Initiatives Lab on Reducing Inequalities and Inclusive COVID-19 Recovery jointly hosted by SDSN and GIZ

The Decade of Action unites actors from around the globe to foster the achievement of Agenda 2030 Goals. The global COVID-19 pandemic, however, has revealed existing inequalities and injustices. Recent developments have emphasized the need for a reinforced commitment under the ‘Leave No One Behind’ (LNOB) principle. Against this backdrop, SDSN in collaboration with the GIZ support project organized a virtual Initiatives Lab from 04 to 06 October 2021. In this follow-up event to the May 2021 Barcamp , SDSN members from 7 different countries collaboratively refined project proposals for reducing inequalities and inclusive COVID-19 recovery. During the three-day event, the participants seized the opportunity to attend virtual joint sessions and group meetings adjusted to their time zones. The virtual Initiatives Lab concluded a nine-month process during which project owners developed actionable solutions for reducing inequalities and scaled inclusive COVID-19 recovery strategies.

The virtual workshop started with an input by Martha Bekele from Development Initiatives, who supported the participants with her LNOB expertise throughout the workshop. Following talks on stakeholder management and fundraising provided project owners with the opportunity to discuss questions tailored to their projects. In so-called ‘open spaces’, they received feedback and suggestions from other participants, as well as from experts from the field of academia, project-organization and LNOB-Guides. On the second day, presentations and discussions were revolving around project management, budget planning and impact measurement to depict all project stages. Transcending their own projects, participants were encouraged to build networks at every stage from proposal writing to fundraising to stakeholder management and project implementation.

In the end, the event concluded with short presentations in front of a jury. The most points were awarded to Lina Maria Aguirre Montoya and Carlos Eduardo Dominguez Moreno with their project “Ecoparcs around watersheds” as well as Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou with her project “Social Mediation in Practice”. Congratulations! Both projects will be accompanied by SDSN/GIZ in their implementation process until March 2022.