Today, more than 700 million people around the world live in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 a day. This figure is on the rise in the face of the global pandemic. During 2021, the COVID-19 induced poor was estimated to be 97 million people. Poverty manifests itself through multiple ways, including poorer health, lower education, social discrimination, higher prevalence of violence, and lack of participation in decision making. Solutions to reducing poverty need to tackle the need of those most vulnerable segments of the population while bringing them to the forefront of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sunit Adhikari, CEO of SAPPROS (Support Activities for Poor Producers of Nepal), will discuss how community-based solutions to poverty reduction and sustainable development can be implemented in post-conflict contexts. His organisation aims to develop grassroots level institutions in Nepal that are self-sufficient, replicable and enable people living in poverty to self-govern and manage community affairs. SAPPROS helps communities to identify their resources, economic and social status to establish local institutions that implement the ideas and projects for and with the community.

Moderator: Orlando Zambrano Roman, PhD Researcher in International Economics, the Geneva Graduate Institute.

The Geneva Challenge, hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute, is launching a series of online public lectures in partnership with the Right Livelihood Foundation. This collaboration provides an exclusive opportunity to interact with Right Livelihood Laureates and engage in a discussion about the challenges and opportunities of sustainable development. The diverse voices and journeys of the Laureates seek to inspire, motivate and offer perspectives to the participants of the Geneva Challenge and the Geneva Graduate Institute community.