Aotearoa Sustainable Development Goals Summit Series

2 Day Summit Event: Collaboration for Systemic Change

Collaborating, connecting, and working together has never been more important than right now. SDG Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals, is our collective way forward. Join us for the next part in the 2020-2021 Aotearoa/New Zealand SDG Summit Series and see how we can collaborate for systemic change, and develop clear pathways for urgent action.

You're invited to participate in a two-day Summit event, focused on connecting, learning, collaborating, and taking real action on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Held over two consecutive days (September 2 – 3) in Ōtautahi Christchurch, the 2021 SDG Summit is far from your ‘usual’ conference event...

Under the theme ‘Collaboration for Systemic Change’, the 2021 SDG Summit is a two-day conference experience that combines workshopping, participant-led sessions, activations, creativity, sector-based kōrero, a community feast-style dinner, and field trips to see the SDGs in action.

Our MC for the Summit is Corban Te Aika (Ngāi Tūāhuriri).

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WHEN: Thursday 2 September - Friday 3 September

MAIN VENUE: University of Canterbury, Ōtautahi Christchurch (in-person)

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September 2 (Day One): You can expect a mixture of speakers and interactive participant-led sessions including (but not limited to): think workshops, world cafe, fish bowl, kōrerorero, creative stations, activations and small group discussions, all focused around collaborating and action planning for the SDGs.

Some of the incredible Day One experiences include:

A Main Stage Plenary: Kōrero about the SDGs in Aotearoa with Dame Anne Salmond and Sacha McMeeking

Sector Based Kōrero: A Facilitated UC Campus Walk

Office of the Auditor General's Report on the SDGs

And the SDG Alliance

Day One also features concurrent interactive SDG sessions, held across three streams (split across morning and afternoon). These include:

Rain Forest Retention: West Papua as a Pacific Case Study with Greenpeace and West Papua Aotearoa
The Role of Tertiary Institutions in the Delivery if the SDGs with Lincoln University, Massey University and Te Pūkenga
Collaboration and Systems Change with Christchurch Airport, Enable, Lyttelton Port Company, Orion and Connectics
Waste and Circularity with Envirohub
Utilising Systems Thinking to Address Waste Minimisation with ESR
Inclusive Organisations: Crafted by Youth with Ōtautahi Futures Collective
Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa Wellbeing Indicator Framework with Stats NZ

This first day will be followed by a community-style feast in the City Centre. This is also open to the public to attend.

September 3 (Day Two): In the morning, you have the opportunity to see examples of the SDGs in action around Greater Christchurch. This action-filled day will start at the University of Canterbury, and include three concurrent field trips for you to choose from (all transport provided):

Christchurch City Centre
Banks Peninsula/Lyttelton
Lincoln, Selwyn District

You will re-group at the end of their field trip experience back at the University of Canterbury campus for lunch, some more concurrent interactive sessions, collaborative action planning and the SDG Declaration process.

Day Two's concurrent interactive SDG sessions include:

Sustainable Community Living with Tiny Housing and Co-Living Group
SDG 16 and Women, Peace and Security with United Nations Association NZ, AUT, Te Wahre Tiaka. Wahine Refuge, Massey University, Transparency International NZ, Amnesty International NZ and Harvard Extension School
Design for Conservation Toolkit with University of Auckland
Understanding the Treaty and a Framework for the Future with Network Waitangi Ōtautahi

The Summit will conclude with the option for participants to attend a Climate Change Commission Panel with Dr Rod Carr, Chairperson, Climate Change Commission | He Pou a Rangi. This is followed by networking drinks.

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Check out our website for more programme information, and to see the range of incredible session topics and facilitators! More sessions are being announced, stay tuned on our socials or check out https://www.sdgsummits.nz/ for more.

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The Agenda 2030 - ratified in 2015 at the United Nations (UN) - is an agenda designed to transform our world. It is based on 17 Sustainable Development Goals which, as former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explained, are a “roadmap to ending global poverty, building a life of dignity for all and leaving no one behind. It is also a clarion call to work in partnership and intensify efforts to share prosperity, empower people’s livelihoods, ensure peace and heal our planet for the benefit of this and future generations.” Aotearoa/New Zealand has signed onto these goals, understanding the significance of leaving no one behind and creating a sustainable present and future. In order to understand how these global goals have been, and could be, worked towards in the local context, a summit series has been designed and implemented.

With two successful summits held in 2018 and 2019, the next installment of the series will be held in 2020-2021. This installment, proudly co-hosted by the University of Canterbury and Lincoln University, with strong support from the Christchurch City Council and Ara Institute of Canterbury, takes the overall theme of ‘Pathways to (Urgent) Action’. Participants in the Summit Series will be taken on a journey through three online and one face to face events. Starting with an exploration of how we as individuals and/or organisations understand the global goals, it continues on to building an understanding of how we can enable these goals, before delving into how we can collaborate in order to achieve these goals. The final in-person Summit event, planned for September 2021 at the University of Canterbury, will explore how such collaborations for and understanding of the goals can enable transformational change.

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2020-2021 Summit Series is Hosted by: Supported by:

Thanks to our Partners: