These proven solutions are ready for action

UNICEF has identified four time-tested policy options that will amplify progress in the run-up to 2030 and for generations to come.

?Nine years ago, the 2030 Agenda set out a map of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 associated targets. The deadline for achieving them is looming closer every day.

The current status is disheartening:

• If recent trends continue, only 60 countries – home to just 25 per cent of the child population – will have met their child-related SDG targets by 2030, leaving around 1.9 billion children in 140 countries behind.[i]
• Not a single country is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. In nearly 40 per cent of countries, progress stagnated or declined between 2019 and 2022, affecting more than 1 billion women and girls. Moreover, 74 per cent of all SDG targets won’t be achieved without gender equality.[ii]
• A mere 15 per cent of all SDGs are on track[iii] – while 17 per cent of the targets are on track, nearly half show minimal or moderate progress, and progress has stalled or gone backward for more than a third.[iv]
• Intensifying this lack of momentum, the current annual investment gap for developing countries to achieve the goals is US$4 trillion,[v] and developing countries are unable to access sufficient financing on affordable terms.[vi]

The SDGs, however, are not stand-alone objectives to be discounted after their sell-by date – they were conceived as a springboard for continuously rejuvenated endeavours: to protect human rights and build peaceful, just and inclusive societies; to secure equal opportunities throughout the world, fulfilling human potential and contributing to shared prosperity; to invest in our children so that every child grows up healthy, thriving and free from violence and exploitation; and to remove legal, social and economic barriers to empowerment so that every woman and girl experiences gender equality.[vii]

This year’s UNGA is brimming with energetic expectations. Witness, for example, the Summit of the Future devoted to learning from our failures and their consequences, along with our past achievements. Recognizing that the decisions, actions and inaction of present generations have an intergenerational impact, the Summit calls for responsible action now to safeguard the potential of future generations.[viii] UNICEF and partners not only endorse such declarations, but we are also taking action to bring them to life.

Children now and always at the centre of international development

On Monday, 23 September 2024, UNICEF, the European Union and the African Union are convening “Proven Solutions for Children.” This high-level policy dialogue on ways to accelerate progress for the SDGs and beyond will tap into the collective insight and influence of representatives from government, civil society, the private sector, youth and child advocates.

And we have a remarkable line-up of speakers: Wellington Dias, Brazilian Minister of Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger; Sania Nishtar, CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Malala Yousafzai, Malala Fund Co-Founder; Tamilore Omojola, Nigerian advocate and Malala Fund Girls’ Vision Co-Lead; Niels Annen, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development; Ann Skelton, Chairperson for the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child; and Rosa Delauro, Congresswoman, United States of America; Yolanda?Grace Tembo, Zambian Youth Changemaker.

The content will focus on four proven solutions with the potential to have multiple impacts on child outcomes as well as the Sustainable Development Goals:

1. Sufficient and sustainable financing for immunization to protect lives and enhance the resilience of societies.
2. Investment in the early years to improve child survival, growth and well-being, and enhance the development of human capital.
3. Support for universal completion of secondary education to boost lifelong economic prospects and agency, especially for adolescent girls.
4. Scaling up child benefits to reduce poverty, advance progress on multiple child-related SDGs, and yield broader social and economic impacts.

The research and policy brief that underpin the four proven solutions present compelling evidence that investing in these policies can unlock benefits for child well-being across sectors. These policies benefit children not only directly but also indirectly – that is the multiplier effect: better overall results in child survival and development and more value for the money invested. And they were chosen because they have been shown to act as multipliers, accelerating progress now with lasting benefits into the future.

UNICEF calls on governments to integrate these policies into their public welfare strategies and ensure they are adequately resourced to reach every child in every community. Participants at the event will be engaged in looking for the best ways to support decision makers as they make such policies a priority, commit to their realization, and address the factors that hinder investment.

?On the threshold of recovery from multiple shocks and crises, we have a critical window of opportunity to rebuild progress in 2024 and beyond. More than 2.4 billion children today, and these children’s children, are counting on us to make our actions for the future a success.

[i]?? UNICEF Data, ‘Using Data to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Children’, 2024, https://data.unicef.org/sdgs .

[ii]?? Equal Measures 2030, ‘Findings from the 2024 SDG Gender Index: A gender equal future in crisis?’, Seattle, Wash., 2024, p. 3, available at https://equalmeasures2030.org/2024-sdg-gender-index .

[iii]?? United Nations, ‘SDG Stimulus to Deliver Agenda 2030’, https://www.un.org/en/sdg-stimulus .

[iv]? United Nations Economic and Social Council, ‘Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals’, A/79/79-E/2024/5 (Report of the Secretary-General Advance Unedited Version), New York, 2 May 2024, para. 1, available at https://sdgs.un.org/goals .

[v]?? Ibid., para. 6.

[vi]? United Nations, ‘SDG Stimulus to Deliver Agenda 2030’, https://www.un.org/en/sdg-stimulus .

[vii]? United Nations General Assembly, ‘Transforming Our World: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development’, A/RES/70/1, New York, 25 September 2015, paras. 3, 8, https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda .

[viii]? Summit of the Future, ‘REV3 Declaration on Future Generations’, United Nations, 2024, paras. 6–7, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sotf-declaration-on-future-generations-rev3.pdf .?