Latest news with #UNSustainableDevelopmentGoals
Daily Tribune
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Tribune
Bahrain Rises 12 Spots in Global Gender Gap Report 2025
TDT | Manama Several members of Bahrain's Shura Council and Council of Representatives, along with civil society representatives, have affirmed that Bahrain's impressive progress in the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 by the World Economic Forum reflects the Kingdom's leading efforts in promoting equality, equal opportunities, and women's empowerment across all fields. They praised the positive indicators highlighted in the report, including the significant growth in Bahraini women's participation in the labor market and leadership roles. Bahrain's advancements in legislation supporting women's rights and full participation across various sectors demonstrate its commitment to positioning women as essential partners in nation-building. They emphasized that this success is not surprising but rather the result of sustainable policies and strong collaboration between the government, private sector, and civil society. Shura Council member and head of the legislative committee, Dalal Al Zayed, said that this progress stems from the wise vision and royal support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who champions Bahraini women's advancement, and the unwavering backing of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, who has made women's empowerment a national priority. She added that Bahrain's policies and strategies aimed at increasing women's economic and political participation contributed significantly to this achievement. It reflects the country's practical commitment to gender equality and has strengthened women's presence in leadership and political life, with the Shura Council and Council of Representatives working together to align legislation with women's needs. Shura Council member Ali Abdullah Al Aradi expressed pride in Bahrain's leap in the report, describing it as international recognition of Bahrain's model for gender balance. He credited this to continued royal support and highlighted the deep-rooted political participation of Bahraini women, backed by many real-world examples. He also acknowledged the role of the Supreme Council for Women, under the leadership of HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Consort of the King. The Council has introduced initiatives like the National Gender Balance Model, which integrates women's needs into national development — gaining international praise. Shura Council member Talal Mohammed Al Mannai, Deputy Chair of the Services Committee, noted that Bahrain advanced 12 places in the 2025 report compared to 2024. He said this reflects progress in all sectors under the leadership of the King and the close follow-up by the Crown Prince. He praised the government's effective policies to empower women through education, training, and facilitating access to leadership positions. He stressed that this achievement supports Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 5: Gender Equality. Bahrain is now among the leading nations globally on women's issues and empowerment. Ahmed Sabah Al-Salloom, MP and Chair of the Parliamentary Financial and Economic Committee, pointed out that Bahrain's gender gap score rose to 68.4% in 2025 from 66.6% in 2024, showing consistent improvement in women's empowerment, legislative development, and economic participation. He noted that women's issues are a top government priority under HRH the Crown Prince's leadership. He also highlighted Bahrain's ranking as second in the Gulf and Arab world, reflecting the country's commitment to investing in women's capabilities and ensuring their sustainable participation in national development. Ziba Askar, President of the Bahrain Investment Professionals Society, noted that Bahrain ranked first in the Gulf in economic participation and opportunities, gender income equality, and women ministers (21.7%). She said this showcases Bahrain's maturity and leadership in women's advancement, backed by decades of institutional support from the Supreme Council for Women and cooperation across sectors. She emphasized the importance of the World Economic Forum's report as a global benchmark for tracking women's participation and contributions to national development. Khalid Al Zayani, Honorary Chairman of Zayani Investments, said Bahrain's achievement in the 2025 report is another addition to its long record in women's empowerment and confirms Bahrain's global leadership in adopting best practices supporting women. He reminded that Bahrain was among the first countries to introduce formal education for girls in the 1920s, and Bahraini women have consistently excelled. He also highlighted the private sector's commitment to supporting women by providing equal work opportunities and promoting fairness, in line with the initiatives of the Supreme Council for Women.
