Interesting stakeholder initiatives to support the Sustainable Development Goals – issue 1

Over the coming months I will share some interesting stakeholder initiatives in support of the Sustainable Development Goals – Issue 1 will look at an initiative from the following stakeholders:

• Foundations
• Local Government
• Industry
• NGO initiative
• Education Initiative

FOUNDATIONS (taken from the SDGFunders web site)

SDGFunders.org is a great platform to see what foundation is funding which goal or target and where they are funding them. This has resulted in the development in some contries of foundation platform.

 SDGfunders.org aims to make data on philanthropic investments more accessible while enabling data to track progress and tell stories about effective collaboration. The website offers the most comprehensive representation available of foundations’ giving aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 The site includes:

· A dashboard of indicators displaying funding from philanthropy by goal, region, country, and population group

· A list of top funders and recipients globally, per region and by country

· A knowledge hub with reports, background papers, case studies and outcome documents

· A regularly updated bulletin board of the latest happenings including photos, press releases, and events

SDGfunders.org was created by Candid (formally Foundation Center) as a part of SDG Philanthropy Platform initiative and was funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the MasterCard Foundation.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (taken from UCLG web site)

Localizing is not the parachuting of global goals into local contexts. It means implementing global agendas in cities and territories to achieve local and global goals. More than a technical process, localizing is a political process based on harnessing local opportunities, priorities and ideas.

Local governments have a crucial role to play in this process of localizing the Global Agendas. As policymakers, catalysts for change and key actors in development, cities have a unique capacity to implement and monitor sustainable development, prosperity and well-being at the local level.

In order to fulfill their role in achieving the Local Agendas in their territories, local governments and local government associations will need sufficient support from all levels of government and adequate financial resources. Moreover, it will be essential for them to increase their capacities using appropriate methods and knowledge platforms.

UCLG is devoted to supporting local and regional governments in this challenging process of localizing. The tools and trainings we develop can contribute to the better use of existing knowledge and to sharing successful strategies for the local implementation of Global Goals.

https://www.learning.uclg.org/localizing-sdgs

UCLG, together with UN-Habitat, UNDP, and Diputació de Barcelona, with the support of European Commission, has developed Training of Trainers (ToT) modules to multiply the knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) localizing process in all its dimensions.

Module 1, available here, provides an introduction to the SDGs. It is based on participatory methodologies and open learning and enables to the future association and network facilitators to run workshops for the SDGs awareness raising local strategies. It is primarily targeted at members of local and regional governments, as well as local government associations and partners.

Module 2, available here, focuses on the alignment of public policies with the SDGs. It provides a guide from planning to the implementation of local public policies. The module works on strategic, integral and non-sectoral plans that aim to be as broad as possible. It is produced to be facilitated to local and regional government members and associations (LRGs and LRGAs), but due to its inclusive approach, it is also suitable for representatives of the private sector, civil society and academia. 

Module 3, available here, provides guidance to the SDGs localizing process reporting. It gives examples, exercises and tools to the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), to be presented at the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on the coming years. To this purpose, the module is aimed to LRGs, LRGAs and other networks, for the facilitation on the SDGs monitoring and reporting processes, both at national and international levels.

Finally the Module 4, to be developed during the year of 2020 together with Platforma and other partners, will provide guidance for the decentralized cooperation considering the SDGs principles, as a new way of learning and cooperating.

The app helps you discover how each one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is directly related to the daily work of local and regional governments. With the interactive format you can be actively involved and see the important work being done by local and regional governments to achieve the SDGs. For each goal, you will understand why local governments should not simply be viewed as the implementing bodies of the Agenda. Local and regional governments are indeed important policy-makers and catalysts for change and are best positioned to link the global goals to local communities.

• Download our app.: Google Play / App Store
• Visit our website dedicated to the App 

The SDGs in the Municipal Map: This publication is based on the experience of the city of Chefchauen (Marocco) and provides an example of how to raise awareness for SDG localization within a municipality. It's a complementary tool for the Learning Module 1 and demonstrates through a concrete example how the SDGs can be localized in a city.

