceries, and my sister worked as a maid,” Gonzalez says.

    At 12, she turned to prostitution as a means of subsistence. “I was very poor and wanted to continue studying, to become a teacher or a doctor,” she says. “It all ended when I was denied the possibility of attending high school, because they asked me to dress like a boy. I couldn’t do it, that wasn’t how I saw myself.”

    She was forced to leave school. “That’s when my dream began to die. I had to become an adult early on and look for money,” Gonzalez says. “Others tend to stereotype people like me – short dress, high heels, wigs, prostitution, drugs and alcohol. They don’t realize we also feel, think, cry, laugh, have goals and dreams.”

    Gonzalez is now 48 years old, and her dream is about to come true. Last December, she graduated from the Trans Mocha Celis Popular High School, a free, accelerated public high school for transgender adults that opened its doors in Buenos Aires in November 2011. It was the first of its kind in the world.

    An inclusive educational space oriented towards gender, sexual and cultural diversity, the school seeks to make up for the exclusion suffered by transgender people, but is open to others as well.

    Today, 150 students, aged 16 to 70 and up, attend classes here. Forty percent of them are transgender, as are some of the teachers. But there are also students from nearby urban settlements, people with diverse gender identities, and the children of immigrants. They all have one thing in common: their education was interrupted at some point in their lives and they want to complete it.

    The school’s name was not randomly chosen. Mocha Celis was a transvestite born in Tucumán, who spoke up against violence and was killed after receiving threats from a policeman. She could neither read nor write. Her story reflects the extreme vulnerability and human rights violations that the transgender community in Argentina still faces. Its members are marginalized, until recently criminalized, have a life expectancy of less than 35 years, and have tremendous difficulty gaining an education or finding decent jobs.

    A phrase popularized by trans activist Lohana Berkins and painted on one of the school’s walls illustrates its goal: “When a transvestite goes to university, her life changes. Many transvestites in university can change an entire society’s life.” Transgender women are often survivors – many had to leave home as children and found that prostitution was the only way to get by.

    “I used to write poetry when I was a little girl, and I would have loved to continue,” Gonzalez says, “but the night and prostitution made my notebooks go blank. Years go by and dreams fade away. Sometimes you just hope something good will happen.”

    And it did. One afternoon, a friend took Gonzalez to “la Mocha.” As Gonzalez recalls, “When I arrived, one of the people there welcomed me with open arms and said something I had been waiting to hear since I was 11 years old: `Welcome to Mocha Celis, you’re going to finish high school.´”

    “This was the world’s first trans high school,” principal Francisco Quiñones Cuartas says. “Since we opened, pre-university programs have been developed in Chile, Brazil and Costa Rica. In Argentina, there is one in Tucumán, and another one connected to the University of Avellaneda, in Buenos Aires.”

    The school’s founders volunteered to teach for free until 2014, when the high school and its diploma were recognized. Today, the state funds the teachers’ salaries, but “the school’s daily upkeep is covered by the teachers’ efforts and donations,” Quiñones Cuartas says.

    Luli Arias, 32, is one of the transgender teachers, giving lessons in health, gender and study techniques. “Eighty percent of the trans students are involved in prostitution, and more than 70 percent say they want to do something else,” she says. “We understand the complexity of their lives and the type of support they need. The students identify with the teachers, and when some say ‘I’d like to become a teacher or a lawyer,´ I get very excited.”

    This year’s graduating class is the school’s sixth. Most of the subjects they study are the same as those taught at any other high school, but tailored to a gender equality perspective. Gonzalez says la Mocha has made her proud to be who she is: “I think I’m going to be a very good teacher one day. Education is key, because it allows us to make choices in life. We all have the right to get an education, and to dream.”

     

     

    This article is being published as part of 7.7 Billion, an international and collaborative initiative gathering 15 news media outlets from around the world to focus on solutions for social, economic and civic inclusion.

  • 7.7 billion reasons to foster social inclusion

    Globalization has been a boon to some economies, tearing down barriers and shortening distances between countries and people. At the same time, it has highlighted tremendous inequalities, sparking polarization and exclusion in societies around the world.

    Some cannot resist the temptation to look inward, building walls of fear and mistrust against anyone who thinks, looks or acts differently. Last year, United Nations and human rights experts warned of an alarming rise in racism and xenophobia across the globe. Growing economic and territorial inequalities, coupled with a crisis of faith in public institutions, are only worsening the situation – paving the road for further inequality, isolationism and upheaval.

    People are increasingly moving from rural to urban centers, where markets are stronger and job opportunities supposedly better. Fifty-five percent of the population worldwide now lives in cities, according to the United Nations, a number expected to reach 68 percent by 2050. If we are to meet the needs and uphold the basic rights of the 7.7 billion people who inhabit the planet, we must find ways to address major challenges such as affordable housing, decent employment, access to education and health care, and civic representation.

    Instead of walls, we could be building bridges. Some people are doing just that. Coming from different countries, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, they are devising effective local responses to global issues. In this way, they are showing that it is possible to develop inclusive social, economic and civic solutions and to reduce the gap that is marginalizing enormous segments of the world’s population

    Transgender school dropouts in Argentina now have the possibility to finish their education without fear of discrimination, thanks to the world’s first public trans-oriented high school. In Uganda, a group of dance lovers is travelling the country, using traditional dances from each region to help the local youth out of drug abuse and poverty. A startup in Belgium has come up with a program for senior citizens to mentor unemployed immigrants and guide them through the challenges of finding a job and integrating into their new home.

    Initiatives such as these have the power to create a more sustainable, fair and resilient future for all.

    That is why, over the next week, (The Nation) joins forces with Sparknews and 15 news media outlets across the world to bring these and other initiatives to readers, as part of the editorial project 7.7 Billion, supported by the Schwab Foundation. Like the people behind these stories, these newsrooms have different backgrounds, cultures and languages. Still, they have chosen to come together to explore the issues that divide our societies and investigate constructive ways to address them.

    If two heads are better than one, imagine what 7.7 billion could accomplish.

     

    Christian de Boisredon, founder of Sparknews, & the Sparknews team

     

  • In France, harnessing the (renewable) energy of citizens

    When an artist and a farmer in Brittany, Michel Leclercq and Jean-Bernard Mabilais, decided in 2002 that it would be a good idea to produce energy locally from renewable sources, they started knocking on doors and trying to get their neighbors involved. The response was quasi-unanimous: “Are you crazy?” Perhaps, but 12 years and 12 million euros (USD 14.2 million) later, the two Frenchmen realized their dream through a citizens’ project called Bégawatts. This germ of an idea for a citizen-led renewable energy initiative eventually grew into a nationwide movement piloted by an association called Energie Partagée (Shared Energy).

    Bégawatts, located amid gently rolling hills covered with fields and forests outside the village of Béganne, between Rennes and Nantes, is a wind farm with four turbines. It became operational in 2014 and now produces enough electricity to supply 6,250 households annually.

    Leclercq noted that the idea seemed insane at first, but “Then more and more people joined us and began to believe in it.” The personal implication of the locals was such that the driver of the truck delivering the first turbine was moved to tears by the warm welcome he received from the crowd awaiting its arrival.

    Energie Partagée came about after members of the group managing Bégawatts met with other French renewable energy players at a seminar in 2010. The organization now has two arms. Energie Partagée Association, based in Paris, provides advice and assistance to 270 citizens’ clean-energy projects all over France. Energie Partagée Investments, just outside Lyon, raises funds and finances selected renewable-energy projects.

    “The projects we support must be citizen-based, non-speculative and have strong local roots,” said Marc Mossalgue, communications director for Energie Partagée. “They must prove that they can generate electricity, be totally transparent and democratic, and keep transparent accounts. We also expect them to make a maximum effort in environmental education.”

    Energie Partagée Investments’ entry-level investment is only 100 euros to ensure that it remains open to all, with an expected return of 4 percent over a 10-year period. So far, 15.5 million euros have been raised and 11 million euros invested in 46 projects, producing energy through wind, solar, hydraulics and biomass.

    Manuel Chatain, a 24-year old student who is preparing for a career in corporate social responsibility, invested 1,000 euros in the fund and recommends it to friends and acquaintances because it “conforms to my values.” Another investor, Robert Rochaud, 63, of Poitiers, France, has gifted shares to his grandchildren. “I’m worried about their future,” he said. “If they ask me later what I contributed, I can look them in the eye.”

