Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 All right. Welcome back to eliminate the gap season two. Um, and as you can see, I am joined. I promise, uh, with one of our new co-hosts welcome through
Speaker 2 00:00:22 Hi
Speaker 1 00:00:22 Am, and we're excited to jump in and, and give you all, uh, a little international, uh, flavor of some of the wonderful things that are happening out there in the world with our guests, uh, today, Anna Aliah PR. Um, and I am going to tell you just a little bit more about her. Um, we're very excited to have her, uh, Annalia is the founder and CEO of smartly social entrepreneurship on the SDGs. She's a co-chair of the professionals group in the WC steering committee of the UN habitat, a mentor in the global hack of the UN FDG action campaign, and then the hatch CoLab in Geneva and many, many other things. So we're very, very excited, um, to have Annalia with us. So welcome Annalia.
Speaker 3 00:01:13 Thank you, Eric. Thank you, SHA, it's a pleasure with all of you and the audience of help.
Speaker 1 00:01:19 Oh, I thank you so much. Uh, so why don't we just jump in here and have you just explain, at least to me, I'm, <inaudible> knows a little bit and certainly to the audience about what is smartly and what is the, the work that's all involved with that organization?
Speaker 3 00:01:36 Okay. Smartly is a social enterprise that localize and communicate the sustainable development goals. The 23rd agenda that was adapted by the member states of the United nations in 2015, uh, were, uh, there are huge global goals that every institution, no matter if it's public private or academic or from the civil society has to implement as well. That mean how to our quality life in terms of quality education, having a very green jobs, green, uh, cities, um, sustainable and resilience communities. And mainly we work with, uh, with the whole environment. We work with public and private sector and also with universities in Latin America, because they have as, you know, their, their strategic plan, but they have to link that strategic plan with the global goals and they have to show how is, uh, their impact, how are they working at how is the specific, uh, indicators that show the, their effort to, to get, uh, and allow, uh, to their communities to get, uh, sustainable and better quality of life.
Speaker 1 00:02:54 And, and just for, again, our audience here are there some of there's 17 of them. If I remember correctly, um, 17 broad areas, what are the, some of the areas specifically smartly focused in on, are you attempting to do all of them? <laugh>?
Speaker 3 00:03:09 Well, mainly the, the 17 issues with the 169 targets are, uh, crosscuting they're interconnecting. So of course from your organization, for example, if you are a municipality you are working mainly with, I don't know, with rural communities, what you are probably impacting in some more than in others. So what we do is how to communicate your effort, how to measure your effort. And mainly we are trying to use the human resources, the, the, the, the, the only capacity of that, uh, local actor to show their impact. So they don't have to, um, to go to, to, um, um, to get more resources from other, um, from other, uh, region or from other organizations, they can, we show them that probably they're doing an impact on S STCs, but without knowing it. So what, what we are trying to show is that no, my, where you are, uh, as human means, we are trying to be better.
Speaker 3 00:04:24 We are trying to be more responsible with the, our ecosystem mainly, uh, I would like to, to say that we are living right now in, in three crises at the same time, we are having the post recovery from, from COVID the climate change crisis, and also the global security crisis. So right now our generation is having three, um, three, three different situations that are changing, um, your goals. And, and you have to in a different way, because if you are thinking like 10 years before ago, uh, is you are going to lose a lot of opportunities and mainly you are going to lose the time to change, but we have to change. So, uh, we are working mainly to raise awareness with the leaders, the politicians, uh, with the, uh, professors and academic, uh, uh, ecosystem as well, because from university, you have the next generation of leaders, the next, the next graduates that are going to change, or they have to change their own communities.
Speaker 3 00:05:35 So we're working with them and also, uh, from, uh, private sector as well, trying. So, uh, the relevance of having green and sustainable, uh, enterprise enterprise, um, enterprises, businesses, um, so we are working with the business schools from, especially in, in USA with the George Washington university, with international council for a small business in Cornell university, New York impact in Paris, uh, trying to also give a new, uh, academic approach to this, showing that sustainability, it has to be profitable. It's, it's mandatory right now. It's not, it's not to be, it's not something that we have to talk about. Like it's an, um, a hope, um, and, and, and, and something that we are imagining is something that we need to, uh, to build the, the specific tools and, and we're working mainly on that.
