Monrovia – The Sustainable Development Network Liberia (SDN-Liberia), with the support of the United States embassy near Monrovia, has concluded training for youth groups on the Sustainable Development Goals Youth Action Mapper (SDGs YAM) with a call from the participants for more awareness.
Speaking to the media, Ernest Duku Jallah of Volunteers Hub Liberia (VHL) thanked the organizers and sponsors for the training. Jallah promised to work with government and partners achieving the SGDs by 2030.
“I was really inspired by the message but we need to expand the awareness through a radio program. I am a member of the Economic Students Association at the University of Liberia and a youth leader in Paynesville.
I can serve as an ambassador through those media but we need show to have a youth dialogue,” said Jallah.
For his part, Abraham S. Samalie of VHL took keen interest in the youth action mapper.
“That is a new lesson learned and we should take it to our various homes and organizations to see how best we can map those important events. So we can place them within our Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.
But Samalie believes the SDGs will not be fully realized if government and partners fail to communicate with its people.
“If you go to the slum communities and try to talk about the SDGs, the people there will not know. Even in the urban communities, not many persons are aware of the SDGs.
“So we could use UNMIL Radio to disseminate information to people of various political subdivisions in ghettos and slums to know what the Sustainable Development Goals are all about and how best it can be best achieved,” said Samalie.
He believes that the Public-Private Partnership that was recently signed by the government with Bridge International is to ensure quality education, which falls under Goal #4.
“Are they aware of those pillars? Are they aware of those cardinal goals and what do they stand for? They don’t know.
So, most often, they will always go on the rampage like they did recently in Kakata, [Margibi County] because they aren’t aware.
If that program was created on UNMIL Radio to explain the goals one by one, they would have known that the PPP is embedded within these goals,” he stressed.
Nafisatu Tunis represented the Paramount Young Women Initiative (Payowi) and attends the University of Liberia.
Tunis praised the organizers for selecting young people, who make-up 30-percent of the world’s population.
“My recommendation to the organizers is to get more young people involved in this initiative. That is where they will get more result with more awareness,” she added.
Melissa Tengbeh of the Student and Youth Education Research Network, who attends Starz College of Science and Technology, was grateful to the sponsors and organizers for the knowledge gained.
“At least, I can go out and tell my friends and family members about the SDGS. It is important for us to know what is going on around us and what will happen in the next few years,” she emphasized.
SDN-Liberia executive director Blamo Nimle thanked the participants and welcomed their suggestions.
“Since the establishment of SDN-Liberia, this is something that we’ve been talking about. I spoke with people from Radio Veritas; I spoke with people from UNMIL Radio; I spoke with people from even Prime FM.
“The late Mamadee Diakite and I sat together and tried to develop a program at least twice a week that will provide education to Liberians on the new development goals. It is very, very important. Even Eva Flomo and I spoke about that at UNMIL Radio.
“I am developing a concept note to share with radio stations to air a program [on the SDGs] regularly because awareness is very, very key in the achievement of the SDGs. The more people are informed in our society, the better it is for us,” Nimle underscored.
The SDGs YAM training was held at the We Care Library on Carey Street on October 1.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Foreign Affairs Minister Marjon Kamara, who was Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, played pivotal roles on the establishment of the SDGs.
The SDGs, officially known as transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is a set of 17 aspirational “Global Goals” with 169 targets between them.
These included ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests.
Spearheaded by the United Nations, through a deliberative process involving its 193 members, as well as global civil society, the goals are contained in paragraph 54 UN Resolution A/RES/70/1 of 25 September 2015.
The resolution is a broader intergovernmental agreement that, while acting as the Post 2015 Development Agenda (successor to the Millennium Development Goals), builds on the Principles agreed upon under Resolution A/RES/66/288, popularly known as The Future We Want.