SDG8 promotes sustained and inclusive economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. Its leading indicators are adjusted GDP growth, adults with an account at a financial institution, and unemployment rate. Until 2019, Lebanon had major challenges, especially concerning GDP growth and unemployment.

To all of you, my dear fellow human rights advocates and women's rights enthusiasts, this year marks the loss of a great Gender Equality hero who inspired us all with her courage and avant-garde vision of a better life quality based on social justice, Nawal El Saadawi.

On March 28th 2021, Dr. Mohamed Al Ajami died at a hospital entrance. He was denied access to emergency health care after having been in a car accident that crushed his abdomen. Who’s to blame? A ruthless, inhumane, heartless hospital administration?

On Tuesday, 16th April, our event ‘Integrating Climate Action into your Business Model: Ideas for Entrepreneurs’ brought together entrepreneurs, ‘wantrepreneurs’ and impact leaders to consider how businesses can adopt more sustainable practices to meet the aims of both SDG 13, Climate Action, and the Paris Agreement.  

If the last two years of politics have shown us anything, the desire for change is as high as it has been. To win over the hearts and minds of consumers, forward-thinking businesses need to take a leaf from the progressive resurgence and offer a bold, hopeful and attainable vision of the future.

With society confronted by some of the biggest challenges it has ever faced, it isn’t surprising that people are starting to think about their work, careers and assets differently. There are now several extensive workforce surveys of the ‘millennial’ - anyone born between the early 80’s and the mid 90’s - that confirm a shift in how they approach their careers.

The main aim of the Sustainable Development Goals, due in 2030, is to “free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet”. The election of Donald Trump, and the general political atmosphere that has emerged show that at the moment, we are moving in the opposite direction.

The year of 2015 has been heralded as setting out a new roadmap for ‘sustainable development’ with both the SDGs and COP21 having delivered more clarity than we have had for a long time on the biggest challenges of our times.