Speaker 2 00:06:40 Wow, that's, uh, that's really incredible. And I mean, I have such base with all the work that smart has been doing, and especially, uh, what, uh, Annalia has been trying to achieve. It's, it's not easy. Um, definitely not easy, especially when you wanna engage, uh, different communities to, to, to reach that level of resiliency that, uh, we are talking about. I know that you've been working across, uh, many countries and you've had the chance to deal with, uh, different cultural and, and social, uh, aspects that are very much, uh, different in how they portray, you know, or they even understand the aspect of SGS. So my question is how, how have you been able to steer, uh, uh, within these different ecosystems in order to, you know, actually achieve results or, or, you know, uh, meet the, the objectives that you have been? Um, so forwardly encourag working towards
Speaker 3 00:07:56 Mainly, I think that the, the sustainable development goals are giving us a universal language, a diverse language to mm-hmm <affirmative> to talk about, uh, difficult problems, um, and the problems that we've been having as human beings for, uh, since ever <laugh>. And, but right now, uh, we, we have opportunity as St like hashtags. Uh, so if I'm talking for example, well, with, with my university, we're focusing empowering women. So I'm focused on SDC five, so I can connect my university with other, uh, universities with other public sectors, our focus, their work are focusing in that STS STS as well. So, um, remember that right now, we are living, I'm also professor of transnational policy, and I will always tell him to my students that we have right now in a globalized work. We have the globalization phenomena that changed completely everything. We, we have interconnections, uh, through the, the, I, the, the new technologies, this devices, this, uh, internet 90, um, where we have the cap as local actors to connect to other actors everywhere, no matter where you are.
Speaker 3 00:09:21 And mainly if you connect your effort, your goal, and you communicate that you through your social media, for example, this podcast, what mm-hmm, <affirmative> the effort that through this podcast you are doing to, uh, um, to, to empower women, to visualize their work well, if you communicate that this action, uh, in this sustainable development goals framework is going to give you more opportunities for partnerships to improve the, your effort. And that's something that when you have this in mind, it give you the, the work to work. So you have more opportunities to, uh, to friends your network. And, and I think in this century, that's a key point to a start and yeah, <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:10:13 Definitely, um, I also think it's, um, it's very important to be able to reach out to, um, disadvantage communities or specifically, like you said, the, the, there is a generation of youth where we are sort of putting all our, our hopes, uh, on to, you know, move forward and, and start really implementing sustainable action to, to actually meet the, the SDGs. Um, and when you look at, um, you know, uh, after the COVID 19, I think this something that is very much, um, uh, visible with regards to the importance of women and youth and, and their role in participating in, you know, in, in taking certain actions. Uh, so I'd like to know, uh, maybe we can just, uh, put a little, a bit more focused on that. I'm very much interested to know, uh, about how have, have you, uh, been engaging with this, uh, particular segment youth and women, and, um, you know, ensuring that there is ownership of the initiatives, uh, within, uh, their own communities, especially that they are at a certain, from a certain perspective or within certain communities, they are still considered, you know, minority.
Speaker 3 00:11:50 Hmm. Well, mainly we work with those communities that they have their, um, vital necessities cover because for being entrepreneur, you have at least not an entrepreneur for, for surviving. I mean, an entrepreneurship as a model for creativity and innovation, you have to be at least cover your necessity. It is in terms of food, uh, clothes, et cetera. So mainly we work with the, that kind of youth that is going to have the opportunities to change, to get, uh, leader positions and to change the, uh, the rules of their own community. Because I think that's the key point because we, we need to give them the opportunity of, uh, of thing too, uh, how you are going to develop your local city, how, what are the necessities that your local city needs and the different targets that you have there. And mainly remember that for two, have 15, the cities are going to replicate the number of their citizens, uh, the jewel.
Speaker 3 00:12:59 So we need to do something about, and we're working with in terms of women empowerment, having more women involved in the organizations in the leader positions, because what, you know, uh, that when you, you as women, and when we have the opportunity to, um, to, to get a, a, a leader position, uh, the decision making position, you feel sometimes alone, you feel that you don't have a network, uh, fellows to ask them for advices. And that's completely different for us, the, in terms of the male and environment, because they, they do, for example, the sports and they, there, they catch up and they do business as well. But as women, we don't have that kind of informal framework to, to connect and to get the real power. So we're working on that, in that sense, and with global five network as well, we are trying to do that effort, uh, trying to connect the different regions and showing how women are having the same struggles, no matter where you are and what no matter what, what, what culture you have.
