Description
For this assignment, you are asked to write a Status Report for a country of your choice (please see specific criteria detailed in the assignment). Your report will summarize the progress of that nation (or lack of progress) towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing mainly on one goal that interests you. You will also be commenting on progress made since the Millennium Development Goals ended in 2015; the challenges or barriers to achieving the SDGs in that country (with a focus on one SDG, in particular); and the steps being taken or plans that have been put in place to achieve the goals.Please check the assignment document for detailed instructions Download Please check the assignment document for detailed instructions- there are some specific requirements that you will need to follow. The length of the report, written in a scholarly writing style, should be about 6-8 pages (1.5-spaced, 3000-4000 words of text).
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ENV311 Environmental Issues in the Developing World
Assignment 1 – Country Status Report
Dr. Damian Maddalena
Winter 2024
1
Introduction
For this assignment, you are asked to write a Status Report for a country of your choice (see
specific criteria and instructions, below). Your report will detail the progress of that nation (or
lack of progress) towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing mainly on one
goal that interests you.
2
Learning Objectives
In completing this assignment, you will:
summarize the current status of a country of interest with respect to basic socioeconomic and
demographic indicators;
investigate the status of that country at the turning point between the Millennium Development Goals to the post-2015 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals;
identify progress made (or not made), in general, towards the Millennium Development Goals
and the Sustainable Development Goals in that country;
determine whether progress has been made on one selected goal of the 17 SDGs, and explain
the challenges and barriers that remain for this country to reach the goal; and,
discuss steps that have been taken or plans that have been put in place for this country to
move towards achieving the goal.
1
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
3
Background
From the UNDP Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (https://sustainabledevelopment.
un.org/vnrs/):
As part of its follow-up and review mechanisms, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development*
encourages member states to “conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and
sub- national levels, which are country-led and country-driven” (paragraph 79). These national
reviews are expected to serve as a basis for the regular reviews by the High-Level Political Forum
(HLPF), meeting under the auspices of ECOSOC (the United Nations Economic and Social Council). As stipulated in paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, regular reviews by the HLPF are to be
voluntary, state-led, undertaken by both developed and developing countries, and involve multiple
stakeholders.
The Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including
successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the
2030 Agenda. The VNRs also seek to strengthen policies and institutions of governments and
to mobilize multi-stakeholder support and partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
*The 2030 Agenda was the document, released in 2016, in which the United Nations set the post-2015 development agenda, including the 17
Sustainable Development Goals, as a follow-up for the Millennium Development Goals.
4
Steps and Specific Requirements
1. Choose a country.
Select a country that has submitted a Voluntary National Review to the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
vnrs/). A full list of countries that have submitted is available on the site (scroll down),
with links to the reports.
Please be aware that some of the reports are not in English. This may influence your
choice of country. Feel free to choose any report you can read, no matter the language.
Please also make sure that the country you have chosen is identified as “LIC” (LowIncome Country) or “MIC” (Middle-Income Country) by the World Bank.
– Here is a list of the World Bank’s Help Desk Lending groups for reference: https://
datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-countryand-lending-groups
2. Find out some basic background information about your country, and broadly
summarize the country’s progress from the MDGs to the SDGs.
Some of the Voluntary National Reviews have national summaries but you will want to
locate additional basic information so you will be able to give a complete picture of the
current status in your country.
A good starting point would be the World Bank’s Data page, which has information
about basic social and economic indicators for all countries: https://data.worldbank.
org/country
2/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
Another site with a lot of basic information is the UNDP Human Development Reports,
Global Human Development Indicators (http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries). On
this site you will find country-specific information about income, education, health, and
many other aspects of development and wellbeing.
Another good starting point would be to go to UN Statistics Division, Department of
Economic and Social Affairs site for the Millennium Development Indicators (https:
//unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/). This will tell you the country’s status at the end of
the MDGs, and you will be able to compare that to current progress towards the SDGs.
– Click on Data Country and Regional Snapshots and enter the name of your country into the box (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Data/
snapshots.htm). You will see a graphic summarizing that nation’s progress towards
the eight Millennium Development Goals as of 2015.
– More detailed, country-specific data is available from the same website, UN Statistics Data MDG Goals ¿ Country-Level Data (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/
Data.aspx)
3. Choose one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to focus on, in particular.
You could choose a Sustainable Development Goal that is causing problems for your
country; or you could choose to focus on a Goal for which your country has shown
considerable progress.
Choose a goal that interests you. You are going to be reporting in detail on your country’s
progress towards that goal (or lack of progress); the challenges of achieving this goal;
and the country’s current approach to overcoming these challenges.
