In middle September I took part at the Global Goals JAM Berlin, a 2-day series of small design sprints where attendees were asked to work on local challenges – co-created with local community and industries – related to one or more of the the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
History pills – What are these Global Goals?
Let’s take a quick step back in 2015 when the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, met at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and have decided on new global Sustainable Development Goals, known now as the Global Goals.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.
The UN set to achieve each Goal and target by 2030.
Back to present
The aim of this event was to create interventions aimed at short term targets in support of the long term goals. The themes of this year were:
- Water and Climate Change (SDG 4, SDG 13)
- Migration (SDG 10, SDG 16)
- Electronic Waste (SDG 12)
- Sustainable Development for People and Planet (SDG 1, SDG 8)
Deep dive into the Migration Theme
My Team was composed by Nataly Ramirez Arteaga, Muhammad Sumon Molla Selim and Michael Lausberg, facilitated by Güzin Goçer and we were supporting the local Sponsor “Asylum Advice”, a soon-to-be platform where refugees could seek legal advice.
We mapped out the cause and effects of Migration on a general level by using the Problem Solving Tree, we interviewed 2 refugees and a social worker with 10 year experience in the field.
The big lessons learned by using the Service Design Tools were:
- asylum seekers tend to trust more what other refugees, that have been in their shoes before, would tell them.
- there are a lot of services for migrants already existing but nobody knows them
- fragmented information & lack of digitalized bureaucratic processes
- migrants that succeeded in their first steps in a new country feel the need to help others.
Here we envisioned a need of trust and better information and at the same time the desire to offer help.
Therefore we decided to prototype a platform to connect different already existing resources and services for migrants, to collect official information from authorities but most importantly a platform to get in touch with other migrants that have gone through the same experience and to share help and knowledge to ultimately build community and trust.
Personal reflection – What can we do as Service Designer practitioners?
As a student of the Service Innovation & Design Master program I felt the urge to participate and contribute to the challenges of this year.
“Is there anything better than combining our own expertise in Service Design to serve people, planet and prosperity by helping achieving these SDGs?”
We, as Service Designers know best how important is to empathize with the user – in this case People and Planet – and create that shift of mindset in society where Government and Businesses should sit together with citizens to co-create solution for our people and for the environment.
Here an invitation to reflect and perhaps to start spread the Service Design tools to our local Communities and give help for the cause that we feel more related to.
It takes tons of small initiatives, iterations (and failures too!) before we can see a visible impact on a larger scale.
But this means we have to start now. We have to care, share and Dare!
And you? Are you ready to Design 2030 now?
Author: Francesca A. Frisicale, October 2019
References & Links
https://www.globalgoalsberlin.com/
https://twitter.com/2030Cabinet
https://twitter.com/GlobalGoalsBER/
https://sdg-investments.com/en/
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
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