When I was very little, much like many other children, I had a piggy bank in my room in London in the UK. I’d save up my pennies and my pound coins and think of all the wonderful books I’d be able to buy the next time we went to the shops. Sometimes if it was a really special book, and I couldn’t wait for it to be a birthday gift, it would take me quite a few months to collect enough money to cover the cost of it.

For many children all over the world, the piggy bank is their first exposure to finance and the world of money and business. It’s where, like me, you’d put your spare change and pocket money. Perhaps you do some chores and get paid for them – this little home bank is the place to store those coins.

But the Piggy Bank actually has a very long history, going all the way back to 1450. That’s the earliest date the term is recorded in the dictionaries. Back then, before there were banks, people would put their money into an earthenware pot called ‘a pygg’. Years later when potters were thinking about designs, they took that word and took the farmyard animal and ta-da, the traditional piggy bank was created. Nowadays, piggy banks can come in all shapes and sizes. They can look like any animal or shape.

When I was eight I decided I wanted to be a journalist and tell people’s stories. I secretly also wanted to be an author. But you can’t do anything really unless you come up with a way to make money to pay for things like food, bills, housing. That could mean you become an entrepreneur and have your own ideas about business, or you could work for a company and they pay you money for your services. You could invest your money in businesses you think might become successful and take the money you’ve put in and help it grow. For some people they have to rely on their government to help them survive.

But even when you have money, you have to learn how to use it well. This is known as becoming financially literate. Research suggests that two out of three people around the world are unable to understand money matters which affect their daily lives. Many governments and organisations are trying to change that.

A few years ago I found out there were lots and lots of animal words which could be used to help make the business world less scary and help people understand their money better. I teamed up with an illustrator called Dominic Bailey and we started to investigate for our book called Bear Markets and Beyond: A Bestiary of Business Terms. A bestiary is a word that emerged in Medieval times and is a type of animal reference book.

We discovered that business beasts pop up everywhere. As well as the piggy bank at home, you’ve got Bear Markets – which happens when stocks and shares fall – and Bull Markets – which happen when the price of stocks and shares are on the rise. Cash Cows are named because they are products that are always able to make money somehow. And when the coronavirus pandemic started to spread around the world, there were people who would stockpile essential items like toilet paper and pasta. It turns out there is a German word called Hamsterkauf which was ideally suited to describe what was going on. Hamsterkauf translates to ‘hamster purchase’ and is another phrase for panic buying.

There are animal terms for the way people behave too when it comes to their investments. Meerkats are constantly on the lookout and want to know just how well their money is doing, while Sheep investors find it hard to figure out just what they actually want. There are even terms relating to workers and technology. A Unicorn company, for example, is one that’s worth $1bn, while someone who was down for the Lobster Shift in a newsroom, knew they’d be up all night working.

The world’s economy is something that’s really important. It’s about how different governments, organisations, people, at all levels manage money and other financial resources they have access to. Sometimes it seems like it can be a very closed off world but any steps that can be made to make it easier to understand are being celebrated. Even animals like ours…

Bear Markets and Beyond: A Bestiary of Business Terms is published by Portico, an imprint of Pavilion Books

Voice of Dhruti Shah

Award-winning journalist, writer, producer and storyteller. Well versed in creating digital strategies from scratch, development, presenting, newsgathering, giving social media accounts a unique voice, verification and debunking fake news, training, coaching and motivating young journalists. I am innately curious and have written on subjects including technology, business, women changing the world, comics, science and much more. I have a wealth of editorial experience built up first in local papers before jumping to global newsrooms. I have led record-making BBC international partnership projects. I’m always up for an adventure. I’ve been described as an ‘ideas factory’ and have a knack for spotting unusual ideas which audiences like.

Thank you, Voices of Future Generations Arabia, for this brilliant opportunity. In this blog, I would like to argue in favour of empowering children’s voices and quality education - SDG 4 & SDG 17, as I did in May during a symposium with over 1000 online participants.

My name is Nico, I am 11 and go to Kings College School in Cambridge. I am a UN Child Ambassador for the SDGs, and as part of this commitment I also edit an online blog - Nico’s Natural World - with over 9000 impressions, and hundreds of followers. Please come and visit it some time.

It is time that we all stand up for our children’s rights - as reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), especially Articles 24 and 29 that promise us a healthy environment and education about nature, and also Articles 12 to 13 that guarantee us a voice in decisions that concern us.

Our future, and the futures of all species on Earth, concern us! They really do!

I might be only a small child, but I know that advancing the world’s SDGs, especially SDG 13 on Climate Action and SDG 15 to Protect Life on Land, makes the difference between a terrible global nightmare, and the future we want.

Even as our whole world is locked in frightening quarantines and curfews from the global COVID-19 pandemic, we can and must still speak out for our Earth, and for future generations of all species.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are real, dangerous and urgent.

As children, we are trying very hard to be heard, locally and globally, to stop the suffering and losses from getting even worse.

