FEEEDS® dialogues & advocates on issues of Food Security, Education, Environment-Energy, Economics, Development-Democracy & Self-help, The FEEEDS Issues. Dr. Robin Sanders, CEO FEEEDS & FE3DS, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Congo, & ECOWAS. Website:http://www. ambassadorrobinreneesanders.com. FEEEDS ask you to beware of all scam emails/text claiming to be from Amb. Sanders/FEEEDS as funding or monies are never requested. Report scams to FBI at spam@uce.gov
As CEO-FEEEDS, Ambassador Sanders, along with other experts, appeared on Nigeria's ARISE TV to discuss the impact of President Biden's First 100 Days both on US domestic and US-Africa policy. See the interview here: http://bit.ly/ARISETV-Nigeria
A FEEEDS Blogspot
As we approach the May 25, 2021 year anniversary of George Floyd's death, and 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Oklahoma Massacre of over 100 African Americans on May 31-June 1, 1921, it is time for reflections, or better said a data report card, on where things are, and where they are not. Has anything changed? Has progress been made, particularly on perceptions regarding the racial divides that have existed and still exist in American society today? All brought to the fore, once again, in such a brutal way, with the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Clearly, this nation continues to struggle with a myriad of historical and present-day social justice, economic, health (COVID underscoring this further), and opportunity inequalities -- predominately impacting America's people of color and America's poor. Also, part of this reflective discussion is the attendant optic of how the U.S. is viewed overseas (especially in Africa, other world regions of color, and in key UNHC and UN sessions) as a result of not only how and why George Floyd was killed, but also his death turned an international spotlight on present day U.S. racial challenges.
This world attention on America's social justice and racial issues had not happened in such a global way since the beatings, dog attacks and water-cannoning of peaceful black protesters in the South during the 1960 civil rights movement. Summer 2020 protests also spurred revisiting of other recent past police killings of African Americans such as Breonna Taylor (2020), whose case had previously languished; Atlanta's Rayshard Brooks and Ahmaud Abery (2020); and, currently Daunte Wright and Ma'Khia Bryant (2021). Earlier high-profile cases from Alton Sterling (2016), Walter Scott (2015), and Eric Garner to Michael Brown and Tamir Rice (2014) – have all underscored the gravity and need for different policing, reform and transparency.
U.S. Policing: A Human Rights Issue:
On one hand America wants to return as the
global leader on democracy, human rights and providing voice for the voiceless
-- be they suffering at the hands of violent extremists, kidnappers or military
conflicts from Nigeria, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Somalia, South
Sudan, Syria and Yemen to
biases and violence against women, LGTBQ and discriminatory mistreatment of
ethnic groups from Myanmar's
Rohingya, the Uighurs
of China to Ethiopia's
Tigray.
The U.S. bona fides to both regain and continue being an international leading voice on global human rights is also going to be viewed in the context of our own progress on social justice reform and inequalities against people of color. We cannot be a human rights and social sector reform advocate abroad if our nation is not in better shape than it is today on these issues at home, and it is not in good shape – the tensions, protests, and continued police shootings demonstrate this.
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Some of the debates could be aided by determining where differences in perceptions on these issues match up, or not, with objective data. Objective data can take politics and perception out of the mix by providing information from polling on what people are actually thinking, saying, and feeling. Research data can be helpful in educating all of us as to where we should end up as a nation on these very difficult human rights, racial, social justice and police reform issues. Let's start with looking at polling data associated with some of the most challenges issues at the top of the reform list – "policing and defunding the police."
A
recent poll from Gallup's Center on Black Voices, (launched July 15, 2020, just months after
Mr. Floyd's death), showed that 67% of all U.S. adults (combining all groups)
want current levels of police presence in their communities to remain the same.
Within groups, the breakdowns were as follows: 61% of African Americans and 71% of white
Americans want
police levels in their neighborhoods to remain the same. While data from this
same poll showed that only 19% of Black Americans and 12% of White Americans wanted less police presence in their communities.