    Though citizen participation in renewable energy initiatives is well established in Germany and Denmark, “Energie Partagée is a pioneer in France,” said Andreas Rüdinger, an independent consultant and researcher with the Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales. “It’s an indispensable player.” He pointed out, however, that although things are improving, citizens’ projects are still at a disadvantage in France because of complicated regulations and resistance from the military to wind farms. “If we are going to construct a new model for energy production, we need the means to succeed.”

    Bégawatts is the first wind farm in France built and managed by citizens. One of the beauties of this project is that the persistence of its founders and the lessons they learned as they dealt with myriad difficulties in realizing it – raising money (banks were initially unwilling to provide loans), dealing with legal and regulatory requirements, technical issues – were put to use to benefit other citizens’ projects. What at first seemed a wildly impossible idea, especially in a country where energy provision had long been controlled by the monolithic state-owned Electricité de France (EDF), became practicable, thus inspiring other such projects.

    Over the long term, each project has the potential to become a money-earner for its community. To fund Bégawatts, the initial 3 million euros came from a variety of sources: some 1,000 private investors, the Energie Partagée investment fund, local communities, etc., until banks finally came on board, loaning the project 9.3 million euros. The Bégawatts project is operated mostly by volunteers, though one paid employee helps advise the locals on how to reduce their energy needs.

    The electricity produced is sold to EDF under a 15-year contract with a guaranteed rate adjusted for inflation. Proceeds are used to pay off the bank loan. While the locals still get their energy from a utility company of their choice, they have the satisfaction of knowing they are contributing to the production of renewable power and will eventually have returns on their investment.

    There’s another advantage to citizens being in control. Since wind farms are not always well-received by local residents, who might object to the sound they make or the possible harm to wildlife, Bégawatts remains open to dialogue with neighbors and accommodates their requests – something that would be unlikely with a commercial wind farm operator. To ensure that wildlife is protected, a count is kept of dead bats found under the turbines. Another particularly French concern was the potential annoyance of hearing the turbines while having an evening aperitif in the garden. The solution: the association shuts one turbine off at cocktail hour.

  • Live Love Recycle, a « 100% social solution » to waste crisis

    Wearing a helmet, elbow and knee pads, his yellow security jacket reflecting the sun that has come out after a rainy afternoon, Ibrahim rides his e-bike through the chaos of traffic in Beirut. The young man might be dressed like a delivery boy, but he has nothing to deliver – rather, he collects. Ibrahim is one of 400 collectors of the Live Love Recycle project, which provides Beirut’s citizens with a free, on-demand service picking up recyclables.

    The Live Love Recycle initiative is more than welcome in the Lebanese capital, where waste of all kinds is thrown away unsorted in a single plastic bag, ending up either in coastal landfill likely followed by the Mediterranean Sea, or else being burned in the streets. So far, the Lebanese government has failed to create an efficient waste management system that would be both environmentally friendly and mindful of citizens’ health and well-being.
    Yet the Lebanese are no quitters.

    The country’s 2015 waste crisis sparked massive protests and lasted for eight months, until the government finally introduced a temporary plan. However, it also enabled the creation of several alternative projects to deal with the issue. One of these was Live Love Recycle, launched by Georges Bitar, a member of Live Love Lebanon, an NGO that supports the environment, communities and culture. “In 2015, thousands of people protested against the trash crisis. It was a very understandable reaction. But at Live Love we do not like to complain; we prefer action. It runs in our blood,” explained the 30-year-old.

    Looking for ways to finance his project, he contacted the French NGO ACTED (Agency for technical cooperation and development), which eventually became a partner. He also reached out to the United Nations World Food Program, which now funds and supports the project.

    After months of paperwork, recruitment and training of collectors, the service started operations in Beirut on April 9, 2018. To gain access, a user must download the Live Love Recycle mobile application. Two clicks and a half-hour later, an e-bike comes to the doorstep to pick up the household’s recyclable waste (paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and cans).

    “I was already used to sorting my waste, but since I had to take it to the recycling center myself, I was less involved. Now that I’m using Live Love Recycle, I pay attention to waste sorting again,” explained Zeinab Ajami, who has used the service several times.
    Later, the collected waste gets delivered to another Lebanese NGO, arcenciel, for proper disposal.

