Passion and prayers – that’s how Everlyn Fiualakwa of the Solomon Islands got into disaster risk management. Everlyn had just graduated from university and was looking for a job when an 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Temotu Province, on 6 February 2013. A tsunami followed, killing 10 people. Reading about the disaster in the papers, Everlyn knew then what she wanted to do with her life: to help communities in her country become better prepared to deal with emergencies.

National ownership to monitor and achieve the SDGs is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda. However, many National Statistical Offices (NSO) face challenges in monitoring and reviewing the implementation of the SDGs. These challenges include the complexity of measuring certain problems and building relevant indicators, limited statistical capacity to monitor identified indicators, the lack of tools to facilitate the use of available information, and coordination difficulties experienced by stakeholders in producing, storing, and using the data, to name just a few.

Nkiru recognized that an important factor that contributed to foster application of knowledge in her organization is the existence of a large network of women with the capabilities to utilize the new knowledge without the need for extra personnel.

Les participants, tous originaires d’Afrique sub-saharienne, étaient pour la plupart des représentant de gouvernements et d’autres autorités impliquées dans la formulation de politique agricole, de programme et mesures.

"We developed a management model for an entrepreneurship promotion center, which took into account the elements mentioned in the course."

If the rising trend of NCDs is not addressed now, the current burden will just continue to increase and the cost of this will be felt across all aspects of health care, across government and within local communities.

“One of the important technical backstopping we’ve received is the lockdown maps which have helped the NDMO’s camp sector committee identify potential quarantine stations.”

"The work on this course has been a very practical level of collaboration linked to the network and as a result, we have also started looking into developing microlearning on statistics.”

“As a student, it is not common to come across professionals who work in the UN System. This was an opportunity to interact with many of them!”

“We discovered that the SDGs are completely interrelated. If you are working to improve access to water, you are going to improve access to health. Consequently, you will improve access to education. Consequently, you will improve access to employment.”