#Act4SDGs Week 2021
At Foundation Scotland, we are committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This week, during #Act4SDGs Week 2021, we'll highlight how we're contributing to a number of the Goals and engaging with communities across Scotland to align with the UN's national and global agenda.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call to action to improve all quality of life and well-being by 2030. All United Nations member countries adopted them in 2015. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and support economic growth alongside tackling climate change and preserving our environment.
This decade is the Decade of Action to accelerate progress to achieve the Goals by 2030. This is an ambitious agenda. And government’s require the support of all sectors and civil society if the SDGs are to be met.
As Scotland’s community foundation, we are proud to be contributing to a collective effort in meeting the SDGs in Scotland. As we support Scotland’s communities to shape their own futures, we have always been working across the multiple and comprehensive issues the SDGs highlight helpfully expressed in 17 goals.
Whether through the provision of a small grant to help support the modest costs of a community-run befriending service (Goal 3 | Health & Wellbeing), installing solar panels on a community building to assist their journey to net-zero (Goal 13 | Climate Action), operating local education & training schemes (Goal 4 | Quality Education) or supporting a donor keen to invest long-term in a community of place of interest (Goal 11 | Sustainable Cities & Communities) – we support the energy, effort and expertise of community organisations making life better for the people they care about and serve.
Through a series of conversations last year with staff and stakeholders, we aligned our work most closely with 12 of the 17 goals. These are the SDGs our work contributes to in Scotland. By focussing on these 12 SDGs, we can engage with communities and donors, target funding and communicate impact. And by aligning with both a national and global agenda we hope to drive more urgency, relevance and connection in our work – both internally between colleagues and Trustees and externally amongst the many stakeholders we serve.
Throughout #Act4SDGs Week 2021, we will highlight how our work contributes to these global goals. In the meantime, here's a snapshot of the 12 goals we've identified as being most closely aligned to our work at Foundation Scotland.
