By LAPAS
The mobilisation of different stakeholders to act for Sustainable Development Goals implementation has been the leading goal of the Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation (LAPAS) throughout all 2021.
Covering all five regions of Latvia, 30 local SDGs workshops have been implemented. The methodology was based on three steps – awareness-raising on the individual involvement in sustainable development, community problem identification and finding a solution to the identified problem together with representatives of the local governance. Events reached broad target groups – municipalities, educational institutions, libraries, museums, civil society organisations addressing such topics as lack of responsibility and communication in the context of a pandemic, inclusion and exclusion of different groups, refugee and asylum seekers integration, the addiction on use of the phone by students, caring for sustainability in cities and community, and other problems.
The main event of the campaign was the conference “HERE OUTSIDE: Acting Based on Global Competence”, organised by LAPAS in collaboration with UNESCO Latvia on 26 November. To draw attention to the public on importance of the global education in Latvia, the conference focused on the role of global competencies in reducing inequalities, building societal resilience and ensuring climate justice. The event was opened with the speeches of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education and Science and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In addition to the regional events, informative 17 days social media campaign on LAPAS Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts were held. Each day was devoted to one of the 17 SDGs where different stakeholders – LAPAS friends, participated with short videos highlighting the link to the goal and calling for action both at the individual and organisational level.
The Latvian Multistakeholder SDGs Coalition, established in 2019, unites a broad spectrum of partners – from CSOs, government, private sector, municipalities, academia, to politicians. It has been significant support for implementing both the LAPAS campaign and developing their own initiatives to promote implementing their specific SDGs. Next year LAPAS will focus on the involvement in the VNR process and youth in development.