Co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations, World Vision International and Ernst Young Australia.
The world is far from being on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the deadline of 2030 - and a world fit for the children of today and tomorrow seems further away than it did only 5 years ago.
When development actors committed to the SDGs in 2015, they specifically recognized that “investing in children and youth is critical to achieving inclusive, equitable, and sustainable development for present and future generations.” (From the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development.) With 28 targets and 44 indicators across the 17 SDGs directly related to children, the Goals cannot be reached without prioritizing children and children will lose the most if the SDGs are not achieved. This new research by Ernst & Young Australia and World Vision International is a game changer. We have long known that investing in children is the moral thing to do; now we can see that it makes sound economic sense. It offers value for money and is the best way to achieve both donor objectives and the SDGs. Investment in the development and wellbeing of children is an investment into the future of communities and countries. Investing in children benefits the child today, enables the best future for them and gives the greatest chance of sustainable development for the entire community. Yet, as the research shows, despite the high returns, only a fraction of ODA (5%) currently directly targets children compared to their significant representation within the population of ODA- receiving countries.
The high-level event, on the margins of the 2024 ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum, represents the global launch of the Ernst Young Australia/World Vision research on total ODA invested in children and the Return on Investment it brings to children, communities, and countries. In addition to representatives of Ernst Young and World Vision, the event included child participants and expert speakers on the importance of investing in children from UN agencies, Member States and academia.