Question

The economist Jeffrey Sachs argues that specific and achievable goals help to develop more effective policy reforms. As an example, he quotes President John F. Kennedy who gave the commencement address at American University in 1963. In that speech, Kennedy said: “By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all people to see it, to draw hope from it and to move irresistibly towards it.” Kennedy meant the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty needed to have specific and achievable goals to be effective, and Sachs means that the clarity of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can help achieve policy reform. How would you use the same idea of specific and achievable goals to think about changes in policy or society in relation to sustainability? Specifically,

1. Justify the relevance of Kennedy’s statement with respect to the UN SDGs with specific references to the role of governments and private corporations.

2. Identify two of the SDGs that you consider important (as they relate to either your local community or to your core values). With the two selected SDGs, evaluate the interdependence of those goals while considering how the funding needs and action plans for the goals are interconnected.

Answer 1

John F. Kennedy clearly mentioned that our goals must be clear and our approach to goals should be positive. Setting goals is important in many reasons.

First, they are essential for social mobilization. The world need to be in oriented in one direction to fight poverty or to achieve sustainable development. Adopting global goals help individuals, organizations, and government worldwide to agree on the direction. Essentially focus on what really matters for our future.

A second function of goals to create peer pressure. With the adopting of the goals, political leaders were publicly and privately questioned on the steps they were taking to end extreme powerty.

The third way that goals matter is to spur epistemic communities network of expertise , knowledge and practice into action around sustainable development challenges. When boald goals are set those communities of knowledge and practice come together to recommend practical pathways to achieve results.

Goals are interdependent on each other the goal is to eliminate poverty, when there are no education how can anyone developed.when education is provided to everyone then this will eliminate poverty itself because the main reason behind poverty is uneducated and unemployed people. When we impart good education then it produce skilled and efficient workers that can work to earn their livelihood so by this way he can eradicate his poverty. By this way every goal is interdependent.