Highlights
- Ameeta Jain is a lecturer in finance at Melbourne's Deakin University
- She has recently won the Australia-New Zealand Research Impact Competition Award
- Ms Jain's reasearch on the economy of Timor-Leste has been recognised by UNDP
Ameeta Jain is one of four Australian researchers to win this year's Australia-New Zealand Research Impact Competition Award. Her research was in line with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on the economy of Timor-Leste.
A Senior Lecturer in Deakin University's Department of Finance, she is currently working with a local government in Melbourne to devise their SDG report.
Ms Jain interviewed NGOs, public and private organisations including in Timor-Leste during 2018-19 to assess the challenges in their community.
“I submitted my perceptions as a report to the United Nations Development Program in Timor-Leste and my submission has been used by them in their review report on Timor-Leste in 2019,” said Ms Jain.
Speaking with SBS Hindi, Ms Jain said she is also working with NGOs in India to develop virtual internships for Deakin University students which may contribute towards SDG.
Ms Ameeta Jain's research report focuses on Timor-Leste community Source: Ameeta Jain
India had introduced a law on corporate social responsibility in 2013 for businesses, entrepreneurs and corporates to contribute a percentage of their profit towards the betterment of society. These goals are similar to SDG.
"At that time there were no SDGs but the idea behind all these 17 goals is not new. These are basic requirements of any economy", explained Ms Jain.
Elaborating on the agenda of SDG, Ms Jain said, "it seeks not only to eradicate extreme poverty but also to integrate and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development — economic, social and environmental — in a comprehensive global vision.”
School children in Timor-Leste Source: Ameeta Jain
On 1 January 2016, the world officially began the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — the transformative plan of action based on 17 Sustainable Development Goals — to address urgent global challenges over 15 years from 2016-2030.
Within these goals are 169 targets. Targets under Goal 1, for example, include reducing by at least half the number of people living in poverty by 2030 and eradicating extreme poverty (people living on less than $1.25 a day). Under Goal 5, there’s a target of eliminating violence against women, while Goal 16 has a target to promote the rule of law and equal access to justice.
Ms Jain added, “SDG is everyone's business. Each individual, organisation and business can adopt the goals most relevant to them.”
Ms Jain said COVID-19 has made SDG even more relevant.
"COVID-19 has affected each SDG, from disruption to food supplies, increased levels of violence against women, worsening of health, in particular, mental health to chronic illnesses. There is awareness towards these goals in Australia but a lot has yet to be done,” she signed off.
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