When you start to investigate the country’s progress towards the goal that you have
chosen to examine, be sure to look at the targets that underlie the goal – not just the
overall goal.
– For example, SDG 4 is: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. But underlying Goal 4 there are ten
specific targets, including:
* 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective
learning outcomes
* 4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood
development, care and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary
education
* . . . and 8 additional specific targets.
– You can find out more about the SDGs at https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
(click on “Goals” or click on the goals individually at the righthand side of the page).
3/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
4. Do your research.
The Voluntary National Review will be your starting point. Some of the VNRs are
very thorough; others are much less complete. This may say something about capacity
in the country.
– Your research should help you develop a solid understanding of the situation in your
chosen country, with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals.
– You are looking for evidence of progress toward achieving the SDGs in general,
especially the one goal that you have chosen to focus on.
– You are looking for evidence of continued challenges in meeting the goals, especially
the one goal that you are focusing on.
– You are looking for information about the steps being taken in this country and the
plans that have been made to move towards achieving the goal.
– The research also should provide you with examples, evidence, data, graphics, etc.,
with which to build your report content.
After starting with the VNR, you should look for at least four additional sources to
supplement the information you acquire from the Voluntary National Review. Your
sources should be reliable.
– Appropriate sources include scholarly journal articles; scholarly books; and grey
literature including reliable government agency documents, reports, etc. (national,
regional, etc.); reliable intergovernmental agency documents (UNEP or UNEP;
World Bank; etc.); and reliable, unbiased nongovernmental agency documents (Red
Cross/Red Crescent, for example).
– Less-appropriate sources, which should be used with caution or avoided altogether, include “popular” (as opposed to scholarly) books; highly political, agendadriven, or obviously biased reports; newspapers and magazines; and websites that
are not associated with a reliable source.
– Unacceptable sources include Wikipedia, which should not be cited as a source –
it’s OK to start there, or to look up some of the references from a Wikipedia article
as a jumping-off point. Wikipedia itself is not an academically reliable source.
Textbooks also are generally not acceptable, but our course textbook is higher-level
and can be considered as an academic book, so it’s OK.
5. Write your report.
The length we are aiming for is 3000-4000 words. In Calibri 11, 1.5-spaced, this would
be about 6 to 8 pages.
– We’re not going to be SUPER-strict about the length.
– However, if you come in much shorter than this, the report will be lacking in content.
If you come in much longer than this, we’ll be wondering about your ability to write
concisely.
4/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
A possible organizational scheme (not required) would be:
– 1.5 pages of introduction and basic background information about the country
– 2 pages of information about progress made towards the MDGs as of 2015, and
current progress and challenges towards the SDGs
– 2 pages of specific details about the goal that you have chosen to investigate, the
progress (or lack of progress) towards that goal in your country, and the specific
challenges posed by that goal
– 1 page of information about the country’s approach to meeting those challenges
– 0.5 page of summary and conclusions
Graphics, photos, maps, etc. are not specifically required. However, some graphics
might be very helpful in communicating your results with clarity. If you are “missing”
graphics that would have been helpful, you might lose a mark or two.
Be sure to properly cite all sources that you have used.
– In-text citations should be in APA style. Include a reference list at the end
of your document, also in APA style. There is a link to APA Style on our course
website.
– Photos, graphics, data, etc. also must be cited properly, and included in the reference
list. For photographs, in particular, please try to use only photos that are in the
public domain. Wikimedia is OK as a source for photos, as long as it states that
the photo is offered for use in the public domain. Any “.gov” (US Government)
source is OK, and for our purposes I think the United Nations organization can be
used as well, as long as the source is properly cited.
– There isn’t a specific required number of references. However, if you are citing fewer
than five or six good, solid sources, we will wonder how much effort you made to
collect information and differing perspectives on your topic.
– Refer to Academic and Writing Resources on our Quercus site for additional help
with many things, including APA-style citations and referencing.
5/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
5
Submission and Grading Rubric
The assignment should be completed in full-sentence prose, approximately 6-8 pages in length (at
1.5- spaced, about 3000-4000 words of text).
Your country status report will be marked on the basis of the following items:
The content, including thoroughness, accuracy, and appropriate choice of examples and data
to demonstrate the status of your chosen country with respect to the Sustainable Development
Goals; additionally, the quality and insightfulness of your discussion and conclusions
The quality and appropriateness of your sources, as well as complete and properly formatted
citations and references
The quality of the writing and organization, including scholarly tone, grammar, sentence
and paragraph structure, organization, flow, etc., and – importantly – the conciseness and
efficiency of the writing
Formatting, length, and other required items
See detailed rubric on Quercus on the submission page for this assignment.