Further, Hispanic American responses, in the same research, were also high with
59% wanting the same level of police presence, and only 17% preferring less
police presence. Asian Americans also scored high at 69%. It will be left to
you to determine if your perceptions on
these elements of policing matchup or differ.
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'We cannot be a human rights and social sector reform advocate abroad if our nation is not in better shape than it is today on these issues at home, and it is not in good shape – the tensions, protests, and continued police shootings demonstrate this.' – Robin R. Sanders
Attendant to the issues of policing are the questions around the phrase defunding the police. This can mean different things to different people -- from directing funds toward mental health and social services to the city of Minneapolis' model (where George Floyd was killed), which voted to find a new paradigm for its police department. The percentage responses above could help inform how many Americans feel on this key attendant issue.
Police Reform & Changing Police Practices:
On actual police reform, the Center's data
also revealed that the majority of Americans agree that reform is needed,
particularly at the community level. However, differences arise over type and
level of reforms.
The
Center's graph shows at least 58% of Americans agree
"major change [reform] is needed," with only 36% saying minor changes
are needed. Here it is likely that perceptions and data are more aligned given
that the actual breakdown between groups on reform indicates that the desire
among African Americans is 88%, among Asian Americans 83%, for Hispanics 63%,
and 51% for white Americans. There is an additional key data marker on this
issue -- age differential. The majority of Americans in the 18-34 age group
polled higher on wanting reform (81%), with those 50-60 years, and 65 and older
polling respectively at 43% and 46%.
Black-White Race Relations – Perceptions Appear to Match Data:
Social justice and police reform are connected
to race relations in America today. In Pew's
2019 research, (pre-George Floyd) its data graphs showed
that 58% of Americans said that race relations "were generally bad,"
with African Americans expressing high levels at 71%, and whites at 56%.
Furthermore, Pew's data revealed that it is more "common" today for
people to express racially insensitive views, even if "these views,"
are not "necessarily more acceptable."
Gallup Center on Black Voices - Relations Between White and Black Americans
Pew's polling also highlights that this sentiment was slightly higher among minorities in America than for whites (African Americans 76%, Hispanics 75%, and whites 60%). In addition, when asked about racial inequality in America, of the people polled, "half or more said being poor, Muslim, black, or Hispanic puts people at a disadvantage in our [American] society."
Meanwhile, the Center for Black Voices data, which includes Gallup's research from nearly two decades (2001-2020), shows from 2007-early 2013 that 28-30% of Americans thought black-white relations "were somewhat bad," whereas in 2020, 55% of Americans are feeling this way as can be seen on the embedded Gallup chart on "Relations Between White and Black Americans, 2001-2020."
Including Data Can Help:
Thus, as we approach these huge social justice
anniversaries in the coming weeks (year passing of Floyd and Black Tulsa
Massacre's 100th anniversary), on
top of 62
African Americans out of the 292 people killed by police
since the beginning of 2021, it is important to underscore the importance data
can play in helping us achieve much-needed change.
It will continually be harder for America to overcome social unrest, discord, or be a model for international human rights (especially when pointing out faults of other nations) if we cannot come to terms with these social justice issues at home and changing the trajectory of some of these negative data trends on black-white race relations.
Note: See Pew Research Center's and Gallup's Center for Black Voices websites and articles for more on their research on these key social justice, human rights, police reform in the U.S. and on other issues. The Center for Black Voices is a 100-year commitment by Gallup to listen and report on the Black Experience in America. Article first appeared in Allafrica.com
A FEEEDS Blogspot
Dr. Sanders' interview on Nigeria's Channels TV "Diplomatic Channel," on Nigeria's request for the U.S. Africa Command to relocate all its personnel and resources to the African Continent.