Base Plan: The Base Plan is a methodology that has been developed in the last 20 years to establish an easy accessible spatial planning tool. The approach can complement existing planning tools or be used as planning instrument in intermediary cities which don’t have an institutionalized methodology yet. The publication uses the example of the city of Xai-Xai (Mozambique) to demonstrate the strengths of an inclusive and low-threshold access spatial planning instrument. You can also access the online Base Plan Platform for Intermediary Cities, an open space for the diffusion of the "Base Plan" methodology (developed by the UNESCO Chair CIMES on "Intermediate Cities" of the University of Lleida and UIA-CIMES+ A (International Work Program). Trough that Platform you can download existing Base Plans, upload new ones, consult and update data about intermediate cities.

 Access here our tool about the Base Plan.

 The Mandala Tool: Our Mandala publication presents an innovative tool for the monitoring of SDG localization at the local level. It has been developed by the National Confederation of Brazilian Municipalities (CNM) and is an online tool that visualizes primary data of each municipality and aligns them with the SDGs. The publication highlights the advantages of the tool and provides a simple guideline for other municipalities and local government associations to start the monitoring process.

NGOs (taken from the Global Goals web site)

Global Goals: Project Everyone seeks to put the power of great communications behind The Global Goals, accelerating the creation of a fairer world by 2030, where extreme poverty has been eradicated, climate change is properly addressed and injustice and inequality are unacceptable.

Our mission is to ensure that everyone on the planet knows what the Global Goals are, so that they stand the greatest chance of being achieved.

Project Everyone was devised by Richard Curtis (filmmaker and founder of Comic Relief), and is executed by a team of communications and campaign specialists working in partnership with a huge range of organisations. We are a not-for-profit agency, available to work on campaigns, content and events which ladder up to the achievement of the Goals. Great communication resources can be found here. (taken from the Global Goals web site)

INDUSTRY (taken from the UN Global Compact web site)

Your Tools to Advance the SDGs: For over 15 years, businesses around the world have turned to the UN Global Compact to shape their corporate sustainability approach. We offer an extensive toolbox ranging from leadership engagement platforms to best practices and resources that will help your business embed the Ten Principles into your operations, identify new opportunities to advance the SDGs and partner with the United Nations.

An Entry Point for Each SDG: The UN Global Compact is uniquely equipped to help companies anywhere along their journey to sustainability – from beginners to leaders – and we provide an entry point for your business for each of the 17 SDGs.

Action Platforms: Beginning in 2017 we are offering a new portfolio of Action Platforms to advance business activities and outcomes in relation to the Ten Principles and the SDGs. Developed in consultation with LEAD companies, Local Networks, UN agencies and relevant partners, Action Platforms fill emerging gaps in advancing the SDGs. They are tailored for up to 40 companies and require a fee. Learn about our new platforms.

Practical Tools & Resources: The new global goals will require companies to work more strategically on sustainability – from goal setting, to measurement and reporting. Our library contains over 200 resources, all searchable by the SDGs relevant to your business.

The SDG Compass: The SDG Compass - guides companies on how they can align their strategies as well as measure and manage their contribution to the realization of the SDGs. The SDG Compass presents five steps that assist companies in maximizing their contribution to the SDGs: understanding the SDGs, defining priorities, goal setting, integrating sustainability and reporting. The SDG Compass can be found here.

SDG Industry Matrix: Showcases industry-specific examples and ideas for corporate action related to the SDGs. Presented in a series of publications, each matrix highlights bold pursuits and decisions made by diverse companies for each SDG. SDG Industry Matrix can be found here.

The Poverty Footprint: A People-centred Approach to Assessing Business Impacts on Sustainable Development An assessment tool that enables companies and civil society partners to understand corporate impacts on multi-dimensional poverty. As a tool to help implement the SDGs, the Poverty Footprint provides a comprehensive overview of factors that influence poverty, and it emphasizes stakeholder engagement and partnership between companies and civil society as a means for establishing pro-poor business strategies. Poverty Footprint can be found here.

EDUCATION COMMUNITY (taken from the Comics Uniting Nations web site)

Comics Uniting Nations: is a partnership between PCI Media and UNICEF, in collaboration with The World’s Largest Lesson and Reading with Pictures, to make the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals accessible to the citizens of the world through comics.

With the help of creative, academic, publishing and technology partners from around the globe we create and distribute The Comics Guide to the Global Goals. This series leverages the universal visual language and transformative power of comics to educate people in every corner of the globe about the SDGs and empower them to create positive and lasting change in their own communities and worldwide. These are free downloadable comics to use in the classroom available from here.