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J
ust
, P
e aceful
and
I
nclusi v e
S
ocieties
tries will be to institutionalize the democracy and instil good
governance.
Building strong institutions should be a top priority. For
this to happen, it is important that along with key state
actors, non-state actors like civil society, advocacy groups,
development organizations and media act together.
Instead of rampant consumerism and looking to maxi-
mize growth at any cost, world leaders have committed to
17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be
integrated by a set of six essential elements: people, planet,
prosperity, partnership, dignity and justice. By setting these
ambitious goals and targets, we have given ourselves an
enormous task that aims to develop our world in a more
sustainable way, leaving no one behind.
Despite making impressive progress towards the previous
global goals – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) –
considerable disparities remain across countries and within
them. The issue of urban-rural divide has been acknowl-
edged as a key area which requires careful attention from
policy makers.
Rural development seems to get inadequate attention,
largely because of the global shift in focus towards growth
and industrialization. But if we look closely, it is evident that
integrated rural development can be connected with 8 out of
the 17 goals. Moreover, sustainable urbanisation cannot be
achieved in isolation from rural development; they comple-
ment, rather than contradict, each other.
If we address the symptoms rather than the sources of a
particular problem, solutions will not work. For example,
while addressing inequality, if we overlook the sources of
inequality and concentrate on providing a social safety net,
we are unlikely to solve the main issue. Similarly, we won’t
succeed in addressing the structural problems of the urban-
rural divide if we only offer incentives to some sectors like
agriculture. What is required is multi-sectoral and holistic
intervention supported by adequate investment.
People’s needs are different too, which is why it’s impor-
tant to involve the local community and key stakeholders
in the policy making process. Public participation enhances
the quality and credibility of the policy making process and,
most importantly, it creates a sense of ownership. As a result,
street-level bureaucrats
1
get an opportunity to manipulate
the policy outcome.
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz rightly pointed out that
“participation does not refer simply to voting, but requires
that individuals have a voice in the decisions that affect
them.” Countries can encourage public participation through
different means, including promoting inclusive policies and
legislation, ensuring people’s access to resources and infor-
mation, broadening public spaces, ensuring transparent and
accountable decision-making processes, and developing a
knowledge-based society.
One distinct characteristic of the SDGs is that they value
partnership. Their agendas are significant in terms of scope
and depth as the goals didn’t simply come about from closed-
door discussion between diplomats at the UN Secretariat,
but rather they were shaped by numerous stakeholders,
including non-government organizations and civil society
from different parts of the world. Similarly, unlike the previ-
ous MDGs, which were targeted at ‘developing’ countries,
SDGs are applicable universally. Their success depends on
collective global actions. Here, no country is on the sideline
anymore. Whether they are developing, developed or least
developed, every country is expected to help achieve these
common goals.
For peaceful, inclusive and just societies, we need to look
beyond crude economic growth but focus on the intrinsic
value of every individual, so that everyone feels that they
are playing a role and their voices are heard. Similarly, at
a regional and international level, it is important that the
international community helps less-developed countries,
particularly through capacity building, technology transfer,
trade facilitation and resource sharing.
Keeping this philosophy in mind, CIRDAP – a regional
intergovernmental organisation working for integrated rural
development in the Asia-Pacific region, has already inte-
grated SDGs into its action plans for partnering with other
regional and international organisations.
Progress of any sort will be impossible in the absence of
love, peace and cooperation between and within different
countries. Robust regional and global cooperation is critical
for achieving our global goals. We need to identify everyone’s
local, national and regional strengths and weaknesses, and
put in place a strategy for collective progress, making room
for each and everyone.
Bringing people together at Barefoot College
Barefoot College is an impressive example on how ordinary
people living in one of the most remote areas can be turned into
powerful changemakers. The college, which was established in
Tilonia – a small village in rural Rajasthan, India in 1972, takes a
holistic approach to nurturing people and empowering one village
at a time, helping inhabitants address key areas like energy,
education, clean water and advocacy.
It is guided by its core belief that communities are capable of
identifying and addressing their own needs, without depending
on external intervention. The initiative’s approach is to work,
learn, unlearn and share through practical training and learning-
by-doing processes. By handing over leadership to the local
community, it promotes a community-driven approach, which
values social capital. Based on this philosophy, all activities are
planned, implemented and monitored by the local people.
The Barefoot approach challenges the concept of ‘formal’
education, and democratizes knowledge and learning by training
illiterate and semi-literate men and women to work as solar
engineers, dentists, health workers, hand pump mechanics,
architects, designers and so on.
Here, technologies like solar energy are decentralized and
demystified because they are put into the hands of the rural
poor. The result is self-sufficient, inclusive and sustainable
development. One of the initiative’s core programmes is to
train rural women as solar engineers, popularly known as ‘Solar
Mamas’, so that they can return to their village and introduce
solar power. The programmes are having a huge impact. More
than three million women from more than 77 countries were
trained and more than 14,500 households were solar electrified
by these ‘semi-illiterate’ solar engineers.
By enabling people to take care of themselves, Barefoot
College has made the marginalized part of the solution. They
can take ownership of their community problem, and address
each challenge by exploring the power of ‘common and ordinary’
people who are typically left behind otherwise.