Even though we cannot vote, as children we already face the consequences of terrible climate change worldwide, including new viruses emerging, and old diseases returning, with impacts on our health and on the safely of everyone we love.

And we will face far, far worse in the future.

Currently, some decision-makers are doing the exact opposite,

backing up failing aviation and oil industries, which are causing the problem!

This is horribly unfair - it is a violation of climate justice!

The CRC promises us a healthy environment and this right means that willful destruction of natural habitats, without any regard for the plants and animals, nor for all future generations… just needs to stop.

We live in a climate emergency, and it will get worse if we can’t all work together, rather than re-starting all the harmful practices, and calling it recovery!

We also live in a biodiversity emergency, with thousands of species already lost, and many more at risk of going extinct forever—unless we all help to protect nature recovery when we plan economic recovery!

We must make sure our leaders tackle the climate and biodiversity crises with the same strength and unity they have shown us with the novel coronavirus pandemic, instead of ignoring it until everything is just too late!

If we want to make a difference, we must scale up our understanding, our education and our voices!

We need new guardian laws, institutions and networks.

The world after the COVID-19 pandemic needs to take children’s fears and interests much more seriously.

I am pleading for every single leader, including everyone reading online, to help us find new ways to stop the urgent threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, just as you promised in the SDGs.

Our rights are being directly infringed by current policies, laws and decisions – locally, nationally and internationally.

Even the smallest child CAN make a BIG difference, towards a more sustainable world for us all.

Voice of Nico Roman

Nico Roman (11), UN Child Ambassador for the SDGs, Voices of Future Generations Children’s Rights Initiative; Co-Chair, Cambridge Schools Eco-Council & YR6 Student, King’s College School (Cambridge)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals launched by the United Nations (UN) and adopted by 193 UN Member States in 2015. The goals represent an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership to work toward peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership to work toward peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

We have all heard the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, and to that we would add, ‘a picture can change the world’. By promoting awareness about a better world, a photograph can have significant impact by inspiring change. The secretariat of the UAE National Committee on the Sustainable Development Goals, the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA), in collaboration with Hamdan bin Mohammed International Photography Award (HIPA) launched the ‘SDG Photography Award’ in May 2019 as a platform to allow for a visual interpretation of the 17 goals, and raise global awareness around the SDGs, through the lens of photographers of all levels.

4,105 photographers from 132 nationalities shared inspirational stories by capturing the SDGs through their camera lenses. Each photograph can be connected to an SDG, and this award helped to give a voice to the most vulnerable to tell their community’s story and their efforts towards the global goals.

Story telling is another form of art to share aspirations about a better world that can inspire action for a prosperous and sustainable future. Voices of our Future Generations (VoFG) provides the ideal opportunity to hear from you, the generation of the future, on how you would imagine the world while having the SDGs as a roadmap for a better future.

To see more of the inspiring photographs from the SDG Photography Award, take a look at the publication

About the UAE National Committee on SDGs:

The UAE National Committee on SDGs was formed by decree of the UAE Cabinet in January 2017. The committee is chaired by her Excellency Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and FCSA serves as vice-chair and secretariat to the Committee. The committee in its membership includes 17 federal entities who are responsible for the national implementation of the SDGs and monitoring and reporting the progress made towards achieving the Global Agenda.

We are excited about the future, and to share our knowledge with you to become part of the UAEs journey towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Write to us at SDGs@fcsa.gov.ae

I recently had a conversation with my father about gender equality. And it was interesting to see that the topic can mean different things to different people. Because of this discrepancy, I want to write about what gender equality (SDG number five) really means. And also, what it doesn’t.

I’m a girl, and I was taught to bat out of the park and go above and beyond. This is an upbringing all children should have, irrespective of their gender. Opportunities should be given based on merit and readiness to do one’s best, not on gender.
   

The fact that women can’t inherit property in some instances, the pay gap, and the discrimination women experience in their day to day lives are all real problems that have to be addressed. Women are often treated as second class citizens, hence the need for SDG Number 5. So, gender equality is more than fixing the pay gap or addressing gender-based violence. Gender equality is the freedom of both genders to pursue happiness and chase their dreams, replacing the despair of discrimination with hope for the future.

The point of SDG number 5 is to advocate a level playing field for both women and men.

In a world with gender equality, GDPs would increase, hate-crimes would decrease, and the lives of children all over the world would be better. The earth would be happier! Think about it! An existence with more opportunities for women to bring their talents, gifts, and unique perspectives to the table. Sounds good to me!

A hero of mine, Malala Yousafzai, once said “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” Advancements have been made, and these should be celebrated. But there’s always more to be done. So instead of holding women back, let’s propel them forward!

Voice of Anisa Daniel Oniko

Anisa is an author, and a UN child ambassador for the SDGs. Who employs her writing to entertain and shed light on her causes.

She is delighted to invite adults and children alike into the realms of her imagination to provide fun, twists, lovable characters, and inspiration to keep reading!