As part of the post 2015 project study, I visited a senior economist at the world bank to hear about his strategy in country diagnostics on the sustainable development goals. His idea was to regress the indicators within the MDG targets with GNI. When the relationship is close enough, then GNI is used to predict how the country will perform in 2030.
Further info on this diagnostic method can be found here.
The World Bank head quarter is located in Washington DC. It was my first time in Washington, and I love the city right away. Some of the buildings were modern looking, while some of them are actually preserved traditional buildings, which make them look very artistic. The White House is located at the heart of the city. When I was there, the president of Afghanistan was visiting. Due to this, the city’s security was increased. Public transportations were quite reliable and people were very very friendly to me. I hope to come back in the future!
From the Washington DC, I took a flight to New York City. New York is very vibrant, just what I expected from a big city like NYC. Tokyo is very dense but I would say that it is relatively quiet in trains and the elevators. Not in NYC, this city is loud and intense. I had the honour to attend the intergovernmental negotiation on the goals and targets of the post 2015 SDGs in the United Nations head quarter. The documents on this meeting can be found here. UNHQ stands proudly in Manhattan district just several minutes bus drive away from Times Square. It was exciting to be in a building where people from all the different kind of nationalities gather and strive for the world’s future and sustainability.
