In his 1963 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the late US president John F. Kennedy expressed two ambitions for that decade: to commit to a manned moon mission and to end world poverty and hunger. On 21 July 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. However, we still have not ended hunger.

The report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, launched on 8 August 2014, has missed an important opportunity to accomplish a breakthrough on the pressing questions of development finance.

In July 2014, the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development proposed a universal set of post-2015 goals and targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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Mali’s democracy collapsed after a nine-month civil war. The West-African country that has been cheered internationally for its peaceful multi-ethnic and secular democracy, high growth rates and modern approach to religion. In 2012, this changes dramatically. A once cheered example for democracy is torn apart along ethnic lines. Civil war breaks out after massive Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country and the defeated army stages a coup d’état in the south. Military responses have proven to be insufficient as they relocate the problem. Rather, a socio-economic approach that addresses the underlying causes of the conflict in the Sahel, along with bottom-up governance initiatives and regulation, supported by the international community can contribute to the conflict.

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