Partnerships for Peace: Dignity for All

Each year, the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.

The theme of this year’s commemoration is “Partnerships for Peace – Dignity for All” which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace. (Source: UN)

The work of SERVE would not be possible without the partnerships that exist with individuals, communities and organisations in Ireland and overseas.

SERVE work with partners in Africa, Asia and South America, working towards the strategic goal of reducing vulnerability and improving livelihood security. We also have a specific interest in increasing access to employable skills training for young people.  SERVE works through a partnership model as we believe that partnership is the best way of achieving sustainable development for the communities we work with in the majority world.

Millennium Development Goal 8 reads Develop a Global Partnership for Development. It is probably one of the most overlooked and understated of the 8 MDGs. It is widely seen as a ‘weak goal’. It highlights the importance of effective global cooperation.

With the Sustainable Development Goals negotiations taking place in New York this coming weekend, we have a brief look at MDG 8 and it’s role in working towards a just and peaceful world.

MDG 8 calls on development partners to work together to ensure trade is fair, heavily indebted countries receive relief, funds are available to tackle poverty, essential drugs are available and affordable, and poor countries benefit from new information and communication technologies. The inclusion of MDG 8 in the Millennium Development Goals was intended to provide a unifying platform for the UN work on development from the year 2000 until 2015.

“It was an act of quite important normative consequences. It inextricably linked the external environmental factors inherent in the term “global partnership” as determinants for success at achieving the very concrete development issues referenced in Goals 1 to 7″. (Source: Analysis of MDG 8)

Looking forward, global partnership can make an important contribution towards post-2015 development. The UN High Level Panel Report “A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development“, sets out a universal agenda to eradicate poverty from the face of the earth by 2030 and deliver on the promise of sustainable development.

This weekend, world leaders will meet to agree upon a new set of united ‘Global Goals’ to ensure that the global community work in partnership towards sustainable development and a more equal world.