Speaker 3 00:14:07 We have this, uh, this thing that, to, uh, the, the struggle to access to the real power and with youth work specifically with universities, because we think that the university has the capacity to think in long term, not at the same as the poli the political, uh, sector and public sector, because you have the democracy change, uh, terms that for by four, six years, you are changing the people. And, but the university has the, that capacity. And especially in Latin America or in, in some countries that we have a lot, uh, uh, well, a lot to, to improve in terms of quality, institutional quality. Um, the universities could play a, a key role on that. And for that, uh, we need to have professors that, uh, can connect with their students, can create the future leaders. And mainly they're asking us for, um, for building that capacity, they're asking us for trainings for advice, or, um, yes. Some kind of advisement in terms of, um, in terms of that advisement. Um, and we are doing that effort in terms of, uh, trying to give them that, that specific tools. So, so yeah, we're working in tho in those sense, uh, because we think those are the sectors that we need to, to improve, or at least from smartly, we have the capacity to give them tools.
Speaker 1 00:15:44 It, that that's, that's, uh, very helpful in very encouraging on one hand. Um, so it's interesting, you mentioned about globalization, right? So we're sitting here doing this podcast today, and I'm in the center part of the United States S in, in Cairo, you're in Argentina, um,
Speaker 3 00:16:06 BU yeah.
Speaker 1 00:16:07 You know, in BU, and so here we are having this conversation, um, and I can tell you <affirmative>. Um, so I said, that's great on one hand, on the other hand, it's disheartening once again, for me sitting here in the us, um, cause the SDGs and, and this commitment and this consciousness of, of reaching those sustainable, uh, development goals are not part of conversation here in the states, unless you're somebody who works on it. Um, it, it, isn't part of it. And so much of what you're describing, um, you know, has to happen, um, you know, with young people, with women, with, uh, other, uh, minority groups, for sure. Um, and I just don't see it here. And once again, I feel like as some buddy, um, who cares about this, that I have to, once again, continue to look to the leadership from folks in other countries to really help, um, you know, make this movement happen.
Speaker 1 00:17:05 And in here within our own environment, we need to, to think, uh, long and hard about our role in all of this. And, and we just have, in my opinion, um, so you mentioned that there were our generations facing three crises and, and, and I would absolutely agree that we are, but once again, if I walk down the street here, uh, maybe somebody will say something about COVID, but they won't mention the other two. Um, it's just not part of their life. And that's just a reality or, and part of the, uh, role that I think our country needs to just do a heck of a lot better job of not just speaking outwardly, but speaking much more inwardly. So there that's enough of my, uh, editorializing, uh, piece.
Speaker 3 00:17:51 Well, I, I, I would like to say a little, uh, thing. Um, I think that, uh, right now you have the opportunity with this new government, uh, with Biden administration. I know they're doing an effort in terms of climate change, because they're trying to increase the budgeting of that they have, of course, to, uh, negotiate with the Congress. Um, but I think that, uh, at least, uh, from, from now, uh, we, we, we kind of serve that change, but we need to see if that is going to be translated in concrete actions. Uh, and mainly, uh, of course, USA, it could be, uh, it has to be the, the, the, the main leader on this, because, uh, it is the main country and of, of this world. So we need that, uh, that responsibility. I know that there are a lot of universities professor that they're trying to do their effort.
Speaker 3 00:18:49 Uh, and of course, perhaps this has to be bottom up that change. Um, but we need to, with this kind of action with visualizing this and communicating, disseminating the, the relevance of working in this sense and how from other parts of the club, we are doing an effort on this. Uh, perhaps we can give, um, I don't know, we can, we could be, be part of the solution as well. Uh, so I would like to encourage you, both of you in, on, in, on this sense with this action, with this, this podcast, trying to well, to illuminate and to give, uh, tools and information of those, um, members of the audience that perhaps they can have a key role on this.
