mOther Earth

The approach to solving these is to create Villages of the Future – innovation settlements that bring rural youth, researchers, schools, startups, businesses, experts, and NGOs to reside there and co-create solutions to the most pressing local problems together with the community. 

Once we have defined the practice that can be applied more widely, we will create a “learn by doing” movement. We’ll invite representatives from rural communities of the EU and Spanish-speaking countries worldwide to come, stay, learn and then bring this model to their villages with our guidance.

We act as a virtual laboratory of ideas that helps organizations put their minds together and develop sustainable solutions with systemic impact. Our methods are recommended as the United Nations SDG Good Practices. As the Global Think Tank for Sustainable Development, we bring our facilitation and training capabilities, sustainability and innovation expertise, extended network, and the power to connect. You can read more on the About page.

The innovativeness of the approach to SDGs implementation on the ground lies in three dimensions: integrating and enabling; going to the ‘field’; and including everyone. 

First, instead of duplicating what’s already being done – we INTEGRATE and ENABLE others. We find local entities and activists who have already been trying to implement one small element of the project on their own. We learn from their experience and the ideas they have. Using our methods from the SDG Good Practice (#SDGAction33515), we enable them to make small but impactful changes to multiply their positive effect. We feature and promote what they do under the umbrella of the SDG partnership to add credibility to their initiative and allow them to open doors. We connect them to initiatives locally and internationally that can give them a boost. 

Second, instead of inventing or re-inventing how the project for rural areas can be done from the comfort of a city apartment – we GO TO THE ‘FIELD’. We spend months in various rural locations, meeting local people, asking what they enjoy about living in a village and what they are missing. At the same time, it allows us to truly experience local life - the challenges and advantages it has. And of course, to create deeper meaningful connections with the people and entities who will become the partners in implementing this SDG action in the near future.

Third, instead of limiting this SDG partnership to only a few entities – we INCLUDE everyone. Starting from the pilot project in Spain, to make sure that there is support, political will, and alignment with existing policies and actions, we have invited every single regional and provincial government to be part of it. In the brainstorming process during the fieldwork, we have already included local people from 3 years old to 87 years old. For example, we asked 260 children from a local school between 3 and 12 years old to draw or write what they love about their village and what ideas they have for it. They were extremely enthusiastic and proud to participate in formulating what will be the future of their village. We made all results, including featured drawings and stories available online publicly. 

The encompassing nature of this project calls for truly a multi-stakeholder partnership.