SDG Talk 3
Hi everyone! This week it is our turn to elaborate on SDG Talk 3 in this blogpost! First of all, we are the SDG Team working for SportUtrecht, an independent organization that aims to make sports and physical activity a permanent part of the life of every resident of Utrecht. These 15 weeks, we are working on advice for SportUtrecht on how to further incorporate the SDGs into their business.
This week’s SDG Talk was given by Rob van Tulder. He just returned from New York, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly. He told us about the different sessions he went to and we got the chance to ask questions about his experience.
Rob talked about the general feeling at the SDG Summit. Unfortunately, it’s clear that we are not on track with reaching the SDG’s. However, Rob mentions there is still a very good chance of reaching the goals – if we all act now. This is something that was universally agreed on during the Summit. There is no reason for optimism, but we do know where we need to focus on to accelerate the progress and reach the goals.
Another part of the talk was about data dividend. The importance of data was clearly explained by Rob. The fact that we are off-track with reaching the goals is, for example, not a hopeful statement. However, it is actually very good that we know this and that we collect enough data to be able to conclude this.
Next to this lesson about data, the importance of a living wage for everyone was also stressed during the talk. This is part of SDG1 but has a tremendous ripple effect on the other SDGs as well. Making sure everyone has a living wage, would thus accelerate the progress on other SDGs.
This example of a connection between different SDGs was a very interesting insight. The knowledge of these connections can help to accelerate the progress and eventually to reach the goals.
In addition to the above, Rob also mentioned that partnerships are essential for reaching the SDG’s. This matches with our assigned project. To make sure you reach out to the right people in the right way, a solid stakeholder analysis is a very important step. We’ll definitely use this recommendation to improve our own project. We want to thank Rob van Tulder for the inspiring talk and are looking forward to the upcoming weeks for our project!
