Samenvatting van vijf SDGs: SDGs 1, 5, 8, 11 en 12 (met 5 voorbeeldvragen en antwoorden)
SDG 1. (No poverty)
Explaining No Poverty
● Aims to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere
● Reducing global poverty was one of the worlds greatest collective successes in the 1990s.
● 2015: almost 700 million people > still under the international poverty line (1,90 cents per day)
● Governments and businesses > to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030
○ they agreed that everyone around the world should be ensured a decent standard of
living for the basics of life. This standard includes social protection for the poor and
support/access to basic services for ones affected by conflict or natural hazards
Eradicating poverty should be achieved by redistributing funds more equally, so everyone can have a
decent life and afford the necessities of living.
One of the targets of this SDG:
● Reduce at least the half of the proportion of men, women and children at all ages living in
poverty in all this dimensions.
● It aims to do so, through promoting the creation of effective social security systems and
poverty-reducing policies at a national and international level.
● Businesses play a crucial role in poverty elimination through implementing effective strategies
and policies and providing a decent income. They also have the ability to pro-actively battle
constraints faced by the poorest through their business models, innovations or services.
● Ending poverty begins with respecting human rights as poverty has huge impact on the access to
economic and social rights such as the right to health, adequate housing, food and safe water and
education.
Academic insights into No Poverty
Heleen Tiemersma: What could companies do?
● To avoid negative impact of human rights;
○ Companies’ operations may not cause or increase poverty.
For example:
● not polluting farmlands and waters that deprives people of their livelihood
● not pushing local people out of business by destroying their markets
● not underpaying people and not holding back their overtime pay
Respecting human rights means also that companies need to pay its fair amount of taxes
● This provides governments with the means to play their role in eradicating poverty.
Companies can make positive impact:
● Companies provide employment and usually growth and prosperity, MORE IS NEEDED:
○ For example: Starting projects to enable and facilitate children to go to school > to break
the circle of poverty in their family or including local businesses in their activities to
improve local economic growth.
It’s about avoiding negative impact and taking next steps to increase their value for societies.
● Key instrument to combat poverty and one that companies are able to influence:
○ Paying a living wage, not only to their own workers > also making sure that their
suppliers are paid well
,The right to a living wage is a universal human right > stated in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of 1948. A living wage is a wage that allows workers to cover their basic needs and those of their
families. Not just food, also health care, housing, education for their children.
● A living wage is different in every country as it depends on the costs of living.
● Many countries have legislation to pay a minimum wage; however this minimum wage is usually
lower than the living wage.
○ Just complying with local regulations is not enough to get people out of poverty
○ In practice, a huge part of the global workforce in supply chains is paid wages on which
they cannot survive.
○ The supply chain could use their leverage over their suppliers to make them pay a living
wage. REALITY: never done
○ On the contrary, they often negotiate lower prices or faster delivery of products, which
leads to even lower wages for workers.
Poverty wages are not only in developing countries > also in the US and Europe > people do not earn
enough with one, two or sometimes three jobs
● Think of outsourcing, zero hours contracts, and the move from labor contracts to service
contracts, particularly in the gig economy.
● Whilst the link between poverty and not being paid a living wage is obvious, the solution is not
easy. We need to consider about the following questions: How do you assess a living wage, how
high should it be? How should you implement it, who is gonna pay this?
● Implementing is not easy as well; but it is an instrument pre-eminently in the hands of
companies. They can change; they can help to end poverty in all its forms.
A business case about No poverty
Arjen Boekhold; Tony Chocolonely; The mission: slave-free chocolate
● A business plan and an impact plan was made; not separated: but one plan.
● They pay responsibility for everything they do and also for everything they have to learn in their
annual fair report > transparency
Can you explain what you mean by slave-free chocolate?
● When we brought our bar into the shelves, we did it in a alarming red wrapper, because we
wanted to show that something is fundamentally wrong in the cocoa industry.
● If there are two point five million farmers producing cocoa and of those farmers, 90% lives in
poverty, we think something is wrong.
● Things are getting worse: more than 2 million children work in child labor in the fields of the
cocoa farmers; because farmers don’t have money to pay employees.
Sometimes even forms of modern slavery occur more than 30.000 victims of modern slavery
exploitation and sometimes even human trafficking work in the cocoa industry. > Because people want
cheap chocolate and this is wrong.
How does Tony Chocolonely approach work in practice?
● They don’t claim to be slave-free
● They strive to make slave free the norm in the chocolate industry worldwide; they want to show
that something is wrong in the cocoa industry
● They made a roadmap to make slave-free the norm in chocolate
Three pillars of Tony’s Chocolonely:
1) Raise awareness with consumers and producers > that people think about child labor, poverty,
, about the things they put in their basket
2) They want to set the example that we can source cocoa differently
3) They want to inspire people to act (most important pillar of all)
They want the cocoa industry to be changed; another way of doing business where you see people not
as people where you take wealth from, but together you create a better future
How do you set the example?
Second pillar: 5 sourcing principles and with every cocoa bean we buy, we bring into practice these
sourcing principles.
1. tracing all the cocoa they buy; only when you know where it comes from, you can take
responsibility
2. paying a price making farmers being able to have a living income to escape the trap of poverty
3. working together on improved productivity and professionalism of farmers, so they can make
also themselves a decent income
4. going into long term relations, because only slowly we build together
5. working on strong farmer cooperatives so they can make a fist together against the industry or
may have economies of scale and develop together
You need to use all of these pillars > to make slave-free the norm in chocolate
2018: collaboration with Albert Heijn (biggest supermarket of the Netherlands)
Governments are also needed; they need to set the rules of the game.
● Without good legislation you always will have laggers in the chocolate industry but anywhere in
any industry who will not take their responsibility.
How is Tony’s a System Changer and what role does your foundation play in this?
● Tony’s Chocolonely wants to change the industry from within, while setting the example how we
do business
● On the side they have a foundation which assists all kind of initiatives to fight slavery and
exploitation in the chocolate industry
● Too many companies are hiding behind charity, while they say that they take the responsibility
● Charity is not taking responsibility; Taking responsibility is changing the core of your operations
Based on your experience with Tony’s over the past seven years, what will be your advice for RSM
students?
● A quote of the founder of Body Shop: “Once you think you’re too small to have an impact, try
going to bed with a mosquito in the room”.
● We want students to be the mosquito > making impact and change the world for the better
SDG 5. (Gender Equality)
Explaining Gender Equality
Women's rights have improved compared to how they were fifty years ago but there is still a lot we can
do to achieve equality between genders.
● Women are often discriminated against in the job market and many countries still promote
laws that put women in a secondary position compared to men.
● This happens in spite of the fact that organisations with an equal amount of men and women at
senior management level considerably outperform those that lack equal representation.
● This difference in senior roles starts with education, as good education increases chances of
getting paid well.
