July 2009

Two thousand fifteen is just half a decade away.  That means we only have five more years to make a tangible and visible change in the lives of millions of people especially those in the developing world. That means we have five New Years and Christmases more before we can completely fulfill our promise to the world’s poorest people.

Indicators seem to be the talk of the (global) village—development indicators, urbanization indicators, health indicators, indicators of wealth and status, or of racism and equality… Yet are they really worth all this euphoria?

International Youth Day was established by the UN in 1999, to raise awareness of the importance of youth participation and investing in youth. The theme of the day for 2009 is Sustainability: Our Challenge. Our Future.

As many of you know, sustainable development means meeting the needs of the people today without hurting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In other words, we can’t make decisions based on what we need now, without considering the impacts of our actions in the years ahead. According to the UN, “sustainability does not only refer to maintaining environmental balance and renewal. Sustainability encapsulates three facets of life: the environment, society and the economy.” For example, many girls around the world don’t get to go to school because they have to help with household chores, such as fetching water. While this might be an immediate need for the family, in the long-run educating girls can be a powerful force for development:  if a woman is educated and has an income, then she is more likely to send her children to school and to the doctor to make sure they are healthy.

The last of my trips around Colombia (at least for now) took place in Santander, a department located in Central Colombia. This department is one of the most important regions of the country from an economic point of view (4th biggest) and its capital city, Bucaramanga--commonly known as the “city of parks”--is the urban area with the lowest unemployment rate in the country (and yes, the lowest unemployment rate in Colombia is actually high for international standards: 8.8%!).