Shafiq is passionate about contributing to the global goals set by the United Nations to achieve Vision 2040. Currently, Shafiq is actively contributing to Goal Number Six which calls on us to ensure affordable, clean water for all as well as sanitation for all. Shafiq is also focussing efforts on Goal Number Nine( Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure). He does this through mobilizing the WordPress Community in Uganda to help build websites and help create jobs for the youths developing sites for companies, individuals and multinational organizations. Through Ronzag.com, a social network, he is directly contributing to Goal Number Nine. He also has interests in Call Center audio data analysis using automated speech classification and processing tools and algorithms to enhance decision making and performance evaluation.
THE GLOBAL GOALS, What are they, why do they matter, and why you should care about them? Most importantly, how to the Global Goals affect you and your community?
In 2000, 189 countries of the world came together to face the future. And what they saw was daunting. Famines. Drought. Wars. Plagues. Poverty. The perennial problems of the world. Not just in some faraway place, but in their own cities and towns and villages. They knew things didn’t have to be this way. They knew we had enough food to feed the world, but that it wasn’t getting shared. They knew there were medicines for HIV and other diseases, but that they cost a lot. They knew that earthquakes and foods were inevitable, but that the high death tolls were not. They also knew that billions of people worldwide shared their hope for a better future.
So leaders from these countries created a plan called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This set of 8 goals imagined a future just 15 years of that would be rid of poverty and hunger. It was an ambitious plan. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been one of the leading organizations working to achieve the MDGs. Present in more than 170 countries and territories, the UN funded projects that helped fulfill the Goals. The UN championed the Goals so that people everywhere would know how to do their part. And as the UN acted as “scorekeeper,” helping countries track their progress. And the progress in those 15 years has been tremendous. Hunger has been cut in half. Extreme poverty is down nearly by half. More kids are going to school and fewer are dying.
Now these countries want to build on the many successes of the past 15 years, and go further. The new set of goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aim to end poverty and hunger by 2030. World leaders, recognizing the connection between people and the planet, have set goals for the land, the oceans and the waterways. The world is also better connected now than it was in 2000, and is building a consensus about the future we want. That future is one where everybody has enough food, and can work, and where living on less than $1.25 a day is a thing of the past. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is proud to continue as a leader in this global movement.
The Global Goals Shafiq Lutaaya is focussing on currently are outlined below.
Goal Number 6. CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION FOR ALL
Everyone on earth should have access to safe and affordable drinking water. That’s the goal for 2030. While many people around the world take clean drinking water and sanitation for granted, many others don’t. Water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of people around the world, and that number is projected to go even higher as a result of climate change. If we continue the path we’re on, by 2050 at least one in four people are likely to be affected by recurring water shortages. But we can take a new path—more international cooperation, protecting wetlands and rivers, sharing water-treatment technologies and more—that leads to accomplishing this Goal. Shafiq is working on Information Technological Innovations at the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Uganda’s water utility. Among others, he is involved in the development of a Water Quality Monitoring system, a remote booster monitoring system, and a live chatting platform that engages customers in real-time as well as an invoicing system.
Goal Number 9. INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE
BUILD RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, PROMOTE INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIALIZATION AND FOSTER INNOVATION
Technological progress helps us address big global challenges such as creating jobs and becoming more energy efficient. The world is becoming ever more interconnected and prosperous thanks to the internet. The more connected we are, the more we can all benefit from the wisdom and contributions of people everywhere on earth. And yet four billion people have no way of getting online, the vast majority of them in developing countries. The more we invest in innovation and
infrastructure, the better of we’ll all be. Bridging the digital divide, promoting sustainable industries, and investing in scientific research and innovation are all important ways to facilitate sustainable development. On this goal, Shafiq has helped create websites for companies and organisations using Information Technology tools. Some of these innovations can be found on the Innovations tab of this website, and counting.