Youth in Mental Health Series: #1

INTRODUCTION TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)

At the beginning of the new millennium, 189 members of the United Nations (UN) signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) declaration to guide development cooperation from 2000 to 2015. This declaration included 8 goals, 16 targets and 48 indicators.  In 2012, the UN conference on sustainable development (or RIO +20) took place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil from the 20^th-22^nd June and the UN Commissions on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) established an open working group on the post 2015 agenda. This resulted in the adoption of 17 SDGs by the UN General Assembly on the 25^th of September 2015. The SDGs will serve as the Global Development Benchmark up to 2030. The 17 SGDs are listed below as follows:

GOAL 1: No Poverty

GOAL 2: Zero Hunger

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being

GOAL 4: Quality Education

GOAL 5: Gender Equality

GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality

GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

GOAL 13: Climate Action

GOAL 14: Life Below Water

GOAL 15: Life on Land

GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Kenya’s vision 2030

Vision 2030 is the country’s development blueprint covering the period 2008-2030. It aims to “transform Kenya into a newly industrializing middle income country providing a high quality life to all its citizens by 2030.” The vision is based on three pillars:

·         Economic- Aims to improve the prosperity of Kenyans through an economic development programme covering all regions in the country and aiming to maintain a sustained economic growth of 10% p.a starting in 2012.

·         Social- Seeks to build a just and cohesive society with social equity in a just and secure environment.

·         Political- An issue based, people centred, result-oriented and accountable political system.

Linking SDGs to the vision 2030 pillars

The SDGs are linked to the three vision 2030 pillars as shown below:

Economic Pillar	Goal 1: End poverty Goal 2: Zero Hunger Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth Goal 10: Reduced Inequality
Social Pillar	Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being Goal 4: Quality Education Goal 5: Gender Equality Goal 6: Clean water and Sanitation Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production Goal 13: Climate Action Goal 14: Life below water Goal 15: Life on Land
Political	Goal 16: Peace and justice strong institutions Goal 17: Partnerships to achieve the goal

References
United Nations Website
Kenya Vision 2030 publication