This Community of Practice, co-hosted by SDSN Canada and Tamarack Institute, ran from August 2021 to June 2024 and has since wrapped up.
Celebrating our achievements
Looking back over the past three years since SDSN Canada and Tamarack launched the Community of Practice (CoP), there's much to celebrate. A few highlights include:
- We kicked off the CoP at a day-long workshop on SDG localization in August 2021, co-hosted with SDSN Canada.
- Over the three years that followed, we hosted nearly 30 monthly calls on a wide range of topics including community engagement, municipal leadership, data and indicators, collective impact, Indigenous partnerships, narrative strategies, public policy, and much more. We had over 40 speakers join us from within and outside of the CoP.
- In conversation with CoP members and through evaluations, members reported countless learnings and valuable connections that led to new partnerships and collaborations.
- We had a number of policy wins, especially in getting SDG localization front and centre in federal SDG work and reporting (e.g. localization was a major theme in Canada's 2023 Voluntary National Review, in stark contrast to its first VNR in 2018).
- We published 10 – A Guide to Advancing the SDGs in Your Community profiled many CoP members and their stories of localizing the SDGs through VLRs, official community plans, data portals, and in other ways.
Recordings from public webinars
About
The SDG Localization Community of Practice was made up of a group of peers committed to sharing and learning from one another to accelerate their work to localize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whether through developing Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) or other approaches. Participants included:
- Elected leaders
- Municipal staff
- Non-profit/community sector leaders
- Post-secondary staff and faculty
- Residents
- Foundations and funders
Goals
- Support the work of community leaders and city officials looking to develop local plans to advance the SDGs.
- Share resources, programs, policies and best practices for localizing the SDGs.
- Develop a dynamic network of practitioners that are intentionally working together to deepen their work on the SDGs.
- Develop a learning community that collaborates, co-generates knowledge, and achieves collective impact.
Our Commitment
This Community of Practice provided a space for participants to connect, collaborate, and share best practices and lessons learned on localizing the SDGs. We were committed to:
- Providing the technology and facilitation to support this Community of Practice.
- Identifying and connecting those interested in SDG localization with peers from across the country and around the world.
- Engaging subject-matter experts to identify promising practices and useful resources.
- Identifying potential areas for research and development.
- Sharing emerging findings.
Our Guiding Principles
Our conversations were rooted in common principles that provided a shared vision and enabled us to engage in meaningful ways with one another, including:
- Collaboration
- Openness
- DEI - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Curiosity
- Listening
- Respect
We expected participants to uphold these principles.
Resources
Here you can find a list of resources from Tamarack, SDSN Canada, and other key references from across the ecosystem:
About SDSN Canada
SDSN Canada is part of a global movement to build a network of universities, colleges, and knowledge institutions to promote practical solutions for the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. Find out more.
About Tamarack
The Tamarack Institute is a connected force for community change. We develop and support collaborative strategies that engage citizens and institutions to solve major community issues across Canada and beyond. Find out more.
