Sustainable Development Goals
SDG10 – Reduced Inequalities
Everyone deserves to have the same opportunities to live a happy, healthy, and successful life, yet inequalities are rising between social classes, rural and urban populations, and people of different genders, ethnicities, abilities and other differences in identity. It’s our responsibility to make sure everyone around us is treated with respect and is able to live a fulfilled life.
The world’s richest 10 percent have up to 40 percent of global income, whereas the poorest 10 percent earn only between 2 to 7 percent. If we take into account population growth inequality in developing countries, inequality has increased by 11 percent. These widening disparities require sound policies to empower lower income earners, and promote economic inclusion of all, regardless of sex, race or ethnicity (UNDP).
As Scouts, we aim to be inclusive of all regardless of gender, sexuality, race, spiritual beliefs, abilities or socioeconomic status, and do not tolerate any form of harm, abuse, exclusion or neglect. We work to embrace the diversity of our local community, and aim to reflect this diversity through our policies and practices, and provide inclusion that ensures access to Scouting for all. We have an ambition for “Scouting to be recognised for its leading approach to diversity and inclusion”, as outlined in our Sustainability Strategy & Action Plan, though we know we have more work to do. Check out the resources below to learn more, take action, and then share to spread the word.
Do we all have equal opportunity to live life to its fullest? What benefits do we have, and what barriers may we face?
Starting out in life, we have a mix of opportunities, barriers and aspects of identity. As we learn and grow, these factors can have different affects on our experiences – who we meet, work opportunities, where we study, our access to healthcare, how others treat us.
Scouts Australia’s youth program team have started developing ideas for how you might engage with each of the Sustainable Development Goals. This card challenges you to contribute to our global goal of Reducing Inequalities by considering our potential opportunities, barriers and aspects of identity. Every small part counts as we work towards these goals!
Learn more and take action
- WOSM’s Scouts For SDGs page: Reduced Inequalities (WOSM)
- Scouting Ireland’s 17days17sdgs campaign: Reduced Inequalities (SI)
We have a new online hub for our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) resources, where you can learn all about our latest initiatives.
Engaging with our local communities, we have many examples of ways that we celebrate our diversity and work towards inclusion:
- Celebrating our cultural heritage in Harmony Week
- Commemorating NAIDOC week and using Acknowledgement of Country
- Participating in cultural festivals like Autumn Moon Festival
- Marching with pride alongside our LGBTIQA+ members
- Celebrating neurodiversity in Scouting
You can read about some of these experiences in previous blogs, and in the following articles published in Scouts Victoria’s Australian Scout magazine.
Share your efforts
Now that you’ve taken action, share it to inspire others. If you post to social media, please tag Scouts Australia and include the hashtags #Scouts4SDGs #ScoutsAustralia #SDG10 #ReducedInequality, and then head over to scout.org to register your project: https://www.scout.org/node/add/project
