The Journey towards an SDG House
We’re excited to share that the Hague Humanity Hub has become an SDG House with the purpose to connect and support collaboration between diverse actors working on international impact for a more peaceful and just world.
In moving towards our vision to facilitate connections and support a diverse ecosystem of organisations working on so many different facets of peace and justice, some recurrent challenges are met. How can we align such diverse work into shared themes? How do we best position the Humanity Hub to help our community work on their goals, while connecting to others throughout The Hague and beyond who share this vision and purpose?
Eventually, we found a common theme in the 2030 Agenda that was established by the United Nations – the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Built on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, these goals provide a common language and roadmap towards creating a better and more sustainable future for all.
Through active discussions and surveys, we realised that the Humanity Hub community was already working towards most SDGs, with some working on multiple goals at the same time! Moreover, a scan of the Hague ecosystem of organizations shows that all 17 SDGs are well represented. From reducing inequality and poverty, defending human rights, climate action to zero-hunger, organisations based in The Hague are addressing a lot more issues than the themes of peace and justice (SDG16) traditionally associated with the city.
Becoming an SDG House was the answer to finding the most formative way to organise and support our community more effectively in their work to make the world a more peaceful and just place.
In becoming an SDG House, we are joining the newly formed SDG House Network, a partnership between several Dutch organisations and locations that all actively contribute to achieving the SDGs. Together, we want to connect, inspire and support all those who work on achieving the SDGs, and are always looking for even more partners to help us with achieving these goals.
An SDG House, “provides a physical space to house a community of diverse yet like-minded actors, whose visions align with the promotion of the SDG agenda. The SDG House Network connects these spaces of inspiration with NGOs, businesses, knowledge partners and individuals who can mutually benefit from their diverse range of knowledge and expertise.”
Our journey so far
In line with the collaborative nature of our mission, we embarked on a co-creation journey together with Humanity Hub members and stakeholders to develop a community-led vision of what an SDG House should be. While the actual opening will take place in 2021, we are building towards it in stages.
On 29 October we officially announced our intentions at Impact Fest with a workshop to identify potential allies and collect broad input from the ecosystem on how we can offer a point of connection and collaboration to anyone working on SDGs and maximize international impact. This was followed by the formation of a working group composed of some of our members and partners to develop this input further and transform it into a concrete vision. Together we aim to discover our role as an SDG House and define activities for 2021 and develop the next steps towards the opening.
Although we’re only at the beginning of this journey, big milestones are around the corner. We are forging an identity that resembles the close community of changemakers that are truly daring to tackle the world’s most complex problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of united cooperation when our job security, health and activities are threatened. As SDG Houses, we are committed to implementing the SDG agenda on a local and international level by focusing our efforts on shaping the future together.
Please stay tuned for our official opening in 2021 and further activities. Do you have ideas and suggestions on the Humanity Hub can be a great SDG for you? Please get in touch with us at hello@humanityhub.net.
