September 25th 2012 was the 67th General Assembly at the United Nations New York. It consisted of an Open Dialogue with the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and addressed the need for a Post-2015 Framework.

UN Representatives for New York Yoko Komori Olson and Bette Levy attended this high profile event. Many important people from around the world were in attendance, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and United States President Barack Obama, who gave the opening speech.

 

This was the first of a series of meetings to be held on the MDGs. It provided a basic design of what Post-2015 should look like. It was expressed that moving forward the MDGs need to be as clear and as coherent as possible and that Governments and NGOs have to truly commit to achieving the goals so that global development can be ensured. It was discussed that a re-think of these goals is needed so that the next generation have a clear picture and a successful platform on which to build.

In the afternoon session Yoko attended a meeting entitled "We must think Post 2015".  The main speaker was Japan’s Former Prime Minister Mr Kan. Mr Kan also re-expressed the need for the MDGs to be as clear as possible so that these ideas can be passed onto the next young generation. He stated that the MDGs started in 2000, but that development has not been fast enough to save women and children from hunger and poverty. He also expressed that we need to think more about creating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As addressed in the above meetings, just as the goals that policy makers set out need to be forward-thinking and considered so needs to be the work that Soroptimist International carries out. As Soroptimists we must be able to grow and adapt, evolve with the current climate and be far-reaching in our sights so that our work can be carried out by the next generation and our projects remain sustainable for generations to come.