Sustainable Development

I first became aware of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in 2016, when I cited Director and co-founder Jeffrey D. Sachs in Wilfrid Laurier’ University’s (WLU) Student Sustainability Challenge with Dr. Alex Latta. Challenged with proposing a solution to integrating sustainable development into WLU’s curriculum and academics.

Two years later, in 2018, I applied for a position as the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Coordinator with SDSN, however, neither WLU or Canada were involved in the network at the time. Around the same time, I accepted a volunteer position as a rapporteur for the WGSI’s (Waterloo Global Science Initiative) GenerationSDG Summit. Over lunch one day at the Perimeter Institute, I happened to meet the new Network Manager for SDSN Canada. We discussed my recently declined application with SDSN and my passion to get involved. Shortly thereafter, I was appointed as a Youth Representative for SDG 16: Peace and Justice in May 2018, during the SDSN Canada Launch at the University of Waterloo (UW). UW was chosen as SDSN Canada’s designated national headquarters. At this time, I acquired the role of an SDG Coordinator and it was now my job to integrate WLU into the SDSN network.

With the integration of SDSN Canada at UW, I hosted a student roundtable discussion on Canada’s progress and implementation of the SDGs. The discussions and notes collected from this event were forwarded to the Government of Canada’s new SDG Unit, recently established in the 2018 federal budget, and recognizes the significance and value of the Waterloo Region as SDSN Canada’s national hub. Hopefully, this will enable us to chart pathways to provide local solutions to global challenges across Canada.

In my experiences so far in the Community Engagement Option, and through the students that I have met in SE400 (the capstone course for the Social Entrepreneurship Option), it is apparent that we all share concerns for social, economic, and environmental challenges facing our community and the rest of our world. I believe that all of us have a place and something valuable to offer, and we can find pathways together with the support of SDSN for the students and faculty of WLU, and the surrounding cities and communities, to collaborate on common goals such as the SDGs.

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