    “What I like most about this job is that we contribute to protecting the environment,” said the collector Ibrahim. Like him, every one of the 400 recyclable material collectors is Syrian. Some of them willingly volunteer for extra unpaid hours, enjoying the friendly, family-like atmosphere at the Live Love Recycle’s control center – a warehouse where more than 50 e-bikes and four tuk-tuks are parked.

    Every day at noon, about 20 women recruited and trained for the project prepare hot meals for the collectors. They gather each morning in groups of six or seven at one of their homes and prepare more than 80 meal platters. Mirna Toutayo, a housewife and mother of three teenagers who cooks for Live Love Recycle, said the salary she receives “helps tremendously to cover the family’s expenses.”

    “Providing hundreds of job opportunities to women and people coming from vulnerable communities makes Live Love Recycle a 100% social initiative,” said Bitar, who is determined to continue on this path.

    Bitar is full of ideas for the future. But he is also aware that developing his project will take time. Working in collaboration with the Municipality of Beirut, he wants to start by setting up a dozen waste bins throughout the city, painted in the project’s colors. “With those bins, we can reduce the collection time and increase its pace until we are able to collect 20,000 bags a day,” he said.

    Bitar is optimistic about the project’s sustainability, while noting that “Ideally, the government should launch a similar initiative.” Hadi Mahdi, Live Love Recycle’s Operations Manager, added: “When a project is good, there is always a way to ensure its future.”

  • Leveraging the potential of media to end harmful practices

    Op-ed by Jaha Dukureh, Regional UN Women Good Will Ambassador for Africa and Activist

    The turn of the century has introduced media as a means of global connectivity. Depending on who is utilizing it, media channels may be unethical sources for false news, or it can be a way for families, friends and communities to connect. Recently, media is also being used as a tool for ending harmful practices against girls and women. In recent years, two of the biggest media campaign’s in the history of The Gambia have involved protecting the rights of girls and women, namely the campaigns to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and right after that, Child, Early, and Forced Marriage (CEFM).

    Utilizing media has always played a major role in the work my organization, Safe Hands for Girls, does. It’s been through media that our campaigns first gained traction and international recognition, and it has also been through media that FGM survivors have the platform to discuss what it means to be a survivor and what resources need to be put in place to support them and ensure that the practice of FGM no longer continues. Our number one tool of outreach and mobilization has been media. Throughout the years, we’ve hosted radio programs, plays, social media campaigns and media personnel training sessions just to name a few.

    There has been an increased use of social media amongst young people, and this medium has been a very relevant tool to share information. Social media has helped to disseminate information about previous and current projects on ending FGM, and it has also helped secure partnerships with other organizations and people we currently work it. It has served as a platform to run end FGM campaigns, and it has also been a means to dismantle outdated ideas that people have held about the practice. The use of social media is also a way to connect survivors with one another, so they may be able to support one another and also build on each other’s work.

    It’s been through media use that we’ve been able to have access to hard to reach target populations. One of our most successful programs, the Radio Listening Group targets older women who work in village farms and often don’t have access to our events or documents. These women had very little access to news about FGM because of the nature of their work and didn’t have time to listen to the radio by the time they got home. In order to reach them, we designed a radio program during their hours at the farm that talks about FGM. From there, we supplied each group with a mobile phone so that they have the opportunity to call into the show and discuss their views on FGM. Through this, women in those communities had the opportunity to talk amongst each other on why they were for or against FGM and what the myths and misconceptions they held about FGM were. This program inspired women within those communities to take lead in the advocacy process by arming them with knowledge on FGM and also the laws surrounding FGM. The program has led to an increased change in attitude about FGM, with more women looking at the practice less favorably than they did initially.

    Another crucial aspect of using media to influence change, has been changing the language being used to report on FGM and other sensitive topics. The importance of training media personnel on socially conscious and survivor centered methods of reporting cannot be overstated. In 2017, Safe Hands for Girls hosted the FGM Media Awards to recognize significant efforts made my individual journalists and media houses who reported on FGM and did so factually and holistically. This was done to encourage reports to hold themselves at higher standards and to ensure that the information being spread on FGM would be beneficial in ending the practice.

    If used the right way, media may be the most powerful tool we have in ending harmful practices against girls and women, such as FGM. We have only scratched the surface, but I look forward to a future where people are more interested in stories being told with a socially conscious lens, that centers survivors and the work of activists instead of whether a celebrity has gained weight.