Al Etihad
2 days ago
- Business
- Al Etihad
UAE ranked top global performer in SDG progress speed among high-income countries
29 June 2025 23:46 ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)The UAE has been named the fastest mover among high-income countries and the MENA region in advancing towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the latest Sustainable Development to the report, the UAE achieved a 9.9 percentage point increase on the SDG Index between 2015 and 2024 - nearly triple the average progress recorded by its high-income peers (+3.5) and more than double the average growth rate seen in the MENA region (+4). This places the country ahead of all its Gulf peers and makes it one of the fastest-progressing nations Sustainable Development Report 2025, produced by the UN-affiliated Sustainable Development Solutions Network, assesses the performance of all 193 UN member states across 17 goals adopted by all member states in 2015. This year's report assigned SDG Index scores and rankings to 167 countries, excluding those with substantial data SDG Index score, rated on a scale from 0 to 100, reflects a nation's proximity to meeting the 2030 targets in areas such as poverty, health, education, and environmental the overall rankings, the UAE secured the 80th position out of 167 countries with a score of 69.8, outperforming all its Gulf neighbours. It also scored above both the MENA average of 65.6 and the global average of UAE also leads the MENA region in the number of SDG targets already achieved, with top scores in No Poverty, Quality Education, and Reduced Inequalities country has maintained strong performance in Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and is showing moderate improvement in areas such as Good Health and Wellbeing, Gender Equality, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, and Sustainable Cities and report defines moderate improvement as a rate of score increase that exceeds 50% of what is required to meet the goal by 2030. Maintaining an SDG achievement, meanwhile, indicates that the target has either already been surpassed or is progressing at the required pace."Compared with their regional peers, Benin, Nepal, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan have shown the fastest progression," the report said, placing the UAE in an elite group of nations accelerating towards the SDGs at the highest these gains, the report warns that progress remains uneven globally."On average globally, the SDGs are far off-track. At the global level, none of the 17 goals are currently on course to be achieved by 2030", the report stated. Just 17% of global targets are on track, with many countries constrained by conflict, fiscal limitations, or structural "most UN member states have made strong progress" on key access-related targets, such as under-five mortality, internet access, and electricity coverage. This year's edition, themed "Financing the SDGs by 2030 and Mid-Century", marks the 10th anniversary of the goals' adoption and comes ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be held from June 30 to July 3 in Seville, Spain.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
India working on plan to counter Pakistan's July UNSC presidency
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel India is putting in place a strategy to highlight its economic prowess, its attractiveness as a global investment destination and contribution towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals while also underlining its problem of cross-border terror , as Pakistan prepares to take on the presidency of the UNSC in in the know told ET that while Pakistan is expected to try and build a narrative on Kashmir and internationalise it through an open debate during its presidency and hold the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)-UN meeting in July, India will focus on its economic success and organise a photo exhibition that showcases the human costs of affairs minister S Jaishankar, who will be on a visit to the US for Quad foreign ministers' meeting, will inaugurate the photo exhibition in New United Nations Security Council will hold an open debate on July 22 on maintenance of international peace and security; promoting peace and security through multilateralism and the peaceful settlement of disputes, ET has will participate as this is an open debate. A meeting is planned on July 24 on cooperation between the UN and OIC. Other events are planned in UNSC throughout the month, including on the West Asia events are planned through July to showcase India's success story while Pakistan continues to parrot its decades-old version on Kashmir, according to a person who did not wish to be Bery, vice chairperson of government policy think tank Niti Aayog, is expected to travel to New York in July to be part of programmes on economic growth story that India will be organising at the UN, including on UN has achieved a significant milestone by entering the top 100 countries in the UN SDG Index for the first time, ranking 99th out of 167 nations with a score of 67.
