"Social Research as a catalyst for progress on the SDGs" at the International Conference on Social Research and Innovation (ICSRI) 2023

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good morning to you all.

It is a great honour to be with you here this morning, and to be back at Villa College once again.

This conference is being held halfway to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda, where data shows that we are leaving more than half the world behind.

The 2023 Global SDG Progress Report shows that just 12 percent of the Sustainable Development Goal targets are on track.

Progress on 50 percent is weak and insufficient.

Worst of all, we have stalled or gone into reverse on more than 30 percent of the SDGs.

Gender equality is some 300 years away.

Inequalities are at a record high and growing.

Just 26 people have the same wealth as half of the world’s population.

The 2023 Global SDG Progress Report urges governments to set and deliver on increasingly ambitious national benchmarks to reduce poverty and inequality by 2027 and by 2030.

This calls for a focus on areas that hold the key to progress: from expanding social protection and jobs, to tackling the crisis in education; from gender equality to digital inclusion.

But what does SDG Achievement look like?

SDG progress is not about lines on a graph.

It is about healthy mothers and babies; children learning the skills to fulfil their potential; parents who can feed their families.

It is about renewable energy and clean air.

It is about a world in which everyone enjoys human rights and human dignity.

Ladies and gentlemen

It is grim reading at the global level on SDG progress.

In the Asia-Pacific region, based on current trends, it will take us to 2047 before the SDGs will be achieved.

Our region is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, like rising sea levels, extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

This is because the region has a high population density, rapid urbanisation, and relies heavily on fossil fuels.

It is crucial to address climate change and promote sustainable development to ensure the long-term stability and resilience of Asia-Pacific states.

But our region faces global headwinds of the triple F crisis - food, fuel, and financial challenges.

For Small Island Developing States such as Maldives, the heavy reliance on imports making them highly susceptible to price fluctuations and disruptions in the market.

Limited resources and rising global food prices threaten food security. This makes sustainable agriculture and innovative solutions critical to tackle food insecurity.

SIDS also face obstacles in transitioning from imported fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Chartering our way through the Triple F crisis requires targeted interventions, international cooperation, and approaches that take into account the unique circumstances of SIDS.

To address these challenges, we need evidence-based solutions.

We need to do many things very differently.

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Social research plays a crucial role in understanding the complex dynamics and underlying impact of global challenges.

The SDGs pledge equality, inclusion and justice by thinking and practicing planning and policy and community, national and international levels.

As a tool for SDG success, social research offers:

First, a focus on neglected social content and the impact of development processes and the role of social institutions, relations and actors in sharping development policies and plans.

Second, engaging multiple stakeholders, policy makers and civil society actors from around the world in generating and sharing knowledge about emerging critical issues.

Third, providing a space for the exchange of ideas, giving prominence to marginalized viewpoints, often challenging mainstream development thinking and offering alternative policy options.

By analyzing data and conducting rigorous studies, at the person and multiple levels, social research enables us to develop policies and interventions that address affordability, economic sustainability, and financial instability.

How so? Allow me to share a few examples.

• For sustainable agriculture (SDG 2), social research helps us develop practices tailored to the unique circumstances of small economies. It examines local agricultural systems, the impact of climate change, and explores innovative solutions.

This knowledge informs strategies to enhance domestic production, improve resilience to climate change, and reduce dependence on imported food.

• Social research also guides us in the transition to renewable energy (SDG 7). By studying social acceptance, behaviour change, and community engagement, we can determine the most effective ways to promote renewable energy adoption in small economies.

• Social research contributes to economic diversification and resilience (SDG 8) by providing insights into local industries, entrepreneurship, and financial systems.

Understanding the specific needs and potential of small economies allows us to design policies and interventions that foster inclusive economic growth.

• Social research supports partnerships and international cooperation (SDG 17) by providing a solid knowledge base and evidence for collaboration.

It facilitates the sharing of best practices, lessons learned, and innovative approaches among different stakeholders, promoting effective partnerships for sustainable development.

Now let’s focus on the Maldives.

What can we do to accelerate our progress on achieving the SDGs for all Maldivians?

Last year, the UN team delivered an SDG Roadmap through collaboration and consultations with Government, academia, private sector, civil society and other stakeholders.

The roadmap emphasizes the need for integrated planning, evidence-based policymaking, transparency, accountability, and public engagement to build resilience in the face of the challenges ahead of us.

From these consultations, we identified 6 key accelerators that we offer to you as ideas for collaboration. I am more than pleased that many of these coalesce with the 8 tracks of this very conference!

