Aligning community work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Written by Anya Rudolphy, Interim Head of Programme Connect

Over the past year, ELBA’s Connect Team has had conversations with our community partners about their current thoughts and views on the intersection of environmental action and ways to highlight the impact their work already delivers. This includes the request from more funders asking what sustainable and environmental-related action organisations are focussed on.

ELBA, like all of our partners, has a role to play in addressing the climate crisis. But we also know there is an intersection of inequities when we discuss climate action that requires a holistic perspective. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) provide a global framework and shared blueprint for now and the future. At ELBA we strive to encourage place-based and local solutions that facilitate effective and meaningful change.

This is why last year here at ELBA we released our environmental response, Every Action Counts which aligns our environmental action with other UN SDGs that we are responding to as an organisation. 

In response to these conversations, and our own Every Action Counts response, the Connect team trialed a new workshop in April. Here, teams of business volunteers, with backgrounds in sustainability, worked with a charity partner to help identify which UN SDGs their organisation aligns with to reflect on how they show the impact of their work externally. 

The resources created from this workshop will be used for future business planning, pitching for funding, and to better reflect the brilliant work already being done in the third sector to those interested in supporting. 

Here is some community partner feedback:

Want to get involved in future workshops that bring the community and business sector together? Get in touch with community@elba-1.org.uk.

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