Imagine a world where losing everything doesn’t mean losing hope.

SDSN Malaysia Youth recently organised “Hope for Her”, a unique plant-potting fundraising campaign in support of Grace Home, a shelter focused on supporting women.

Recognizing the pressing issues of gender inequality and the plight of women facing challenging circumstances, the campaign sought to raise awareness while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 5 and 10: Good Health and Well-being; Gender Equality; and Reduced Inequalities.

A Seed of Hope

At the heart of “Hope for Her” was a simple yet powerful concept: every RM10 donated allowed participants to plant a seed of hope. By engaging in a fun and interactive plant-potting activity, donors not only contributed to a worthy cause but also took home a tangible symbol of their generosity. The act of nurturing a growing plant mirrored the spirit of the campaign – to cultivate a brighter future for the women of Grace Home.

Grace Home, a beacon of hope for countless women since its establishment in 1980, provides shelter, food, clothing, medical care, and emotional support to destitute women. The home’s unwavering commitment to restoring dignity and purpose to those in need aligns perfectly with the goals of “Hope for Her.”

A Blooming Impact

The funds raised through “Hope for Her” will directly support Grace Home’s operations, enabling them to continue providing essential services to their residents. It is a testament to the power of collective action and the compassion of the Sunway community that the campaign successfully raised RM424.88 in just two days.

Beyond the financial contribution, “Hope for Her” served as a platform to raise awareness about the challenges faced by women in society. By engaging students and staff in a meaningful and interactive way, the campaign fostered empathy and understanding of the issues affecting women.

As the planted seeds grow and flourish, so too will the impact of “Hope for Her.” This initiative is a small but significant step towards creating a more just and equitable world for all women. SDSN Malaysia Youth remains committed to supporting causes that uplift marginalised communities and contribute to a sustainable future.

This project was framed, conceptualised and carried out by Sunway University students Thrishaalini Palani, Cherry Foo Sze Xing and Wennie Gotama.

For more information about Grace Home or to support their work, please visit https://www.gracehomeklang.org

Or contact them via
Email: gracehomeklang@gmail.com

Tel:
+6-03-3166 3500/3501
+6012-2978280 (Desmond Teo) or +6012-2967895 (Winnie Teow)

New Programmes

In the face of short term urgencies, Sachs emphasised the unique place of universities to “gather knowledge, to search for truth, to create innovations in technology and in social institutions, and to look ahead”. To support the training of students in creating the desired technologies and pathways, Sachs pressed for the setting up of new programmes to enable students to concentrate on sustainable development in their studies.

“Sunway University is one of the great pioneers of that in Asia and the world,” Sachs remarked, referring to the provision of a dual track option (in-person and online instruction) for students throughout the world to qualify for a Masters in Sustainable Development Management (MSDM).

Interdisciplinary Engagements

“We need interdisciplinary research, which bring together earth scientists, engineers, economists, psychologists, and other specialists in the behavioural scientists, ethicists, philosophers.” Sachs reported that, from his prolonged engagements in the past quarter century with researchers leading interdisciplinary efforts from Harvard University, Columbia University and Sunway University, a large number of researchers have now acquired the ability to speak in the languages of other disciplines.

Universities are setting up interdisciplinary research centres to convene experts for policy-oriented research. “The problems of sustainable development are so complex, so interconnected, so systems based, that we need the universities to engage in actual problem-solving research”. These solutions require researchers to consider particularities at various scales, that of a locality, of a country and of a region.

Regional Conveners

Academics naturally create knowledge networks as part of their research. These cross-country and domestic collaborative relationships can over time be harnessed to convene key experts for solutions building from multiple sectors. Sachs explained, “universities play an inimitable role in convening stakeholders across sectors, from the government sector, the academic, scientific and research sectors, the business sector and civil society.”

Sachs highlighted the work of the ASEAN Green Future project at Sunway University, which brings together research teams in the ASEAN countries to work on the individual national transformation to green energy, and on the unification of national electricity transmission systems, so that each of the countries and the region as a whole achieves decarbonisation of their power generation systems.