Speaker 1 00:19:38 Yeah. So just real quick, I wanted to, so to that end, because there'll be a fair amount of folks here from the United States listening in to the podcast, um, and whether it's on here now, or, uh, something that we share when we release the episode, I'm always interested in resources and tools, uh, and tips, you know, that folks while it's formal or not within, uh, an organization or group, um, what are those kinds of tools that, that maybe we can grab onto that are practical, that are inherently are working toward, you know, the same goals here?
Speaker 3 00:20:16 Well, I can share you that information. We have reports for from the world run campaign of UN UN habitat. We are working there. That is a program from UN UN habitat with more than 300 organizations worldwide. We are part of the 15 member of the steering committee, and that during that ward, we, we have this, uh, reports we are trying to measure and showing the concrete, sustainable and green solutions everywhere, uh, from everywhere. So of course we can give you that links and that Infor those info reports and that it could be something, uh, perhaps relevant, uh, for your audience as well.
Speaker 2 00:20:59 That's perfect.
Speaker 1 00:21:01 Yeah. Do you have, uh, a parting question, um, before we move to,
Speaker 2 00:21:08 Uh, so you, you mentioned Annalia that we are now facing with, uh, free pressing issues, uh, that we really need to focus on. Can you give us, um, maybe, um, some advice on the kind of roadmap that we need to take forward, uh, to our listeners and, uh, you know, what do they need to know, or what do they need to do in order to, um, keep things on track, regardless of, uh, what taking place around the world at the moment,
Speaker 3 00:21:52 Mainly we have to observe observation is a key point to start and see, uh, of course from where you are located. Uh, you have a different responsibility in terms of this crisis. It's not the same if you are in Europe, of course, the global security is, is affecting you mostly than in Latin America. Uh, but the climate change crisis, it has to be a main thing to work in the USA because the consumerism is leading by the us it's lead by the us. So their responsibility is not the same, like I don't Salvador that they have a, a level of consumerism more low than, uh, than the us. Um, in terms of COVID 19, it's the same. You have to, first of all, think about, okay, what is the level, how this, um, health crisis affected my economy, how we can improve that in terms of, for example, if, uh, your nurses, the, the, the, the medical system it was affected, uh, for that in, in terms of which person touch.
Speaker 3 00:23:04 So you need data for that. And with that framework, with that scenario, and think then in the plan, what we have to do, unfortunately, our leaders, they're thinking in the plan without knowing the scenario mm-hmm <affirmative>. So that's the, when you alternate the, um, the steps, the result is not going to be what you are expecting. And unfortunately, this is something that we've been observing no worldwide. And this is something that, from, uh, our, um, well, from our effort, from our, with our partners, we are trying to show the necessity to of observation, the necessity of thinking in terms of this crisis and the, the level of responsibility from your own local sector is not the same. If you're an sector, if you're public sector, if you're a leader politician, you have a diff a different key role on this. Um, so where you are in which part of the society with, in the different part of the decision making as well level, and also your decision are your ideas. They have to be focused on that, and the plan is going to be different. Uh, so I encourage you all of you to think in terms of this model, um, trying to build a better word right here right now, because we really need a new way of doing things we really need, uh, base a piece really need sustainable cities, sustainable communities for, uh, our own and for our future generations.
Speaker 1 00:24:56 Wow, thank you. <laugh>. Yes, absolutely. And that's some, some powerful ways, uh, for, to leave us parting thoughts here, uh, for today's, uh, uh, episode, uh, professor Annalia, a strong thank you so much for taking some time with us and, and sharing that insight. Um, I, I know that, uh, the folks down, uh, in Latin America will continue to be in great hands, um, and we will continue to do our, our part to observe, um, use data think critically, um, and we'll continue get those kinds of messages out and well okay. Let's make matter. <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:25:37 Um, exactly.
Speaker 1 00:25:38 Absolutely. Absolutely. Anyway, so thank you so much for taking some time with us today. And, um, uh, we look forward to sharing some of the resources, um, that you share, uh, with our group and, uh, best of luck to you.
Speaker 3 00:25:53 Same, thank you very much, Annalia. Thank you. Thank you, Madea. And while we giving that and to the audience, please take action as sure, please, on this. Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:26:04 Thank you. All right. Take care.
