United Nations Association of Atlanta, in partnership with Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development of Greater Atlanta (RCE Greater Atlanta), created the Sustainable Coffee Talks (SCT) as an initiative to provide networking and educational opportunities for members, partners, and the general public. Each talk focuses on one or more Sustainable Development Goals. 

Goalmakers 2020 initiative is a nationwide effort by GlobalWA, spanning across 7 cities, to advance the United Nations’ Global Goals. United Nations Association of USA, Atlanta Chapter has been selected as the host organization for Goalmakers Atlanta.

COVID-19 stunted the progress made to reach the global goals, including Gender Equality. Before the pandemic, there were improvements on this goal as fewer girls were forced into an early marriage and more women were in leadership roles, but full gender equality remains unreached. According to the United Nation’s progress report, “women already spend three times as many hours as men on unpaid care work at home. The closure of school and day-care centers requires parents, women in particular, to care more for children and facilitate their learning at home.” Women are underrepresented in pandemic-related leadership roles across governments, even though women account for 70% of health and social workers. “The promise of a world in which every woman and girl enjoy full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed remains unfulfilled.”

If the future generation of girls become global citizens, imagine what kind of world they can create, advancing all of the 17 global goals. But they would need to be empowered first.