Submit your assignment on Quercus before the deadline. See Section 8 of your syllabus for detailed
information on late submission, extension requests, and related. You have two submission attempts.
No additional attempts will be granted for any reason.
6/6
ENV311 Environmental Issues in the Developing World
Assignment 1 – Country Status Report
Dr. Damian Maddalena
Winter 2024
1
Introduction
For this assignment, you are asked to write a Status Report for a country of your choice (see
specific criteria and instructions, below). Your report will detail the progress of that nation (or
lack of progress) towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing mainly on one
goal that interests you.
2
Learning Objectives
In completing this assignment, you will:
summarize the current status of a country of interest with respect to basic socioeconomic and
demographic indicators;
investigate the status of that country at the turning point between the Millennium Development Goals to the post-2015 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals;
identify progress made (or not made), in general, towards the Millennium Development Goals
and the Sustainable Development Goals in that country;
determine whether progress has been made on one selected goal of the 17 SDGs, and explain
the challenges and barriers that remain for this country to reach the goal; and,
discuss steps that have been taken or plans that have been put in place for this country to
move towards achieving the goal.
1
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
3
Background
From the UNDP Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (https://sustainabledevelopment.
un.org/vnrs/):
As part of its follow-up and review mechanisms, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development*
encourages member states to “conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and
sub- national levels, which are country-led and country-driven” (paragraph 79). These national
reviews are expected to serve as a basis for the regular reviews by the High-Level Political Forum
(HLPF), meeting under the auspices of ECOSOC (the United Nations Economic and Social Council). As stipulated in paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, regular reviews by the HLPF are to be
voluntary, state-led, undertaken by both developed and developing countries, and involve multiple
stakeholders.
The Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including
successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the
2030 Agenda. The VNRs also seek to strengthen policies and institutions of governments and
to mobilize multi-stakeholder support and partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
*The 2030 Agenda was the document, released in 2016, in which the United Nations set the post-2015 development agenda, including the 17
Sustainable Development Goals, as a follow-up for the Millennium Development Goals.
4
Steps and Specific Requirements
1. Choose a country.
Select a country that has submitted a Voluntary National Review to the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
vnrs/). A full list of countries that have submitted is available on the site (scroll down),
with links to the reports.
Please be aware that some of the reports are not in English. This may influence your
choice of country. Feel free to choose any report you can read, no matter the language.
Please also make sure that the country you have chosen is identified as “LIC” (LowIncome Country) or “MIC” (Middle-Income Country) by the World Bank.
– Here is a list of the World Bank’s Help Desk Lending groups for reference: https://
datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-countryand-lending-groups
2. Find out some basic background information about your country, and broadly
summarize the country’s progress from the MDGs to the SDGs.
Some of the Voluntary National Reviews have national summaries but you will want to
locate additional basic information so you will be able to give a complete picture of the
current status in your country.
A good starting point would be the World Bank’s Data page, which has information
about basic social and economic indicators for all countries: https://data.worldbank.
org/country
2/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
Another site with a lot of basic information is the UNDP Human Development Reports,
Global Human Development Indicators (http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries). On
this site you will find country-specific information about income, education, health, and
many other aspects of development and wellbeing.
Another good starting point would be to go to UN Statistics Division, Department of
Economic and Social Affairs site for the Millennium Development Indicators (https:
//unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/). This will tell you the country’s status at the end of
the MDGs, and you will be able to compare that to current progress towards the SDGs.
– Click on Data Country and Regional Snapshots and enter the name of your country into the box (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Data/
snapshots.htm). You will see a graphic summarizing that nation’s progress towards
the eight Millennium Development Goals as of 2015.
– More detailed, country-specific data is available from the same website, UN Statistics Data MDG Goals ¿ Country-Level Data (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/
Data.aspx)
3. Choose one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to focus on, in particular.
You could choose a Sustainable Development Goal that is causing problems for your
country; or you could choose to focus on a Goal for which your country has shown
considerable progress.
Choose a goal that interests you. You are going to be reporting in detail on your country’s
progress towards that goal (or lack of progress); the challenges of achieving this goal;
and the country’s current approach to overcoming these challenges.
When you start to investigate the country’s progress towards the goal that you have
chosen to examine, be sure to look at the targets that underlie the goal – not just the
overall goal.
– For example, SDG 4 is: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. But underlying Goal 4 there are ten
specific targets, including:
* 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective
learning outcomes
* 4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood
development, care and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary
education
* . . . and 8 additional specific targets.
