17 Rooms: Rejuvenating the Sustainable Development Goals Through Shared Action – 2022 Global Flagship Synthesis Report

The 2022 Global Flagship Synthesis Report serves as a collaborative initiative. It aims to stimulate action across all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by employing unique strategies. The report embraces non-traditional methods to assist individuals with innovative ideas. Notably, these ideas act as a catalyst for insights and foster community bonds that support long-term gains. Convenes diverse groups to facilitate this, establishing “next step” actions linked to each SDG’s priorities. Moreover, it emphasizes democratizing the SDGs, empowering widespread involvement to reinvigorate the global path towards sustainable development success.

Key Insights and Ideas

1. Participants valued engaging with diverse expertise in problem-solving conversations.
2. They found an advantage in convening around an action-oriented premise that values progress over perfection.
3. Participants appreciated working with similarly motivated leaders to push for collaborative progress.
4. It emphasizes the importance of achieving collective clarity of purpose, aligning priorities, and securing adequate resourcing to fuel follow-up Room action.
5. Engaging with a broad network of professionals to think creatively about collaborating to support the SDGs was seen as a valuable opportunity.
6. The initiative promotes optimism that development is achievable by linking development thinkers from diverse disciplines, experiences, and geographical areas.

Overview

2022 Room Actions

Emphasizes the varied approaches and initiatives the working groups implement to tackle global challenges. Further, it underscores the crucial role of collaborative action, innovative solutions, and policy recommendations in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Firstly, in terms of Community Engagement, the flagship event brought together over 300 participants. They were organized into groups of 10-20 individuals per Room, each focusing on specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2. Subsequently, during the Action Agenda Development phase, each Room worked on unique substantive focuses and action agendas starting in May and June. During the annual virtual summit in September, all Rooms presented their draft plans to the U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed for feedback.
3. Following this, each Room presented their finalized summaries in the Final Action Agenda Summaries. These drew inspiration from previous flagship Rooms and emphasized various forms of action to drive progress towards the SDGs.
4. An example of significant Policy Progress highlighted is Room 2’s 12-month strategy. It recommended policies for the African Union on insect-based food, feed, and fertilizers to meet Africa’s protein demands. This strategy aims to reduce costs, lower emissions, create employment and foster innovation in the food system.
5. Lastly, regarding Collaboration and Resource Commitments, the 17 Rooms process facilitated collaboration among experts, generated resource commitments, and strengthened working relationships to support the implementation of proposed strategies.

Room Action Agenda Summaries

Highlights the specific initiatives and strategies each Room proposed to tackle key challenges in poverty measurement, anti-poverty policymaking, and sustainable food systems. These summaries emphasize the innovative methods and joint efforts the working groups employed to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Room 1: Bridge Poverty Measurement and Anti-Poverty Policymaking

• Focus: Utilizing technologies like Big Data, AI, and remote sensing to transform access to essential social protection and climate adaptation services.
• Testing a new approach to targeted social protection using publicly observable data to support cash payments for individuals impacted by climate change.
• Priorities include making social protection systems more responsive and trigger-based and promoting private household-level insurance premiums for social protection.

2. Room 2: Developing Policies for the African Union on Insect-Based Food

• Aim: Recommend policies for the African Union to address Africa’s protein demands through insect-based food, feed, and fertilizers.
• Strategy: Develop a 12-month strategy to reduce costs, lower emissions, create employment, and foster innovation in the food system.

3. Room Actions: Pursuing Large-Scale Policy Progress

• Emphasis on the role of new government policies and regulations in unlocking action towards Sustainable Development Goals.
• Highlighting the importance of fortifying working relationships, generating resource commitments, and fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.

What makes 17 Rooms different?

Emphasizes the dynamic and adaptive nature of the 17 Rooms initiative. It highlights its focus on efficiency and action-oriented outcomes. The importance of fostering collaboration, innovation, and collective purpose to advance towards the Sustainable Development Goals is also stressed.

1. Constant Evolution: The 17 Rooms initiative is anchored in key design principles and methods but continuously evolves to adapt to changing needs and circumstances.
2. Secondly, Focus on Efficiency: In 2022, there was a focus on refining methods to help Rooms identify their action path efficiently, considering busy professionals’ time constraints.
3. Thirdly, Positive Participant Feedback: Feedback from participants indicated high satisfaction, with nearly nine out of 10 respondents rating their participation in 17 Rooms as worth the time spent.
4. Furthermore, Promoting Action and Momentum: The central task for the 17 Rooms secretariat is to increase the number of Rooms driving actions while fostering ideas and insights that contribute to broader progress towards the SDGs.
5. Additionally, Varied Approaches: Different Rooms adopted diverse outlooks and group dynamics, with some focusing on sharing insights while others prioritized planning the next steps. The effectiveness of each approach varied based on the Room’s context and objectives.
6. Lastly, Collective Clarity of Purpose: Achieving clarity of purpose, aligning priorities, and securing adequate resources were key factors that fueled follow-on Room action and success.

Priorities for 2023 2022 Global Flagship Synthesis Report

Underlines the importance of the SDGs’ midpoint, the need for collaboration and collective action, and how initiatives such as ’17 Rooms’ can shape global discussions on sustainable development and progress towards the SDGs.

1. Firstly, the Midpoint of SDGs: In 2023, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will reach the midpoint of their 2030 deadline, with a major checkpoint summit hosted by the United Nations in September. This milestone presents an opportunity to reflect on progress and reevaluate strategies for achieving the goals.
2. Secondly, Focus on Collaboration: Rather than solely emphasizing the need for increased efforts, it emphasizes the importance of exploring new ways for people to come together and drive improvements collectively.
3. Thirdly, Informing Global Conversations: The 17 Rooms initiative aims to contribute to the global conversation on driving SDG action through its annual flagship event and the bottom-up 17-X community of practice. While not claiming to have all the answers, the initiative believes it has identified important ingredients for renewing efforts towards the SDGs.
4. Lastly, Renewal and Innovation: The report underscores the need for renewal and innovation in approaches to sustainable development. The 17 Rooms initiative seeks to inspire new ways of thinking and working towards achieving the SDGs by engaging diverse stakeholders, fostering collaboration, and promoting action-oriented initiatives.

2022 Global Flagship Synthesis Report