USCIB Talks Poverty Reduction at Development Conference

SDG Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere
SDG Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Eliminating poverty everywhere is the first goal of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Its placement at number one underscores the importance given to poverty reduction by the international community and the urgent need to achieve it with respect to the subsequent goals. Ariel Meyerstein, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and corporate governance, spoke at a poverty reduction panel at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Society for International Development on May 23 in Washington D.C..

Meyerstein gave the business perspective on the challenges associated with achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction in low- and middle-income countries. The panel touched on a wide range of topics, including how metrics and indicators help civil society engage with the broader SDG process, which goals play a vital role in poverty reduction, which kinds of partnerships can be the most effective towards achieving the SDGs, and how the international community will fund and implement the UN’s ambitious goals.

Other panelists included Adolfo Lopez-Claros, director of the Global Indicators Group of the World Bank Group and Casey Dunning, senior policy analyst at the Center for Global Development.

USCIB has played a central role in marshaling business support for sustainable development. In September 2015, USCIB officially launched its well-received Business for 2030 web portal, a catalog of business engagement that showcases the private sector’s contributions to the SDGs. Business for 2030 features over 140 initiatives from 35 companies in over 150 countries of how businesses are helping to achieve 72 of the 169 SDG targets.

In addition to educating the business community about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, the website highlights concrete initiatives and public-private partnerships to inspire renewed trust in the private sector, and to catalyze sustained and active business engagement in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through its blog and Twitter presence, the site also targets business perspectives to the UN community to sensitize them to business views on SDG priorities and implementation.

Business for 2030 features hundreds of case studies of business contributions to sustainable development through the filter of the SDGs. Three USCIB members – Dupont, Mastercard and Qualcomm – have contributed case studies under the End Poverty goal.

Staff Contact:   Ewa Staworzynska

Director, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs
Tel: 212.703.5056

Ewa Staworzynska is USCIB’s Director of Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs. Staworzynska brings to USCIB her extensive policy experience from both public and private sectors. Prior to joining USCIB, she led DoorDash’s policy efforts in international markets and was in charge of diplomatic relations. Before her position at DoorDash, Staworzynska was an officer at the International Labor Organization (ILO), where she worked multilaterally to advance support for decent work and related policies at UN headquarters. Staworzynska began her career in New York working for a real estate start-up. Staworzynska will be based in USCIB’s New York office and will work with Jose Arroyo, USCIB policy associate on corporate responsibility and labor affairs, on a wide range of issues, including human rights and industrial policy, responsible business conduct, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She was born and raised in Norway and has a B.A. in Economics and M.A. in International Relations, with a specialty in International Business, from New York University.
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