– You can find out more about the SDGs at https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
(click on “Goals” or click on the goals individually at the righthand side of the page).
3/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
4. Do your research.
The Voluntary National Review will be your starting point. Some of the VNRs are
very thorough; others are much less complete. This may say something about capacity
in the country.
– Your research should help you develop a solid understanding of the situation in your
chosen country, with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals.
– You are looking for evidence of progress toward achieving the SDGs in general,
especially the one goal that you have chosen to focus on.
– You are looking for evidence of continued challenges in meeting the goals, especially
the one goal that you are focusing on.
– You are looking for information about the steps being taken in this country and the
plans that have been made to move towards achieving the goal.
– The research also should provide you with examples, evidence, data, graphics, etc.,
with which to build your report content.
After starting with the VNR, you should look for at least four additional sources to
supplement the information you acquire from the Voluntary National Review. Your
sources should be reliable.
– Appropriate sources include scholarly journal articles; scholarly books; and grey
literature including reliable government agency documents, reports, etc. (national,
regional, etc.); reliable intergovernmental agency documents (UNEP or UNEP;
World Bank; etc.); and reliable, unbiased nongovernmental agency documents (Red
Cross/Red Crescent, for example).
– Less-appropriate sources, which should be used with caution or avoided altogether, include “popular” (as opposed to scholarly) books; highly political, agendadriven, or obviously biased reports; newspapers and magazines; and websites that
are not associated with a reliable source.
– Unacceptable sources include Wikipedia, which should not be cited as a source –
it’s OK to start there, or to look up some of the references from a Wikipedia article
as a jumping-off point. Wikipedia itself is not an academically reliable source.
Textbooks also are generally not acceptable, but our course textbook is higher-level
and can be considered as an academic book, so it’s OK.
5. Write your report.
The length we are aiming for is 3000-4000 words. In Calibri 11, 1.5-spaced, this would
be about 6 to 8 pages.
– We’re not going to be SUPER-strict about the length.
– However, if you come in much shorter than this, the report will be lacking in content.
If you come in much longer than this, we’ll be wondering about your ability to write
concisely.
4/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
A possible organizational scheme (not required) would be:
– 1.5 pages of introduction and basic background information about the country
– 2 pages of information about progress made towards the MDGs as of 2015, and
current progress and challenges towards the SDGs
– 2 pages of specific details about the goal that you have chosen to investigate, the
progress (or lack of progress) towards that goal in your country, and the specific
challenges posed by that goal
– 1 page of information about the country’s approach to meeting those challenges
– 0.5 page of summary and conclusions
Graphics, photos, maps, etc. are not specifically required. However, some graphics
might be very helpful in communicating your results with clarity. If you are “missing”
graphics that would have been helpful, you might lose a mark or two.
Be sure to properly cite all sources that you have used.
– In-text citations should be in APA style. Include a reference list at the end
of your document, also in APA style. There is a link to APA Style on our course
website.
– Photos, graphics, data, etc. also must be cited properly, and included in the reference
list. For photographs, in particular, please try to use only photos that are in the
public domain. Wikimedia is OK as a source for photos, as long as it states that
the photo is offered for use in the public domain. Any “.gov” (US Government)
source is OK, and for our purposes I think the United Nations organization can be
used as well, as long as the source is properly cited.
– There isn’t a specific required number of references. However, if you are citing fewer
than five or six good, solid sources, we will wonder how much effort you made to
collect information and differing perspectives on your topic.
– Refer to Academic and Writing Resources on our Quercus site for additional help
with many things, including APA-style citations and referencing.
5/6
Environmental Issues in the Developing World
ENV311– Winter 2024
5
Submission and Grading Rubric
The assignment should be completed in full-sentence prose, approximately 6-8 pages in length (at
1.5- spaced, about 3000-4000 words of text).
Your country status report will be marked on the basis of the following items:
The content, including thoroughness, accuracy, and appropriate choice of examples and data
to demonstrate the status of your chosen country with respect to the Sustainable Development
Goals; additionally, the quality and insightfulness of your discussion and conclusions
The quality and appropriateness of your sources, as well as complete and properly formatted
citations and references
The quality of the writing and organization, including scholarly tone, grammar, sentence
and paragraph structure, organization, flow, etc., and – importantly – the conciseness and
efficiency of the writing
Formatting, length, and other required items
See detailed rubric on Quercus on the submission page for this assignment.
Submit your assignment on Quercus before the deadline. See Section 8 of your syllabus for detailed
information on late submission, extension requests, and related. You have two submission attempts.
No additional attempts will be granted for any reason.
6/6
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