On June 17th and 18th 2021, Global Utmaning arranged the concluding conference within the Sustainability Leadership Programme – Localizing SDGs in the Easter Partnership countries. The programme participants – from partaking countries Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia – joined in the final module under the theme Lead and Engage. The focus for this concluding module was to support the development of integrated action plans for sustainable development whereby the participants of the programme developed plans for how to advance sustainable development. The conference comprised workshops and presentations covering topics such as: change leadership; stakeholder engagement; youth involvement; and communication to foster localization of the SDGs. The participants were given the opportunity to exchange experiences, ideas, opportunities and barriers related to the topics covered, as well as the programme as a whole.
The value of an action plan
Day one of the conference focused on deliberations of what change is and how to successfully achieve it, in which presentations were paired with individual reflections, discussions and experience-sharing. The session started off with a presentation by the Swedish peer Jordan Valentin Lane, architect and Sustainable Design Lead within the planning department of Södertälje municipality. Jordan shared key cornerstones, insights and recommendations from the municipality’s undertaken action plan and change process of utilizing food and healthy meals as planning tools for ensuring healthy landscapes, and in doing so facilitating for healthy communities.
Based on the experience of Södertälje, when seeking to build a strong action plan to support sustainable development, it is of importance to understand:
- your policy and strategic context; your history; your audience; your networks; life after project ending; and, that change may take time. It is also important to find external inspiration and tools and leave a trail for others to follow.
Leading change and complexity
Jordan’s presentation was then followed by presentations by Helena Lindquist and Max Berggren from LightSwitch, who were in charge of facilitating workshops during the 2nd and 3rd module of the Leadership programme, depicting general recommendations and methods for change processes, change leadership and stakeholder engagement. The presentations commenced in the assumption that transformative change ultimately is required in all parts of the society and at an unprecedented scale, in order to reach the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. Which in turn places high demands on leadership skills. To lead change successfully requires the ability of systems thinking, to avoid solving one problem by creating another. Targeting the system as a whole, necessitates mapping, engaging and collaborating with relevant stakeholders from all parts of the system. In the case of the topics addressed in the Leadership Programme, these complex systems can be the legislative structures of a municipality or the complex web of stakeholders that exists within, and impacts the development of a city. Relevant stakeholders to consider are individuals, groups of individuals or organisations that may have an impact on and/or are impacted by the project at hand, and includes internal and external actors with mutual as well as opposing interests.
Communication and youth involvement – key when promoting sustainable change
Day two of the conference started off with a presentation by Jakob Trollbäck, board member at Global Utmaning and founder of the New Division, the agency behind the graphic design of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Jakob elaborated on the profound work of developing the graphic design of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, depicted as a process of creating a simplified visual language that is universal across the planet and that expresses the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda. Jakob, further, pointed out that communication ultimately is a powerful tool to inform about, build awareness and acceptance for sustainable development.
Ella Turta, Secretary-General of the ReGeneration 2030, then went on to present her experiences of advocating for youth involvement in politics for sustainable development and provided recommendations for youth involvement in sustainability work – a topic requested by the programme participants. ReGeneration 2030 is a bottom-up movement that gathers young people from the Nordic and Baltic sea region with the mission to mobilize a strong youth movement that advocates for and demands change, beyond “business as usual” and towards a sustainable society built upon the principles of the 2030 Agenda. Their objective is, further, to strengthen and unite actors across borders, generations and sectors of society. Ella described prerequisites when seeking to facilitate an inclusive and enabling environment for youth participation in sustainability endeavours. Highlighted was the urgency of involving youth from the very beginning and throughout the process line – in the ideation, planning as well as the implementation phase. Additionally highlighted was the importance of identifying power hierarchies and providing tools to share power and leadership between power holders and youth.
Throughout the two day conference, the participants were given the room to discuss and reflect upon the assumptions, methods and tools shared in the presentation, in relation to the individual local action plans. Key topics that surfaced in the discussions included:
The issue of local ownership. The urgency of facilitating ownership over change leadership and processes amongst local governmental representatives, citizens, vulnerable groups and other local stakeholders was highlighted.
The importance of identifying local leaders. Formal as well as informal local leaders that are involved from the set out of the project, was highlighted as essential in order to establish a strong local connection. When properly engaging local leaders, those may act as change agents for the continuation of the project, even as the official project teams break apart and funding ends.
Trust when entering a local community. Interweaved with and a fundament for the issue of local ownership and the urgency of engaging local leaders, is the issue of trust when entering a local community – a topic also reflected upon during the discussions. The importance of attaining a level of trust and legitimacy in the local community was highlighted, as a cornerstone in establishing an enabling environment that facilitates the engagement of local actors that can participate independent of their preconditions and on equal terms. The environments of multiple-stakeholder settings ought to be mutually beneficial and power balances leveled for symmetrical playing fields. Additionally, if citizens are to be involved, compensation is due so as to create a setting where such stakeholders are seen as experts in their own right.
Wrapping up the programme and moving forward
The conference ended with general discussions and reflections of the programme as a whole. Gabor Schneider, programme manager and representative from the Swedish Institute (funder of the programme), gave some closing remarks of the programme as a whole. Gabor also shared forthcoming funding opportunities with the participants for the potential continuation and advancement of the projects and action plans developed throughout the programme. Opportunities including seed funding for cooperative projects.
In conclusion, the programme participants were given the room to share main take-aways of the programme as well as ideas for potential steps and actions to embark on as a result of the programme and the developed local action plans. Main take-aways expressed amongst the participants included:
Structuring of prior knowledge and development of novel ideas. The participants expressed that the tools and methods presented throughout the programme had enabled them to structure prior knowledge carried into the programme as well as infuse ideas and work procedures for the development of new local strategies and action plans for sustainable development beyond the confines of the programme.
Sharing experiences between international peers. Sharing as well as obtaining best practices, good examples, practical advice and challenges between peers were brought forward as an appreciated opportunity. In doing so, the participants were able to build capacity and develop an understanding of common challenges and how other municipalities and local governments go about approaching sustainable development. While the local contexts indeed differ, the challenges appeared to not be as different as expected.
Building a networking platform. The participants expressed that the programme has come to facilitate the establishment of a networking platform between international peers, built upon an atmosphere of togetherness in the field. The participants expressed that the network can enable consultation and communication between the participants even as the programme ends.
Seed funding for the continuation of efforts. The opportunity for seed funding surfaced as a concrete example of support that may advance the localization of the SDGs in the local communities moving forward. Such seed funding would aid the participants in furthering and implementing small scale sustainability activities within bigger projects and would in itself constitute a proper tool to grow and promote new change leaders within the local communities.
Martina Reppen, intern at Global Utmaning
Contact: Joel Ahlgren
Photo: Valik Chernetskyi on Unsplash