The interview also addressed the security and political instability in Chad, and the growing militant insurgencies in the Africa Region. See the interview at this link: https://youtu.be/
A FEEEDS Blogspot
Article first appear in allafrica.com: Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) Business Pillars - Synergies with the UN SDGs - By Dr. Robin Renee Sanders, CEO-FEEEDS
Over the last two decades, the framework
known as Environment, Social and Governance (ESGs) has gained prominence as a
basis for measuring a company’s efforts toward sustainability, socially responsibility
(values), and acceptability as a set of metrics to gauge operations, investment,
shareholder decisions, and inclusion in capital market listings. ESG pillars first
began to take shape in 2004-2005, stemming from thought-provoking reports like
the “Who Cares Wins,” by Ivo Knoepfel, connecting
financial markets to a changing world, and advocacy by the late UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan encouraging CEOs of financial institutions to view ESGs as
having a positive impact on capital markets. These efforts led to such important related programs as the New York
Stock Exchange’s 2006 Principles for Responsible
Investment (PRI), and the Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative (SSEI).
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Credit: Michelle Patrick Photography,LLC |
The ESGs have
grown to be more or less reflective of certain actions under
each of the E, S & G Pillars, which FEEEDS sees as being synergistically connected to the UN SDGs. This connecting
allows for the E, S & G Pillars to be both measurable, and also thematic
related to the SDGs:
Environment: For FEEEDS, this is the Climate Change Thematic Pillar, as it
incorporates many of the key climate change sub issues such as waste management,
reduction in pollution and carbon emissions, incorporating renewables, and natural
resource protection that companies are addressing.
Social: We view as the Humankind or Human Protection Thematic Pillar,
given this is where the treatment of personnel, relationships with outside
stakeholders, communities, and consumers come in, including issues of human capital,
good labor practices, and product liability.
Governance: Is the Inward-Looking
Thematic Pillar, meaning how well a company is managing itself from its
governing board (including board diversity), to transparency on financials,
taxes, investments, risks and ethics.
Given the
importance of the ESG Pillars to businesses and organizations today, adding a
thematic lens to the measurable metrics can be useful. Moreover, it helps
connect ESGs synergistically with the globally-agreed upon UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN
SDGs), running from 2015-2030, which seeks to improve the overall well-being of
mankind. Historically, this ESG-SDG discussion makes even more sense if one thinks
back to the early 2000s when the ESGs were being bandied about. This was just
after the creation of the 2000-2015 UN Millennium Development
Goals, the first global iteration of measuring mankind’s well-being -- a
precursor to the current SDGs.
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Credit: ŠŠ»ŠµŠ½Š° ŠŠµŃŃ
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The SDGs, with its 17 goals (and 169
subsections) encourages and measures a country’s (and by extension the world’s)
concerted efforts to improving mankind’s well-being by addressing extreme
poverty, development shortcomings in education, food security, health and joblessness,
particularly for women and children. The SDGs and their progress are analyzed
by a wide variety of organizations. This includes the UN SDG 2020 Report & Progress Tracker, the latter highlighting COVID’s role in unfortunately pushing 71 million
people back into poverty, the largest poverty rise since 1998; Gallup World
Poll, tracking SDG progress on food insecurity (790 million people facing hunger), labor & safety practices, financial inclusion; the World Health Organization, monitoring progress on both core
and attendant health-related SDGs; the World Bank’s SDG Atlas Tracker, on energy and hunger; and the
Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s SDG Index.
So, what is
the argument on linking ESGs synergistically with relevant thematic SDGs?
And, would that be for all 17 goals? The answer is no. But consideration should be made toward those
SDGs that are complementary to a business and its sector(s). Where a company
can thematically link (directly or indirectly), it should. By doing so, the
SDGs provide a way forward for a company to plug into the “greater good” themes
agreed upon by 193 countries, contributing to improved optics, perceptions and
by extension, positive metrics and visibility on its ESG framework.
Linking up
ESGs to appropriate SDGs shouldn’t be that hard to do. The bigger value-addition
is, by doing so, we all speak with one “improving humanity voice” as we work across
business and development sectors (as opposed to stove piped). Moreover, the SDG
link can provide the twofold benefit to companies of:
·
shining
an international (or country-level) light on a business’ positive actions; and,
·
serving
as touchstones to (directly or indirectly) aid or assist boards and investors evaluate
or further appreciate the outcomes of their ESG efforts.
