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Back Bring the SDGs to life in your organisation in an inspiring and fun way. Sustainability is often seen as an extra workload. And it is, if you consider it something “extra” that comes on top of your daily operations. However, for sustainability to be successful, it must be an integral part of the organisation, with broad support among all employees. This way, sustainability becomes not an extra task, but a natural part of everything you do. Unfortunately, not everyone is fully on board with this yet. That’s why we’re happy to share practical tips for introducing the SDGs in a fun and inspiring way in the workplace. Maybe you’ll create the support you need to really make sustainability happen! That way, you’ll kill two birds with one stone: learning about sustainability and strengthening team spirit at the same time! The activities listed below can be used throughout the year, but many administrations use them to strengthen communication and support on special occasions. For example, at the start of an SDG Pioneer programme or during an interim evaluation. But even if you are not involved in a PCA2030 programme (Pioneer, Champion, Ambassador), you can still get started during a staff day or during Sustainable Municipality Week, which usually takes place at the end of September. An SDG speed date as an accessible introduction Are you looking for a simple way to introduce your colleagues to the SDGs? Organise an SDG speed date in your team. Colleagues are given time to come up with a story for one SDG: how are they involved with it in their private lives and/or at work? If they don’t know anything about it, they choose the SDG that appeals to them most. This is followed by a speed date in which each person has 5 minutes to share their story/experience. Finally, you can organise a plenary session with the entire group: what did you learn from your colleagues? Ideas for SDG team building Most organisations go on a team-building day every year. Why not give that day an original twist based on the SDGs? SDG 2: a cooking workshop with products from your own municipality or region (short chain). SDG 2 and 8: eat at a social restaurant or visit a local social/ecological/etc. initiative and get involved. SDG 3: organise a sporting challenge during your team day and prepare delicious mocktails instead of alcoholic drinks. SDG 9, 10 and 11: organise a walk or run through the municipality and/or municipal buildings, and link this to an accessibility test. Determine how difficult or easy the route is for people with disabilities (wheelchair users, visually impaired, etc.). SDG 11 and 13: a great team-building exercise for the technical department: remove a paved parking space and replace it with grass tiles or plant a tree. SDG 12: do odd jobs in a pop-up repair café. Who are the handy people in the team and what can we learn from each other? Setting up an SDG challenge Not afraid of a little competition? Organise an SDG challenge between municipal departments: each team is given a challenge (see suggestions below) that they have to complete as best they can within a certain period of time. At the end, there is a joint event where the winner is rewarded (e.g. a vegetarian lunch with the team). You can also apply the same formula within a single team: all colleagues write down one SDG task on a piece of paper. Everyone then picks a task and tries to stick to it for a week. It will be exciting to see if everyone succeeds! Fun tasks for an SDG Challenge SDG 2: Don’t throw food away, order sandwiches through the short chain. SDG 3: Exercise: Step counter 10,000 steps per day, walk, run and/or cycle X number of kilometres. Improve your health. SDG 7: Turn down the heating – thick jumper week. SDG 12: Don’t use disposable packaging. SDG 12: Don’t buy anything new. SDG 13: Transport: Only travel on foot, by bike and/or public transport. Reduce your carbon footprint and improve air quality. SDG 13: Calculate your carbon footprint using an online tool and reduce it. SDG 13: Vegetarian food: within each team, employees eat vegetarian as often as possible. Reduce your CO2 footprint and contribute to animal welfare. Other formats, with opportunities for internal and external communication Don’t forget that every SDG activity you organise is also a starting point for internal and external communication. Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Create an SDG poster (internal and external communication): departments choose one SDG, explain how they are working on it and take a photo with the SDG in question. All photos are then compiled into a poster that is displayed in the buildings and distributed online. (This can also be done with a short video for each department). The city of Ghent used Eurosong to raise awareness of the SDGs among employees and the general public. Eurovision classics were linked to an SDG and then put to a vote. A number of administrations occasionally organise a quiz for their employees. Why not base the quiz on the SDGs? You can also adapt the BINGO game to the SDGs. See the model developed by VVSG for this purpose here. Materials and further inspiration If you scour the internet, you will find plenty of inspiration and material for working with the SDGs in a fun way. We would like to refer you to the following: The SDG materials and publications of VVSG: https://www.vvsg.be/kennisitem/vvsg/sdg-materiaal. Fun formats such as SDG bingo or dream cards that you can tailor to your local government. On the website duurzamegemeente.be, you will find examples of original activities to raise awareness of the SDGs among colleagues and citizens. The website https://www.sdgs.be/nl/tools contains the toolbox of the Federal Institute for Sustainable Development (FIDO), which also includes tools for raising awareness and communication. Bart Van Herck Co-Owner IDEA Consult Contact Bart