Japan’s SDG efforts expand through partnerships and cooperation

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals were established in 2015. The SDGs are an ambitious set of objectives for improving life on our planet. Among many other things, this includes dealing with poverty, promoting clean energy and improving educational opportunities.

These goals can’t be achieved without strong cooperation between various public, private and individual actors. This is where the 17th and final SDG, “partnerships for the goals,” comes in. It specifically sets this cooperation to achieve the SDGs as a goal in and of itself.

Some Japanese organizations are involved in achieving goal 17 and others. The United Nations Center for Regional Development was founded in Nagoya, Japan in 1971. The Center itself is a partnership between the UN and the Japanese government. Its activities have included training courses for government officials in developing countries as well as field research.

UNCRD launched monitoring project in Chubu

More recently, the UNCRD has launched a project to develop monitoring and evaluation tools for Japanese organizations to track their SDG progress. The project is being carried out with the cooperation of municipal governments and private companies in the Chubu region of Japan. These include the governments of the cities of Nagoya and Toyota, as well as Toppan Publishing and Nippon Engineering Consultants.

The tools are also being made with the context of local Japanese cities and prefectures in mind. In addition, evaluation and monitoring results will be made available through reports and online dashboards that stakeholders, such as organizations and citizens, can freely access.

The government and private sectors on board

This is not the only way technology is being used to track and achieve the SDGs in Japan. The Cabinet of Japan has its own Regional Revitalization Public-Private Cooperation Platform. This is an online platform that connects various organizations and users interested in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. It offers information about relevant events and seminars, matching services and various sub-committees. Ultimately, users who want to solve particular issues can find those with the knowledge to help deal with them. Members can also participate in various SDG subcommittees and even propose their own.

Many other public and private Japanese organizations are working hard to achieve the SDGs. For instance, Kyushu University has formed partnerships in Japan and elsewhere for this purpose. The school has conducted research on how citizens use public services related to childcare and parenting. The purpose was to get direct feedback on how these services are viewed by ordinary people. These activities included field research and interviews with parents and pregnant women. As part of these efforts, Kyushu University partnered with the government of Fukuoka City to create a parenting services map.

Major Japanese companies are also leading their own SDG initiatives and getting their employees involved. In February 2021, Fujitsu announced its SDG Tribes project. Through this project, Fujitsu employees participate in online communities, collaborating with colleagues worldwide to work on SDGs that are important to them. SDG Tribes have helped establish partnerships in countries as diverse as China, Costa Rica and India. In fact, they have donated supplies to children’s shelters, conducted programs on gender equality and provided food to children in need.

Partnerships key to make the planet a better place

Ambition of any kind requires long-term effort and cooperation, and this is especially true when the goal is making the planet a better place. This is a small sample of what Japanese organizations are doing, not to mention countless other partnerships and initiatives being led in other countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Not only can these partnerships themselves have a big impact, but they can also inspire cooperation to help improve the lives of people worldwide.