American Baptist Women’s Ministries has a commitment to bettering the lives of women and girls at home and abroad. To that end, we pay close attention to global initiatives that will have impact in critical ways. One of these global initiatives is through the United Nations. We encourage women’s and girls’ ministry groups to explore the information below and pray about how you, too, can be involved. (Scroll down for ideas.)
Transforming Our World: United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
At the close of the Millennium Development agenda in 2015, the United Nations assessed progress and where gaps still remained. The result is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with an expanded list of goals. This agenda is a “plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom,” (
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org). The agenda includes 15 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, each with a list of targets. You can find complete information on each of the goals by clicking on the links included with each goal listed below.
Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 1: No Poverty. End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
Goal 2: Zero Hunger. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Goal 4: Quality Education. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Goal 5: Gender Equality. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities. Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Goal 13: Climate Action. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 14: Life Below Water. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Goal 15: Life on Land. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
What can you do?
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For a more traditional video about the SDGs, click here. (UN has a playlist of videos on YouTube related to the SDGs. Click here for the full listing. A particularly effective video is “The Story You Are Shaping.”)
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Need ideas? Check out the UN’s “The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World” for lots of simple ideas for ways you can be involved. Take these to your women’s or girls’ ministry meetings and brainstorm together how you can interpret some of those ideas for your ministry or congregation.
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Want help with publicity? Visit the UN’s SDG “Media” page. Use the posters and downloadable logos there to publicize your discussion sessions on the SDGs.
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Click here for videos and photos from the UN that could be used to spur discussion.
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Check out the other mission focus pages on our website for ideas of engagement—many of them can easily be related to one or more of the SDGs.
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Subscribe to our AB Women’s Ministries online newsletters.