First, strengthening institutions and supporting effective, transparent, and accountable governance.

Second, decentralization has demonstrated early indications of the benefits of enhancing access to and quality of services, and creating livelihoods and opportunities across the country regardless of where you live. Essentially, decentralization has highlighted the potential of people-centred community development.

Third, economic diversification is essential for long-term prosperity in Maldives, and fore sighting the economy of Maldives in 2050 and beyond, and what measures are needed to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economy.

Fourth, adapting and adjusting the means – by embracing a sustainable blue economy, promoting inclusive and sustainable tourism, improving support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, enhancing employability and skills development for youth, leveraging digital technologies, empowering women, reforming social protection systems, adopting a circular economy approach to waste management, and strengthening environmental management.

Fifth, investing in a policy and institutional framework for acceleration including national planning, coordination, and monitoring systems. At the centre of this framework should be a rapid harmonization and integration of all existing policies – because all of the 17 SDGs are integrated and indivisible.

Sixth, community engagement and women's empowerment as opening points for strengthening community resilience and maximizing the economic potential of the country through inclusion and equality. Women’s empowerment, engagement, and participation are crucial for SDG progress.

As we approach the ambitious SDG Summit in New York in September 2023, Our ask to Maldives’ Policy makers.

First, prioritise people-centred Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

The Maldives is facing serious threats from climate change, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather events.

a. social research can help us understand how these environmental changes impact our communities, identify the most vulnerable, and assess how well our adaptation efforts are working. We have much to do to identify and address the specific challenges faced by people with disabilities, women, youth and those outside of the traditional structures.

b. It allows us to develop strategies to make our communities more resilient, encourage sustainable behaviors, and involve local people in climate change work. Communities are the best at identifying what will work for their local context, the culture and social norms of their society, and who will make the decisions on what will be done.

c. By using social research in our decision-making, and through collaboration with communities, we can better respond to climate change, making sure our actions align with what our communities need and want.

Second, targeting Poverty and Inequality: While the Maldives has made progress in reducing poverty, we witness income inequality, especially outside urban hubs.

d. social research helps us identify those who are most at risk of poverty, understand the obstacles they face in improving their lives, and evaluate the effectiveness of our poverty reduction programmes. With the right information, we can pivot and adjust, and with courage and leadership, can innovate and trial new approaches.

e. It also gives us insights into the various dimensions of poverty, such as access to healthcare, education, and basic living standards, so we can design targeted solutions. f. It enables us to make the necessary linkages between our economic policies and ambitions, and the limiting factors of an unequal or discriminatory social system which holds us back on making sustainable progress on reducing poverty, and those at risk of falling into poverty.

Third, Strengthening Planning, Coordination and Monitoring Mechanisms:

Countries who make the most progress on the SDGs are those which have developed long term national development plans. Why? Because the kind of changes needed require mid to long term investment, such as fore sighting for the jobs of the future and building the universities and vocational institutes needed to train our future labour force, NOW.

Because it goes beyond one Government cycle, it means it is also one of the hardest things to achieve. It requires exceptional leadership and bipartisanship, with a visionary approach to the future of the Maldives and its place in the world.

It means coming together for the future.

This takes us to effective coordination and monitoring systems.

g. Social research helps us understand how well our current coordination structures are working, identify any issues that hinder implementation, and propose ways to make them more effective.

h. It also encourages collaboration among different stakeholders, including the government, political parties, civil society, and academia, to work together, share knowledge, and improve our monitoring efforts.

And finally, my ask of you as social researchers:

You have a critical role to play in generating a healthy democracy and sustainable development.

How so?

• Social research helps us imagine alternative futures and actively shape our collective destiny.

• Enables us to make informed choices about our finances, understand economic crises, and evaluate policies. Most importantly, it enables us to define and target our financial assistance to the most vulnerable, therefore bringing us all forward together.

• It contributes to our health and well-being by tailoring interventions to people's everyday lives and contexts.

• Social science serves as a public good, communicating research in engaging ways and fostering collaboration across disciplines.

• It strives to change the world for the better by influencing human welfare and development.

• A robust social science culture guarantees democracy by informing social policies, holding politicians and media accountable, and promoting transparent and democratic processes.

Finally, let’s remember, we have faced multiple global, regional and national challenges throughout history.

Yet we have overcome. There is still hope, and there is still the possibility that we can make the progress that is needed.

We will only achieve it together. Through collaboration and cooperation.

And in this, I reassure you, and am encouraged by the fact that working together with academia in the Maldives, that we can develop and promote many of the options and accelerators that will get us there.

Thank you.