  • Safe water in a ceramic pot

    One by one, the pupils of Bright Little Angel Primary School rush toward a blue and white water dispenser, colorful plastic cups in hand. The dispenser, a “Purifaaya,” is one of four that stand at different corners of the school. Since this primary school in Nakawuka, in the Wakiso District of Uganda, lacks a canteen, this free drinking water is essential. “We emphasize the importance of drinking water because we want the pupils to get used to it,” says Basajja Kirinya, the school principal.

    According to WHO, more than 800 million people around the world lack access to clean water. In Uganda, water-borne diseases remain a leading cause of infant mortality for children under age five. The World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program notes that diarrheal diseases from poor sanitation and time spent fetching water cost the country more than USD 170 million every year.

    Before a good Samaritan donated the Purifaaya water dispensers to the school, its pupils drank mostly boiled water. “At times, the water would still be hot by lunchtime or we would find ourselves leaving it out in the open to cool. The Purifaaya changed much of this,” says Kirinya.

    The Purifaaya is manufactured in Kampala by a US-based social enterprise, Spouts of Water. Its co-founder, Kathy Ku, spent a summer in Uganda and was struck by the lack of access to safe water, so she partnered with fellow Harvard student John Kye to create the organization in 2012. In July 2015, Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment determined that Purifaaya was 99.9% effective and its water safe for consumption.

    Unlike most other systems that provide safe water in developing countries, the Purifaaya has a ceramic filter inside the plastic dispenser made entirely with local materials: clay, sawdust and a thin layer of silver nitrate to enhance bacterial removal. This ceramic pot permits water to trickle through, maintaining its taste and scent, while trapping viruses, pollutants, and organic and inorganic materials larger than half a micron. Its gravity-based filtration process allows a flow rate of up to three liters per hour.

    Spouts of Water employs 35 local workers at its factory while developing a vast network of partnerships to ensure distribution and reach everyone regardless of economic status or location. For a single family, a complete set of Purifaaya sells for 100,000 Ugandan shillings (USD 27). Spouts of Water aims to provide safe water to at least 10 million Ugandans who still lack access to it, and has started supplying neighboring Congo, too.

    While all Purifaaya filters are the same size, they come in two different sized dispensers – one with a 20-liter capacity, purchased mostly by families, and another with a 65-liter capacity for companies or institutions. Since November 2015, more than 1,600 filters have been distributed to schools thanks to a partnership program with the NGO Save the Children, ensuring safe water for roughly 30,000 students.

    Annet Nakibinge, a counselor in Nakawuka, is one of 110,000 Ugandans who have gained access to clean drinking water since Spouts of Water was launched – she has been using the Purifaaya for five months. With a family of nine, she notes that boiling water every two days was both costly and time consuming. “Before we acquired the dispensers, we would boil water and strain it,” she explains. “We consume about 10 liters every two days” – or about one dollar’s worth of charcoal in a country where some 10 million people earn less than $1.25 a day.

    The major sources of water in Nakibinge’s area are a well and a borehole. But with the well usually contaminated due to frequent use, people turn to the borehole for water instead, which appears clean yet often contains metallic objects and bits of rust.

    Nakibinge has been instrumental in ensuring that more families in the area acquire the dispensers. She helps organize meetings where locals learn about the importance of clean water. At these meetings they receive a 15 percent discount on the purchase of a Purifaaya and can pay for it in monthly installments.

  • Electric Rain

    She is just 15 years old, but has already designed a smart device that generates electric power from raindrops. Reyhan Jamalova, a ninth grade student at the Istek Lyceum in Baku, Azerbaijan, came up with the idea for Rainergy after her father wondered: “If you can make energy from wind, why not from rainwater?”

    Rain is one of the last unexploited energy sources in nature. When it rains, billions of liters of water can fall, which have enormous electric potential if used in the right way. “We designed Rainergy to produce electricity from the rain, to solve the problem of energy deficiency in rainy and low income countries,” says Jamalova, whose motto is “Light up one house at a time.”

    Jamalova and a friend, Zahra Gasimzade, assisted by their physics tutors, worked for four months running calculations and developing a device to harvest energy from rainwater. The State of Azerbaijan underwrote the initial costs of building it, 34,100 Azerbaijani manats (USD 20,000). Rainergy has since attracted interest from other investors, in particular from India.

