Planning for our children’s future

Geeta Bandi-Philips reflects on the Post 2015 process and how she and World Vision UK are campaigning towards a better future for children around the world.

By Geeta Bandi-Philips, External Relations Manager World Vision UK

When you look at your children, what comes to your mind? Do you think about their studies? Their clothes and maybe that you need to buy new school uniforms for them or that beautiful dress for your daughter or a T-shirt of your son’s favourite football team? Or do you sometimes just simply drift away and think about what they will be like in fifteen years time?

I certainly do all of the above. I plan for my children’s future, both immediate and distant. I talk to them about their aspirations and try my best to get a glimpse into their future fifteen years down the line in order to do the best I can as a mother.

By extraordinary luck, I get to do the same at work as well...this time it is not just about my own children but for millions around the world. I do it by working to influence the international process called Post-2015. ‘So what is this Post-2015?’ you ask.

In 2000, a set of global development goals to be achieved by 2015 were agreed to by countries around the world. These goals became known as the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and they have achieved so much in the past fourteen years. Since 1990 the proportion of people living on less than 80p per day has halved. More than two billion people have gained access to clean drinking water. And we've made many crucial gains in primary education, child survival, reductions in tuberculosis, malaria and HIV and AIDS.

Now as the MDGs come to an end in 2015, we have an amazing, once in a generation opportunity to set ourselves new goals to help our children achieve their full potential and be the best they can be. This international process is called Post 2015 and once established, these new goals will run until 2030.

We all know that the foundation for healthy, safe, sustainable and prosperous societies begins with healthy, safe, educated and cared for children. For the Post-2015 agenda to pull children out of poverty and improve their wellbeing we must make sure that new goals build on the progress we have made so far.

World Vision believes that the Post 2015 process should focus on a lifecycle approach which recognises that there are key moments in life that determine whether children have the opportunity to thrive or not. The first thousand days of each child’s life are critical as they lay the foundation on which their potential and that of their community’s is built. If we lost that small window of opportunity it cannot be recovered.

We are acutely aware that of all the world’s children, the most vulnerable are those in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Millions of children live in fear for their lives and safety, have no access to the most basic nutrition, health care or education, and face little hope of a better future. The MDGs were unfortunately unable to reach these children successfully. Post-2015 gives us another chance to help transform their lives.

Goals for the future

To finish the job we have started and help children achieve their full potential, World Vision UK recommends that Post-2015 help in the following areas:

• Eliminate preventable deaths of children under five by improving healthcare and eliminating hunger and malnutrition.
• Address peace and stability in fragile and conflict affected countries. Services must be designed to help the most vulnerable and address extreme inequality.
• End all forms of violence against children, protect children in conflict, and end child marriage and child labour.
• Communities learn about natural disaster awareness and use it to make themselves safer when considering healthcare, food, education, and child protection.

Working on Post 2015 is sometimes frustrating when politicians love our suggestions, but are reluctant to make the changes it would require to achieve them. However, throughout this process World Vision has been pushing so that we can aim for the best future possible for children around the world. In the end, it’s a bit like painting a rainbow...getting the colours and the curve right is difficult. But when it is finished, it will make the world a brighter and prettier place.