Mint
2 days ago
- Business
- Mint
India makes strides on UN development goals, but challenges persist
New Delhi: India has made measurable progress across several of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but persistent gaps in critical segments continue to challenge its development trajectory, the government's latest progress report shows. The SDG National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2025, released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) on Sunday to mark the 19th Statistics Day, presents a detailed time-series assessment of over 280 national indicators aligned with all 17 SDG goals. The 17 SDGs, agreed to by all governments in 2015, are non-binding policy objectives for sustainable development, and include targets such as removing poverty and hunger, and ensuring good health, quality education, and gender equality by 2030. Among the standout gains, budgetary allocation to the department of health research soared by over 400% between FY16 and FY26. Institutional credit to agriculture rose from 0.76 times the value of agricultural output in FY16 to 1.56 times by FY24, signalling stronger financial backing for the farm sector. Food security coverage also expanded, with a rising share of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, 2013 between FY16 and FY25. Access to basic services showed marked improvement. The SDG National Indicator Framework Progress Report 2025 serves as a valuable tool for policymakers to identify priority areas requiring interventions, Rao Inderjit Singh, minister of state (independent charge) of MoSPI, said in a statement. "This year holds special significance as it marks a decade since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015," he said. "This milestone offers a moment for both reflection and renewed commitment—an opportunity to evaluate our progress and recalibrate our path toward achieving the Agenda 2030," he added. The proportion of households with toilets, electricity, clean cooking fuel, and piped drinking water rose significantly over the past decade. The share of renewable energy in total installed power capacity also grew between FY20 and FY25. Yet, the report highlights several areas of concern. Government expenditure on essential services, education, health, and social protection edged down slightly from FY16 to FY24. The issuance of soil health cards to farmers declined from full coverage between 2015 and 2017 to 87.25% in FY25. The net sown area as a share of cultivable land dipped, while road accident fatalities rose from 11.81 per 1,00,000 population in 2015 to 12.4 in 2022. Alarmingly, the adolescent birth rate in girls aged 15–19 increased slightly from 11.1 per 1,000 in 2015 to 11.3 in 2021. Cases of dowry-related offences and overall crimes against women also trended upward between 2015 and 2022. On the economic front, India's FY25 GDP is projected to grow at 6.5%, just shy of the 7% annual target set under SDG 8. However, the manufacturing sector's annual growth rate has moderated since FY16. Built on data provided by various ministries and departments, the report offers a comprehensive snapshot of India's SDG trajectory, showcasing progress where policy interventions have worked, while flagging critical gaps that demand urgent, targeted action. Meanwhile, Saurabh Garg, secretary at MoSPI, said that the year 2025 is a pivotal midpoint in the SDG journey, underscoring the need to assess progress and refine strategies to stay on course for the 2030 targets. "It (the report) serves not only as a tool for monitoring progress on SDGs but also as a reference for identifying challenges and recommending follow-up actions at the national level," he added.
The Citizen
2 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
209 women graduated from this year's Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative
According to PwC's economists, South Africa's narrowly defined unemployment rate is forecast to increase from 31.9% in 2024 to 32.3% this year. As the job market continues to tighten, the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will catalyse economic growth, innovation, and job creation in the country. PwC continues to actively address these challenges and invest in skills development through its Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative. Also read: WomenCans' inaugural State of Women Address at Pere House was a resounding success This programme addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of good health and well-being, gender equality, reducing inequalities, decent work and economic growth, and quality education by equipping rural women from previously disadvantaged communities with the business and entrepreneurship skills they need to thrive. This year, 209 women graduated from the initiative, and the graduation celebration was hosted on June 18 at PwC Waterfall in Midrand. PwC Southern Africa CEO Shirley Machaba said the initiative had empowered 4 511 women across South Africa since its inception 19 years ago. 'This initiative, which is part of PwC's societal purpose, has supported many women from rural areas to transform their lives and become capable and economically independent entrepreneurs…,' said Machaba. Also read: Local activist wins first position in the 2025 young leader's awards 'The most successful organisations of the future will be those that are agile, innovative, and deeply connected to purpose. And as we grow, we are committed to lifting others, especially women, who are the foundation of our future.' The initiative continues to transform how the graduates operate their businesses. As seen in the inspiring journey of Gaynor van Wyk and Pumla Milisi, who graduated from the cohort of 209 women this year. Van Wyk defied the odds and emerged as a respected businesswoman in construction after nearly two decades of challenges as an entrepreneur. From making just R12 000 monthly income, her business income has surged to a substantial amount that is positively impacting her. 'I used to feel uncertain about my place in this industry,' said Van Wyk. 'The Faranani training has helped me gain the confidence and practical skills in marketing, pricing, financial management, and business strategy, tools that have been instrumental in clarifying my vision for my business.' Also read: 72 youth-owned brands make the cut as Top 16 YOBAs finalists Milisi has built a thriving business in the construction industry, overcoming numerous challenges along the way. Despite limited formal education and resources, Milisi registered her business and secured major contracts along her journey, including securing work with a major construction company. 'The Faranani training played a pivotal role in my business's day-to-day operations. It has equipped me with essential skills such as tender document preparation, business planning, and administrative management,' she said. Milisi employs nine people, including youth from the Youth at Work Programme, and actively supports their professional growth through training and helping them obtain certification. Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration! Have a story idea? We'd love to hear from you – join our WhatsApp group and share your thoughts! At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
