Blog Post

Australian SDG Summit 2018

  • By Lauren Barredo
  • •
  • 15 Mar, 2018
  • •
On March 13, 2018, the SDSN Australia/Pacific, in partnership with the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA), and the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA), hosted the country’s second SDG Summit. Nearly 300 representatives of government, civil society, academia, and business gathered to discuss how to unlock the opportunities of the SDGs.
Ron Jones, Wurundjeri Elder, opened the meeting with the Welcome to Country. In a session on cross-sectoral perspectives on the SDGs, UNAA National President Major General Michael G. Smith AO (retired) applauded civil society groups for their rapid adoption and championing of the goals, and called on the government to support the development of a shared national vision and the appropriation of a budget to implement the SDGs. Following Smith, Senator the Honorable Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, highlighted what the Australian government is doing on the SDGs, including a new project on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to be implemented in 19 countries. The Minister also said that the government’s work to reduce poverty and inequality abroad is a key part of supporting stability in the region.
In a panel on Australian SDG progress, Jason McDonald, Chief Advisor to the Domestic Policy Group in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, shared what Australia is doing to prepare their Voluntary National Review (VNR), which will be presented at the United Nations in July, 2018. Different government agencies have been assigned to each of the 17 SDGs, and the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are facilitating the work overall. John Thwaites, Chair of the SDSN Australia/Pacific, announced a new initiative, the SDG Transforming Australia Project, to track Australia’s progress on the SDGs. Cassandra Goldie, CEO of ACOSS, said the SDGs were another opportunity to work with Indigenous leaders. Marc Purcell, CEO of ACFID, said that the best way Australia could contribute to global SDG achievement was to be an example of successful implementation at home.
In another panel, GCNA Acting Director Cate Harris highlighted some useful tools for SDG implementation, including Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities and an ACFID Toolkit. Gillian Sparkes, Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, discussed the upcoming 2018 State of the Environment Victoria report, which will look at state-level indicators and a framework for SDG implementation. Susan Mizrahi, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Australia Post, discussed an impressive array of SDG-related projects, including an upcoming SDG stamp series, achievement of wage parity within her organization, the installation of rooftop solar, development of reusable mail packaging with Nespresso, and white papers on how small businesses can be more sustainable and digital inclusion. Dermot O’Gorman, CEO of WWF Australia, presented an interesting solution using blockchain technology to support increased traceability and data collection in the tuna value chain. Gary Oliver, CEO of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, described the challenges faced by Indigenous communities in Australia, and called on non-Aboriginal people to “walk with” them.
The day concluded with a high-level segment. Mark Dreyfus QC MP, the Shadow Attorney General, highlighted the importance of SDG 16, saying that corruption, tax evasion, and bribery cost economies trillions of dollars that could be spent on SDG implementation. He also said that violence and the lack of justice in some countries are antithetical to the values of Australians and the aims of the SDGs. Cameron Cross, CEO & Founder of uBegin, announced an online collaborative platform to help conference participants network beyond the event. Finally, John Thwaites and Sam Mostyn, co-chairs of the meeting, took final comments from the floor before closing out the day.
The event was covered by the media, with articles available in Devex and ProBono. For further information about the Summit, see SDSN Australia/Pacific’s website.
After the event, a statement was released by the SDSN Australia/Pacific summarizing how the Australian university sector is engaging with and contributing to SDG implementation in Australia, in support of the Australian Government’s Voluntary National Review process.

SDSN Newsletter - July 2021

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By Giovanni Bruna • 29 Jul, 2021 •

SDSN Canada reconvened the network membership on June 16th, 2021 for the annual Members Meeting.

This year's meeting featured conversations on the current state of the SDGs in Canada, emerging opportunities for post-secondary institutions, networking breakout sessions, and a featured joint presentation by the Brookings Institution and Rockefeller Foundation on mobilizing campuses and communities for the SDGs using the 17 Rooms initiative. A lightning round of member initiatives was also included to highlight a portion of the SDG work happening across the network.

Recap the discussion by reading the meeting notes   or listening to the audio recordings for each session.

Meeting Highlights:

  • The SDSN Global annual Sustainable Development Report 2021  was released June 2021, tracking progress on the SDGs by country (Canada ranked 21st in the world). The report outlines the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the SDGs and describes how the SDGs can frame the recovery.
  • The Government of Canada has released Canada’s National Strategy for the SDGs, Moving Forward Together. The strategy outlines a set of 30 actions towards the SDGs, including localizing the SDGs, supporting partnerships with Indigenous initiatives, and advancing research into the gaps in Canada's efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
  • The 17 Rooms initiative  is a tool for advancing SDG collaboration, community-centric conversations, and bottom-up action. There are three key principles of consideration:
    • Every SDG gets a seat at the table (a dedicated room).
    • Identify what the next step is, and not the perfect step. What are things you can do together over the next 12 to 18 months that you can implement action on the SDGs?
    • It is about conversations, not presentations. The goal is to learn from each other and create a community of practice.
    • Join the 17 Rooms-X Community of Practice to access the beta toolkit.
  • A ‘lightning round’ of presentations by members spotlighting SDG work from Colleges and Institutes Canada, the Interdisciplinary Research Center in the Operationalization of Sustainable Development (CIRODD), Vancouver Island University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waterloo.

The meeting was also a chance to invite the membership into initiatives designed to be more intentional about the network’s collective presence and impact. In this vein, the network thinks that the 17 Rooms process can be a critical resource for campus conversations on the SDGs. It also relaunched the Member Challenge , is starting the ‘SDG Teaching Community’ for faculty across the network, and is convening a small working group of interested members to talk about an enhanced governance structure for the network.

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SDSN and our networks are hosting a number of events alongside the UN's High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). We are thrilled to invite you to join us at the following events, which SDSN is hosting or are organized by our partners.
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