    The nine-meter-high instrument consists of four main parts: a rainwater collector, a water tank, an electric generator and a battery. The collector fills the reservoir with rainwater that will later flow at high speed through the generator to produce energy. The generated energy is stored in the battery, and can relieve pressure on the local power grid by providing communities with an additional source of electricity. The team has developed two prototypes.

    One lights up three LED lamps while the other produces enough electricity to light 22 LED lamps for up to 50 seconds using only seven liters of rainwater. Jamalova says that underprivileged communities can use Rainergy to power items such as street lamps.

    Rainergy’s competitors for renewable energy include solar panels, wind turbines and piezoelectricity (which results from subjecting some solids to mechanical stress). Most of these alternatives require substantial investment, labor, and energy or electricity experts to build and operate them, whereas the Rainergy device has a relatively simple design.

    “Our model is much more efficient in comparison with similar systems,” explains Jamalova, noting that piezoelectric rain generators produce only 25 microwatts of power. Rain-harvested energy emits 10g/kwh of CO2 during electricity production, which Jamalova claims is “very low compared to alternative energy solutions.”

    Another advantage of the Rainergy device is that it stores energy in a battery, so that it is effective even when there is no rain.
    Rainergy was first presented at the Global Summit of Entrepreneurship in India in November 2017. While Rainergy’s creators originally conceived of the device for regions of Azerbaijan with the heaviest rainfall, they are aiming to market it internationally – especially since, as Jamalova says, “Azerbaijan is not a rainy country.”

    In countries such as the Philippines, India, Malaysia and Indonesia, where monsoon rains are frequent, this device could be a perfect solution for reducing dependence on power lines and improving access to electricity. 21 percent of the population in India and 11 percent in the Philippines lack access to electricity, according to the Global Tracking Framework 2014 report.

    “In the future, we want to create a business based on this device,” says Jamalova. For now, the invention has landed its young creator on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list 2018 – the first Azerbaijani person in history to make the rating.

  • António Guterres: ‘Our responsibility is to invest in people’

    For the 2018 edition of Impact Journalism Day, the UN Secretary-General examines the path towards global achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Identifying and sharing positive initiatives led by citizens, social entrepreneurs, governments and international organizations, gives us hope, and can help us overcome challenges and reach our global objectives together.

    Three years ago, world leaders unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Negotiating this framework for a better future and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals spanned three years and involved hundreds of meetings, thousands of documents and millions of people. That was the easy part. The harder work is now under way: bringing the blueprint to life.

    The Goals were adopted with justifiable enthusiasm. Covering everything from energy to education, infrastructure to institutions, urbanization to innovation, they offer a holistic roadmap for addressing the world’s ills. They apply to all countries, reflect the priorities of all countries and were embraced by all countries, with presidents and prime ministers putting their weight behind the Goals’ core promise: to leave no one behind.

    In this third year of implementation, momentum is still with us. Many countries are aligning their policies and budgets behind the Goals. More and more businesses are recognizing the opportunities to invest in new technologies, open up new markets and build the sustainable and inclusive economy of the 21st-century. Civil society organizations are using these global Goals to drive local change.

    At the same time, progress is too slow to meet the targets by the deadline of 2030. Armed conflicts and humanitarian crises are also throwing us off course. Action in three areas is especially urgent.

    First is climate change. The nine warmest years on record have all occurred since 2005. Last year, the economic toll of climate-related disasters hit a new high: $320 billion. People’s lives are being shattered. We need greater ambition, including a 25 per cent cut in emissions by 2020. These are the facts. Fortunately, there is another, more hopeful reality: Clean energy is more affordable and competitive than ever. The International Labour Organization reported recently that common sense green economy policies could create 24 million decent jobs globally by 2030. Climate change is still moving faster than we are; our challenge is to usher in a race to the top.

    Second, like global temperatures, inequality keeps rising. Globalization has brought remarkable benefits — increased wealth, a growing global middle class and major inroads against poverty. But more than over 800 million people continue to live in extreme poverty. And many people, sectors and regions feel they are being left behind, unable to participate in this visible prosperity. This, in turn, undermines social cohesion and heightens the appeal of populists and xenophobes. Our responsibility is to invest in people and build a fair globalization that works for all.

