TANZANIA: THE holiday season offers an opportunity to reflect on our achievements and consider how we can improve in the coming year.
It’s a time to focus on reaching our objectives, giving back to our communities and making a positive impact on the world, especially at the national level, as we wrap up this year and look ahead to 2025.
Giving supports a range of worthy causes, from alleviating poverty and improving education to protecting the environment and advancing innovative technology.
Ideally, we should all be united by common goals to make 2025 a year of progress for all. However, the reality is that international collaboration has significantly diminished over the past decade.
Many will recall that in 2015, the United Nations (UN) introduced a 169-point agenda aimed at addressing humanity’s challenges by 2030. With the best of intentions, global leaders committed to the Sustainable Development Goals.
However, the world has fallen far short of nearly all 169 commitments, with only five years remaining. The battle against hunger, illness and poverty has stalled. Why aren’t we progressing more? This is mainly because we attempt to do too much, prioritising nothing and accomplishing little if we try to focus on everything. A new year presents a new chance.
We should prioritise the interventions that provide the most significant progress rather than attempting to do everything simultaneously, both as a society and as individuals, with our contributions.
In other words, those that yield the best returns for the environment, people and future generations. The catch is that the most successful investments don’t always make news or garner celebrity support.
To determine which global objectives yield the most return on investment, I have collaborated with over 100 of the world’s best economists, including multiple Nobel Laureates.
After completing hundreds of pages of free, peerreviewed research, I have determined the top 12 things we can do to improve the lives of the world’s poor globally and nationally if there is political will. These solutions are inexpensive and very effective, but they rarely make news.
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A pregnant woman’s child’s growth and brain development will be delayed if she is deficient in vital minerals and vitamins.
Her kids will be destined to perform worse all of their lives. An expecting mother may guarantee her children will grow healthier, wiser and more productive by spending just $2.31 on an essential multivitamin supplement. Up to $38 in economic benefits might be obtained for every dollar spent on nutritional supplements for expectant mothers. This paradise is not so distant.
It’s a workable, tested solution that may be expanded right now. Enhancing education is a more straightforward but effective investment. Just 10 per cent of 10-year-olds in the world’s poorest nations are literate. Fixing this is ethical and it will also lessen future conflict and the need for aid and guarantee that nations can write their own success stories.
Some kids are bored, while others struggle. Teaching kids individually at the appropriate level is a straightforward yet revolutionary solution.
Teachers cannot handle this for every student, but technology can. Reading, writing and basic math skills can be taught with just one hour a day spent in front of a tablet running instructional software.
Numerous studies demonstrate that pupils will learn as much as they would in three years, even if the remaining seven hours of daily teaching are traditional and useless.
The expenses are low: Each student spends roughly $31 annually on tablet sharing. The return on investment is astounding: For every $1 invested, children who learn more grow up to be more productive adults, yielding a $65 return.
This is a fantastic long-term investment for a more secure and independent world and a nation. There is a strong argument for concentrating on treating illnesses like malaria and tuberculosis, which have previously been eradicated in wealthy nations but have become poverty-related diseases.
Expanding malaria treatment and anti-mosquito bed net distribution throughout Africa might save two hundred thousand lives annually, with benefits equal to $48 for every $1 invested. Healthy and productive people are more inclined to work, develop and contribute to the world, eventually benefitting everyone.
As the new year draws near, we must stop pursuing lofty lists of impossible objectives and concentrate on what already works.
We should focus our time, energy, financial resources and political will on initiatives that positively impact people’s lives. Regarding resolutions, for those who may not know, it is believed that the first people to make New Year’s resolutions were the ancient Babylonians approximately 4,000 years ago.
They promised their gods that they would repay their debts and return whatever items they had borrowed when they made these resolutions in mid-March when their crops were planted. Making pledges of good behaviour for the upcoming year was a comparable practice in ancient Rome during the reign of Julius Caesar.
We are still producing them after several millennia. Studies have shown that although almost half of people set resolutions for the New Year, less than 10 per cent follow through. Concentrating on what works, in 2025, institutions and governments will finally end their indecision and focus on finding the most excellent answers.
We may do more in a year by focusing on what works rather than ten years of inaction. Each of us can play a modest role in ensuring that 2025 is the year we decide to take progress for everyone seriously.
The African economy’s New Year’s resolutions have been a less well-known success story in the past ten years. Notwithstanding the continent’s numerous challenges, global trade and attracting significant foreign direct investment offer significant chances for expansion and advancement.
Resolving the scientifically uninformed objection to genetically modified food will significantly increase exports and agriculture, increasing the region’s economic self-sufficiency.
This is important because Global growth has been weak over the past year and 2025 is just marginally better predicted.
Something needs to be done to increase earnings and provide opportunities for everyone.
Dr Shayo is an economist-cum-investment banker and Daily News columnist
