Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

New book just out in paperback and kindle :  Power to the People: Confessions of a Young Liberal Activist 1975-1987   by Felix Dodds This book was released in a parallel universe before being released in this one. To help the reader I would like to share comments from leading figures in that parallel universe. “I told everyone Felix was going to be trouble and see he was! If he and the Young Liberals hadn’t stopped me at the Eastbourne Defence debate I’d have been Prime Minister!!! Well maybe David (Owen) would have been Prime Minister but I’d have shone his shoes EVERY day. I miss David (Owen) very much . ” David Steel (former leader of the Liberal Party 1976-1988) “We should have given Felix that job at Social Democrat Party Headquarters instead of Danny ” Dr. Death (otherwise known as David Owen leader of the Social Democrat Party 1983-1987) “It will be my birthday on Tuesday. Last year, I reached the painful conclusion that there wasn't enough time lef...

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah ,  is the Secretary General of CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organisation, and Mandeep Tiwana,  Chief Programmes Officer  at the global civil society alliance, CIVICUS. This was first published in   Sur International Journal on Human Rights, published by Conectas Introduction: a multitude of contributing factors While the early 2010s were characterised by large scale people’s uprisings – whether against dictators or against neo-liberal economic policies – it seems that the second half of the decade will be defined by the rise of the strong man and a general degradation of constitutional democracy. This shift represents a major blow for human rights activists and civil society organisations pursuing social justice, already challenged by routine manipulation of the global security discourse to crush dissent at the national level. Yet, if we situate this shift within a context of cause and effect, where uprisings lead to...

This is a blog based on a presentation I made for the UNDESA workshop: Advancing the 2030 Agenda: Inter-linkages and Common Themes at the HLPF 2018. My power point can be downloaded here. The inter-linkages between the Water and Sanitation Goal and the other SDGs have concrete implications for framing and implementing policies, programmes and collaborations – with significant variations across regions. Understanding these implications as well as how to leverage them effectively can Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference The Nexus in its present discussion started when the German government initiated the discussions in August 2010 held at the Stockholm Water Week. They had successfully hosted conference in 2001 on Water and 2005 on Energy and they were now looking to input to the Rio+20 Conference. The 2011 Bonn Nexus Conference was a real attempt to address the inter-linkage agenda of Water-Energy and Food (WEF) . The inter-linkage agenda isn’t a new agenda there was always a paper at the...

By Felix Dodds and Minu Hemmati This is published also on inter-press service  news agency. Mark Ritchie, former Minnesota Secretary of State and former president of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, sent Felix an email about a very interesting interview with Kevin Watkins, the CEO of Save the Children Fund (UK). The interview and commentary were by Russell Hargrave in devex: “Save the Children CEO on a new era of competition for aid”. Kevin Watkins the CEO of Save the Children Fund (UK) We hadn’t picked up that Kevin had left ODI and gone to Save in September 2016. A little background on Save and the SDGs: Save the Children was the last development oriented organisation to campaign against the SDGs, and instead kept lobbying for an MDG+ agenda. This continued up to the G7 meeting in 2014. There was also the controversy and the rebellion of the Save staff (including others) over a ‘Global legacy award’ given to Tony Blair in March 2015...

Register now for the Nexus 2018 Conference on Water-Food-Energy-Climate through an Urban Lens  here. The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is pleased to announce our intention to reconvene our Nexus conference addressing Water-Energy-Food and Climate in spring of 2018. This will be the second Nexus Conference that The Water Institute has organized. The first in 2014 made a significant input to the negotiations for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through the Chapel Hill Declaration.​ The 2030 Agenda adopted in 2015 at its heart has 17 SDGs, 169 targets and 232 indicators. It is the blueprint to a more sustainable, fair and equitable world. It is the first global agreement that recognizes the interlinkages between sectors and suggests ways to address them. The 2018 Nexus Conference will focus on the: Science-policy interface; partnerships; solutions; review of Sustainable Development Goal commitments (2018 and for the Heads o...

Yonathan Parienti, former executive in major global banking groups such as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of China, and Julius Baer. Founder and CEO of Horyou, the social network for social good. This world is the one thing we all have in common! By working together, we can achieve great good things for the future of humanity. Change for social good, however, is an everyday endeavor and it starts with you and us to inspire others around us. To put this idea into practice,  Horyou , the social network for the social good, has decided to set up the  #HoryouLightChallenge  for all changemakers, in support of the  United Nations Sustainable Development Goals! As a proponent of the SDGs, our  Horyou  community believes in the power of positivity and is constantly spreading positive actions and ideas worldwide; and by ensuring international cooperation and inclusion, it directly promotes SDG#17. Be a part of this global partnership and take our  #Horyo...