Learning and Networking for the SDGs

Sunway University hosts the SDG Academy of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN-SDSN), which has the largest global online repository of publicly accessible interdisciplinary high-quality courses on a wide-range of sustainable development issues.

Sachs also highlighted the work of the Networks Team operating out of the Asia Headquarters of the UN-SDSN hosted at Sunway University, which mobilizes universities in the Asia-Pacific region to initiate and collaborate on SDG-focused research projects, teaching programs, and policy activism.

Universities are Pivotal to Meet the Complexity of Current Times

“The complexity of our situation is beyond normal politics, beyond normal government …  [This extreme complexity requires] the universities to play a novel, innovative and central role [in problem solving].” He is much encouraged by that universities across Asia are embracing the challenge of achieving the SDGs in the near future.

Sachs ended his message by calling for the Summit of the Future, which would be held at the United Nations in September 2024, to set a common intellectual framework for collective wellbeing.

Sachs was speaking on the topic of Sustainable Development Goals in Asian Universities as part of the Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit, which was held from April 29 to May 1, 2024 at Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur.

On May 26th, 2022, SDSN Malaysia convened a virtual meeting to launch its state-level SDG Dashboard, called SDG Monitor, bringing together expert contributors from seven SDSN Malaysia member institutions.

Hosted on the Esri ArcGIS platform, SDSN Malaysia’s SDG Monitor is a state-level dashboard for SDG performance. The platform’s interactive maps utilizes data from the Malaysian Department of Statistics.  

This launch enables the Malaysian public, students, academics and policymakers to access localized SDG performance. Supplementing the existing data are over 40 expert commentary write-ups on goal level assessments for the country. References in academic and multimedia format are provided to spur in-depth learning on SDG issues.

Led by Danesh Prakash Chacko of the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development at Sunway University, the SDG Monitor utilizes the same methodology as SDSN’s global Sustainable Development Report. Formulation of the Monitor was possible with guidance from the SDSN SDG Index team in Paris. A total of 26 expert commentators from the following institutions contributed to the selection of indicators: Sunway University, Monash University Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the Penang Institute.

The SDG Monitor serves the following purposes:

• Public engagement to understand the SDGs
• To know which states are performing well or poorly for overall and specific SDGs
• To lay the basis for more policy briefs and working papers
• To lay the foundations of an ASEAN-level SDG Dashboard
• For educators and learners to engage with the SDGs at a local level

 SDSN Malaysia Network Manager, Kong Phui Yi welcomed the participants and gave the floor to Prakash who conducted a tutorial on the Monitor’s layout, navigation and contents. This included providing an overview of the methodology and the hybrid approach to its data collection process. One of the major challenges highlighted was finding local thresholds based on government document aspirations. Currently, the threshold used for the Malaysian states is the global benchmark.

“We want this website to be a launchpad for researchers and academics to study the gaps and progress on the SDGs at the state-level and to launch their next research.” – Danesh Prakash Chacko, SDG Monitor Project Lead.

During the Q&A session, participants enquired about how often the data would be updated, whether there are any plans to develop a local benchmark and the purpose of story maps. More than one participant suggested making this an interactive and open-sourced dashboard where members of the public can also contribute.

The SDG Monitor team is currently working on a second round of updates to add more commentary with one of the long-term goals being to develop state-level thresholds for the relevant SDG indicators. The team is also interested in documenting and featuring on the website, how people are using this tool. Viewers interested in learning about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on selected SDG indicators on the state-level in Malaysia can explore the dashboard online.

SDSN Malaysia has plans to conduct an iteration of this SDG Monitor presentation for interested SDSN members in the Asia-Pacific region in the future.

“I hope that everyone understands that we really want this (dashboard) to be used and help to inform research gaps and opportunities. Please reach out to us to get linked to people in other disciplines because we know that impactful research cannot be done without a multidisciplinary team.” – Kong Phui Yi, SDSN Malaysia Network Manager.