    Third, we will neither conquer inequality, nor halt climate change, nor indeed achieve any of our shared goals, without empowering the world’s women and girls. Yet gender-based discrimination remains entrenched. Representation in political life and the business world is growing, but slowly. Within their own households, women’s voices are frequently stifled. And violence and harassment are pervasive, most often with impunity. The imperative is clear: change power dynamics as a matter of basic rights, but also because women’s participation makes economies more dynamic, societies more resilient and peace agreements more durable.

    Sustainable development also depends on upholding human rights and ensuring peace and security. After all, leaving no-one behind means reaching the furthest behind first: those facing armed conflict, governance failures and political repression and instability. This is why the framework includes a dedicated goal on inclusive societies, access to justice and accountable institutions. Sustainable development is an end in itself, but it is also the best way to prevent crisis and build a safer world.

    The Sustainable Development Goals take us to the year 2030. But even today we must look to the farther horizon of frontier issues. Technological innovation continues to provide answers for many pressing challenges. Yet developments involving artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and cyberspace also have dark sides and will lead to upheavals in labour markets, global security and society in general. We must work across sectors to move forward in ways that ensure the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are enjoyed by all.

    The Sustainable Development Goals are our pathway toward a fairer, more peaceful and prosperous world on a healthy planet. They are also a summons to inter-generational solidarity. We have no greater duty than to invest in the well-being of young people so that they can realize their potential. I am determined to ensure that an effective, reformed United Nations is up to the task in enabling people everywhere, today and tomorrow, meet their needs and realize their aspirations.

    António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

  • Learning to breed wild bees

    Having wild bees as pets might sound a little off the wall, but such is the case for Tom Strobi and Claudio Sedivy. The two biologists from Zurich are working with an environmental issue at heart: boosting the populations of these endangered pollinators.

    In 2011, a United Nations report set alarm bells ringing. It said that the worldwide bee population is in free fall. According to the UN, the phenomenon is due to a reduction in flowering plants, as well as the presence of pesticides and air pollution. And the stakes are high. Without bees acting as pollinators, one-third of our food supply could disappear. Of the 100 plant species accounting for 90 percent of the world’s food, more than 70 percent rely on bees for pollination.

    A growing number of documentaries and articles about the issue indicate that the countdown has truly begun. But is the demise of these insects unavoidable? Could we take individual action and work toward a reversal of the trend? Banning pesticides worldwide is beyond any one person’s control. However, the Zurich startup Wildbiene + Partner, founded in 2013 by Strobl and Sedivy, offers each one of us the possibility to make a simple gesture for the survival of the bees. By setting up a mason bee nest on a balcony or in a garden, any person can become a breeder and provide bees with a place to reproduce.

    Unlike honey bees, mason bees have no queen, do not sting and do not produce honey. These furry little amber-colored insects prove rather agreeable company in an urban garden or on a balcony, where they can enjoy a diversity of plants. They are hard-working pollinators. “One single wild bee pollinates as much as 300 honey bees,” Strobl said. But not all flowers have quite the same draw for mason bees. They particularly enjoy fruit trees and plants such as strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

    Five years after the launch of the startup, the concept has already won over some 30,000 clients and 300 farmers in Switzerland. And the number of takers is firmly on the rise. Starting this year, the offer was extended to France. All one needs to do to become a breeder is order the equipment from the startup’s website, then wait for delivery of a bee home and a population of 25 bee cocoons.

    The Swiss-German startup sells two different bee home options, one for private clients and the other for professionals. The first is a small home, around 20 cm wide, with roughly 100 nesting holes. It costs 120 Swiss francs (USD 120). The second is a similar structure but eight times the size, and it sells for 200 francs. Strobl and Sedivy recommend that breeders have as many different homes as possible to optimize pollination. “Depending on the nature of their crops, we advise people to install two to four nests, or homes, per hectare,” Strobl said.

    Wild Bees

    To increase the population of wild bees in Switzerland, and fight their extinction, Wildbiene + Partner suggest that bee home owners pay a small fee to send the inside structure of their bee homes back every autumn and the nesting tubes each hold six to 12 cocoons. The eggs, collected by the biologists, are then used to make new stocks and replenish the bee homes. They claim each bee home can lead to the birth of more than 100 bees per year.

    In exchange, the biologists check the returned bee homes for parasites. “As this is not their natural habitat, the risks of infestation are higher,” explained Strobl. They keep statistics for every bee home, giving breeders a way to know exactly how many bees they’ve brought into the world since setting up their operation.