In analyzing
the 17 SDG goals, there are 10, of the 17, which FEEEDS views with direct
thematic synergy to the ESGs, and seven, which could be viewed as indirect. The
blend, in the end, is up to companies.
The 10
SDGs with Direct ESG Synergies:
The 10 SDG goals,
we see with direct thematic connections to the ESGs fall mostly under Environment
and Social. They include, SDGs 5-9, 12-15, and 17. Granted, many
businesses are focused already on these in internal operations, therefore
linkages should be easy. Below highlights which SDG goal make sense under the
ESG Pillars:
Under the Environment (or Climate Change) Pillar, SDGs 6-7, 9, and 12-15 since these SDGs primarily focus on climate change issues of water, waste management and sustainable energy; to climate smart manufacturing, industrialization, production patterns and agricultural practices; to protecting land and ocean biodiversity systems.
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Credit: Dr. Robin Sanders/CEO-FEEEDS |
Under the Social (or the Humankind) Pillar, SDG
5, 8, and 17 since these SDGs focus on key elements of equality,
empowerment, productive employment and partnerships. But can also apply to a
company’s internal operations such as human capital and ensuring living wages;
to productive, descent work and healthcare for employees; to safe and humane working
conditions.
SDG 17, on strengthening Global Partnerships for Sustainable
Development, further
underscores FEEEDS’ core argument for the ESG-SDG synergy discussion. Businesses
which see this interconnectedness will likely benefit with quality relationships
with outside stakeholders, contribute differently to communities where they operate,
and improve partnerships or corporate social responsibility projects. These
changes can help reduce risks factors to bottom lines, which recent and
historic events continually show can lead to financial loss and instability costing
billions.
Under the Governance
(or Inward-Looking) Pillar SDGs 5 and 8 are also applicable. Although
this pillar tends to be focused on a company’s internal governance, regulations
and transparency, there is still synergy with these SDGs. The connections are
on diversity and equality -- not only in the board room, but also with
executive pay, investment dollars in minority and small businesses, and shares
in ownership. Studies show less reluctance today accepting female managers than
five years ago, in places like Canada (Randstad), and as shown in Gallup’s recent polling
in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the U.S. Whereas, in the 21 African countries polled, the
region’s reluctance level toward women managers is still high (a median of 47% of
the population prefer men, while a median of 34% said they prefer woman). Companies
which systematically address this data point in their governance pillar –
increasing the number of female managers – would go a long way in synergistically
advancing SDG goal 5, while providing productive and descent work helps goal 8.
The Seven
SDGs with Indirect ESG Synergies:
The seven SDGs where a company’s good ESG report card can be helped indirectly, include SDG goals 1-4, 10-11, and 16 given these are the larger greater good SDGs (ending all poverty, hunger, and overall improving the human condition). Certainly, good ESG stewardship will have an attendant contribution to these global SDGs as companies uplift the lives of their employees with good practices. All of which can be achieved through climate-smart behavior, providing good healthcare and life long learning opportunities, and ensuring equitable pay, diversity and gender equality from the board room through to the assembly line and agricultural fields -- all very synergistic to these seven SDGs.
Article was also posted on Council of Foreign Relations blog site at: Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) Business Pillars - Synergies with the UN SDGs | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)
A FEEEDS Series Blogspot
Dr. Sanders, as CEO FEEEDS Advocacy Initiative, will speak at Georgetown's annual Africa Business Conference on Africa's future role as a global trade leader, particularly with the Africa Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), now launched since January 1, 2021. This is the Ambassador's second time speaking at this prestigious conference of Africa institutional leaders, scholars, and students sharing their thoughts on Africa's business future. Sanders will be discussing Africa trade implementation strategies, particularly for the greater Africa SMEs and women business sectors, and what can be done to assist them more to take advantage of AfCTA.
