The world in numbers
8/10 Europeans think that it is important to help people in developing countries Source: ODI
3,200,000,000
1990
people were connected to the internet by the end of 2015, of which 2 billion are from developing countries
2015
Source: UNDP
Fertility
€ 68 BILLION Over half of the world’s development aid comes from the EU and its member states
www.worldsbestnews.org | www.ec.europa.eu/europeaid
September 2016
Source: EC
What is World’s Best News?
Data: World Bank | Illustration: Malte Kristiansen
DEFUSING THE ’POPULATION BOMB’ The world population increased rapidly during the 1970s, and many people were concerned that global overpopulation would lead to starvation. But since then, population growth has slowed down. At the peak
in 1964, each woman in the world had an average of 5.1 children during her lifetime. Today, the fertility rate has dropped to 2.5 children per woman. Sub-Saharan Africa is still the region where women
have the most children, but the fertility rate has also decreased there – from 6.8 to five children on average. The map shows the progress made in each country since 1990. / tgj
Fertility rate (children per woman) Less than 2 Between 2 and 3 Between 3 and 4 Between 4 and 5 Between 5 and 6 Between 6 and 7 More than 7
FUELLING CHANGE WITH THE POWER OF DESIGN
By Hjalte Zacharewicz World’s Best News
“The world isn’t going to solve these challenges if no one understands what they’re about,” says Trollbäck.
How does one turn what might be the most comprehensive and ambitious plan in human history, into something that people all around the world will actually understand and care about? It’s not a simple challenge, when the goals are laid out in long, wordy, and somewhat impenetrable documents. And yet, that was exactly what designer Jakob Trollbäck was asked to do: make the Global Goals a brand that is relatable to ordinary people.
Short and simple The first step was giving each goal a short, simple and positive name. For instance the mouthful “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development” became Life Below Water. Then each goal got a bold, colourful icon, arranged in an easy-to-read grid. “It is like a periodic table for change. I wish someone was filming the first time we showed the new names and icons to the UN,
Photo: CC BY-NC-ND Save the Children
Everything starts in school
Photo: CC BY-NC-ND UNICEF Ethiopia 2014/Ose
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Defusing the ‘population bomb’
The world isn’t going to solve these challenges if no one understands what they’re about
Jakob Trollbäck is the creator of the Global Goals icons and colours Photo © Trollbäck+Company
it was such a revelation,” Trollbäck says. “You know everybody is so involved and tangled up in all the complexities of the whole thing, that it all seems insurmountable sometimes, and suddenly there was just this moment where everybody
seemed to realise: yes, we can actually do this. That’s the power of design, of simplifying and finding the essential. It made the Global Goals seem clear, manageable and doable”. Everyone can help Jakob Trollbäck wanted to
“I mean, everybody has a favourite goal. Take me, I care about them all, but personally Goal 13: Climate Action is the most important to me. But to solve that you need Goal 4: Education, and for Education you need Goal 5: Gender Equality, so you see I am making up my own story for change, and everybody can do that. And everyone can help to change the world”.
A history of partnerships
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Editorial
Time to act together
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This paper was made by: Journalist Hjalte Zacharewicz Journalist Thomas Gringer Jakobsen Layout Malte Kristiansen Managing Editor Sophie Rytter Editor-in-chief Thomas Ravn-Pedersen
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natural world that is the reason we are able to be alive at all. For this reason, many of the goals are about protecting life on land and in the oceans, making our production sus-
The scale and ambition of the Global Goals calls for solutions that are more radical than business as usual
make the 17 existing goals relatable to everyone – to give people an entry point to global change and a sense of agency.
Everyone can help to change the world, and the Global Goals design might have brought us a little closer to doing just that. ICONIC ICONS
World’s Best News is an international journalistic awareness campaign and media, founded in Denmark. We publish news about progress and development solutions in collaboration with the UN, EU, governmental institutions, NGOs, and private sector companies. Read more at www.worldsbestnews.org
Boy flying a kite in Manila, Philippines Photo: CC BY-NC-ND Asian Development Bank
WE HAVE A PLAN – TO SAVE THE WORLD
It’s a much bigger challenge than going to the Moon. The United Nations have set the course for all of us to arrive at a sustainable Planet Earth in 2030. THE GLOBAL GOALS By Thomas Gringer Jakobsen World’s Best News
Late last year, it finally happened. All the countries of the world agreed on a huge plan to solve many of mankind’s worst problems. The plan is called the ‘Global Goals’: 17 ambitions for what we, the people of the world, want to achieve before 2030.
The goals include ending poverty and hunger, providing quality education for all, and much more. In short, it’s about making it possible for everyone to live a good life now, while making sure our children will be able to do the same. One of the world’s leading experts on global development, senior fellow Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution, believes these Global Goals could indeed change the world:
“There is now a common framework linking various pieces of development cooperation – security, environment, human rights, humanitarian aid – all of these are currently operating separately. Through the Global Goals they are being brought together. This can be truly transformative,” says Mr. Kharas. Total change Making life better for people should not make us forget the
tainable, and stopping global warming. But one thing is agreeing on such goals, another is to achieve them. “The scale and ambition of the Global Goals calls for solutions that are more radical than business as usual,” says Kharas. Poverty already halved The success of the previous Millennium Development Goals (2000–2015) give some reason for optimism. Extreme poverty has already been halved since 1990, partly thanks to those goals, according to Homi Kharas. “Leaders are more ambitious when they know others are also acting, and when they are being compared to their peers… no one wants to be last!”
By Suzanne Keatinge, CEO, Dóchas – the Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organisations
“You are the first generation that can end poverty. And you are the last generation that can avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The world needs you to step up this year and beyond – for people and the planet,” said the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, to young people gathered to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals, in Dublin Castle, in May 2015. A few months later in New York, “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” was adopted and we are proud that Ireland played such a leadership role in getting agreement on the 17 Goals. But now we have to focus on action. Only by putting humanity at the centre of our actions and by embracing the Goals can we secure a shared future on a fragile planet.