    Aside from boosting pollination, the two Zurich biologists are trying to raise people’s awareness of how bees live. For a slightly higher fee, individuals can order a bee home equipped with an observation drawer. Any curious breeder can then study the insect along its evolutionary cycle from egg to cocoon. Although mason bees zoom in and out of their homes between March and June, from July onward the majority of their activity takes place inside the structure.

    www.wildbieneundpartner.ch

  • Skate Brothers, the antivirus for gangs

    The bike rider makes a silhouette in the air before landing on the ground and undertaking a few complicated acrobatics. You can clearly see the satisfaction on his face. He is one of many young people who, in a troubled area of Honduras, have swapped misdemeanors for sports thanks to the Skate Brothers.

    “I do these tricks on bikes, but I am also a skater. I was on the wrong track for six years; I was looking for an adrenaline rush on the streets and found one here that doesn’t put my life at risk. Here we are one big, happy family,” says Gendrik Torres, 19, before jumping his bike onto a multipurpose track that many others are enjoying.

    When the sun sets, a swarm of children and young people come together every day to demonstrate their skills on the track, while others show off their singing and dancing talents in a room next door. Some speed off on roller skates like arrows, others do tricks on their skateboards, still others take to the track with their bikes.

    “Pain is temporary, but satisfaction is forever. I love coming here because there is a family atmosphere and it stops you from thinking about getting into gangs or things like that,” explains young skater Bayron Rodriguez, 13, with the wisdom of an adult.

    He and Torres are just two of the many young people who gather every afternoon to take part in this program, which came along like a light in the darkness for younger generations in Cofradía, a community south of San Pedro Sula, one of the most violent places in Honduras. At the end of 2017, the country’s homicide rate was 42.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world.

    The inspiration to create the program came from Jessel Recinos, a Honduran who traded crime for skating and founded Skate Brothers to keep young people away from gangs.

    “I joined a gang when I was 15, but in 2005 my life changed after I was shot with a 9-millimeter pistol. The last bullet went through my back and came out above my heart,” describes Recinos, unbuttoning his shirt to show the scar. “As I watched the blood run out of my chest, I promised God right there and then I would leave this dark world behind. The doctors didn’t understand – I survived by miracle.”

    That vow to “become a good person” led him to start Skate Brothers in 2011, a nonprofit skating club that has become a model for young people tempted by drugs, crime and the maras (gangs). “We have prevented many people from falling into vandalism; we are the antivirus to this problem,” says the 27-year-old.

    At first, the project was located within Cofradía’s Outreach Center (Catholic Church aid centers for children and young people in high-risk areas) and was equipped thanks to a donation of 24,400 Honduran lempiras (USD 1,030) from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), via the Alianza Joven Honduras program.

    In 2017, also thanks to donations from USAID and the Catholic Church, they were able to open their own facilities, which include an office, a gym, a meeting room, football and basketball courts, a multipurpose track, bathrooms, a cafeteria and locker rooms.

    “When we cut the ribbon, I sat down on the track, looked at my ‘sheep’ and it brought tears to my eyes to see how many young people were already safe,” says Recinos, who in 2016 was chosen by the U.S. Department of State as one of 10 Emerging Young Leaders across the world.

    Today, about 70 children and young people come to have fun for free at a place where they can practice rollerblading, skateboarding, acrobatics, modern dance, rap and football. “Some of them used to belong to gangs, and Skate Brothers has changed their lives. We don’t just teach them different disciplines, we are also mentors because we have become friends,” says Recinos.

    The club goes far beyond sports. This year, some 2,000 inhabitants of the region will benefit from a nutritional program sponsored by USAID. “We have a direct link with the public. Every September 15 [Honduras Independence Day] we take part in parades, put on shows at streets fairs, and go to every event that the community invites us to,” says Recinos.

    The institution makes ends meet thanks to meeting room rentals, a gym, sponsorships, raffles and other activities. “We do it out of love,” says the founder, but he admits that they need further financial support.

    Among their current objectives is obtaining legal person status so they can process any aid that comes to them, and also reaching out to other parts of the country. “One of our goals is to expand into parts of Honduras where there are conflicts. If we can find an organization to support us the project will keep on flourishing, because we want more young people to be reached by Skate Brothers,” says Recinos.