SDG 17 - Strategic Initiatives

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Relationships
Cross-Sectoral SDG Dialogue
SDG Best Practice
Collaboration with NGOs
Other NGO Partners
International Collaboration
Education for SDGs
Sustainability Courses
Community Education

Relationships

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Western University collaborates with NGOs and government on SDG policy development and strategies. Some key partnerships include:

  • Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction: ICLR conducts multidisciplinary disaster prevention research, including modeling potential futures with and without interventions. It focuses on monitoring and reporting the effectiveness of these interventions and enabling adaptive management strategies. ICLR partners with NGOs like the Canadian Red Cross Society to reduce the loss of life and property caused by severe weather and earthquakes. 
  • United Way: As the leading NGO funder of social services in our region, United Way works to ensure everyone has a fair chance at a better life by reducing poverty, meeting basic needs, and addressing homelessness. Western proudly partners with United Way on one of the largest fundraising campaigns in the country. Public policy work, including advocacy and government relations, is central to United Way’s daily efforts. 
  • Central Canadian Symposium on Water Quality Research: Unites experts, researchers, NGOs, policy-makers, and other stakeholders to tackle water quality issues. It encourages collaboration, knowledge sharing, and problem solving through interactive workshops that provide strategies for improving and conserving water quality in line with SDGs 6, 9, 11, and 14. 
  • London Environmental Network: Partners with Western to protect the regional environment and build a more sustainable city through environmental programs and climate action initiatives. It seeks to empower our community to co-create meaningful and lasting environmental change. 
  • Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance: Contributes to SDG policy development by identifying urban challenges, developing innovative policies, and modeling future scenarios through projects like LoGov-RISE. Its work explores the roles of different government levels, financial structures, and public participation. It also cultivates dialogue among academics, policy practitioners, and the broader public. 
  • Western Centre for Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Health: WeCLISH engages with researchers, policy-makers, civil society organizations, NGOs, and local communities to co-produce knowledge that informs policy development. This collaborative approach helps identify problems and challenges related to climate change and sustainable development. 
  • Northern Tornadoes Project: Collaborates with Environment and Climate Change Canada and other governmental organizations to improve tornado detection and inform policy development. It provides critical data for emergency response planning, models future scenarios, and maintains transparency through public data reporting, enhancing climate resilience and disaster preparedness. 
  • Centre for Multi-hazard Risk and Resilience: CMRR conducts extensive research on the risks associated with natural hazards and their effects on communities and infrastructure. It uses advanced modeling techniques to predict outcomes of various scenarios and monitors the effectiveness of implemented policies and strategies. CMRR collaborates with industry, government, and academia to reduce the impact of extreme events. 
  • Carbon Solutions: Collaborates with industry, regional governments, and community organizations to address carbon reduction and replacement. Funded projects explore, demonstrate, or validate viable solutions, including demonstration projects, prototypes, system testing, designs, and intellectual property. This initiative focuses on the circular economy to develop sustainable life cycle strategies for products, energy usage, and recycling. 
  • Ivey Energy Policy and Management Centre: Collaborates with industry, government, and academia to develop effective energy policies and strategies. It conducts extensive research and provides expert consultation to inform policy-making and support sustainable energy practices. It also educates future leaders and monitors the effectiveness of energy interventions to enable adaptive management. 
  • Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources: ICFAR specializes in biomass conversion, waste-to-energy technologies, and sustainable chemical processes. It collaborates with governments and NGOs to address environmental and energy challenges, contributing to SDG policy development. Additionally, it identifies problems, develops strategies, models future scenarios, and monitors the effectiveness of interventions to ensure adaptable and research-based policies. 

Cross-Sectoral Dialogue About SDGs

Western University actively engages in cross-sectoral dialogue about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The university hosts and participates in various events and initiatives that involve collaboration with government bodies, NGOs, and other stakeholders. 

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  • Interdisciplinary Approaches to Development through SDGs: During SDG Week, Western hosted this seminar exploring local, national, and global development to increase awareness and engagement in the UN SDGs. 
  • Western Sustainable Leaders Program: Guest speakers from across campus and the broader community are engaged to provide opportunities for students to network with professionals and peers involved with a wide range of sustainability initiatives on campus and in the community. 
  • Central Canadian Symposium on Water Quality Research: Unites experts, researchers, NGOs, and stakeholders to address water quality issues. 
  • Gender Equality Coalition of Ontario: Through virtual panel discussions, the coalition brings together activists, experts, and allies to explore diverse topics through a gendered lens, aiming to empower individuals, promote inclusion, and raise consciousness in communities across Ontario. 
  • Local Government Alumni Conference: Municipal working professionals and anyone involved in or aspiring to work in municipal government, or any organization interacting with local government explore how to put vision and values into practice. 
  • Canada’s Role in the Future of Nuclear Energy: This conference explores the future of Canada’s nuclear sector, both domestically and internationally, with speakers from across Canada. 
  • Building Reconciliation Forum: An initiative of Universities Canada, Western’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII) hosted the annual Building Reconciliation Forum providing this event for educators, administrators, and students in the postsecondary sector to share promising practices and innovative ideas for advancing Reconciliation in the academy. 
  • London Environmental Network: Western partners with this NGO to strengthen connections to local community groups doing environmental work in areas such as climate action, ecosystem health, environmental education, food systems, horticulture, pollination, transportation, waste reduction, and water stewardship.
  • Universities Canada: Western is a member of Universities Canada, a national organization that provides Canadian universities with a unified voice for higher education, research, and innovation. Universities Canada advances the mission of member institutions to transform lives, strengthen communities, and address the most pressing challenges facing our world. Through SDG toolkits, SDG reporting guides, and Action for Net Zero progress reports, it supports members in advancing the SDGs and sharing best practices.
  • Canadian Circular Economy Summit: Ivey worked with the NGO Circular Economy Leadership Canada, the government organization Environment and Climate Change Canada and many others to organize this national summit. They aim to convene thought-leaders and change-makers from industry and the public sector to actively advance projects, investments, collaborations, and to inform policies that will reshape our current linear economic model, accelerating systems change and the transition to a low carbon, circular economy in Canada.

SDG Best Practice

Western University actively collaborates internationally to review comparative approaches and develop best practices for tackling the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Western’s strategic plan recognizes the potential of our academic community to increase the impact of our research, teaching, and community engagement globally. We commit to collaborative interdisciplinary research addressing challenges such as sustainability, climate change, systemic racism, socioeconomic inequality, and more. 

Western’s International Collaboration Network

  • Academics Without Borders: An NGO with a mission to assist low- and middle-income countries to improve their institutions of higher education so that they can train their own experts and conduct research to assist in their countries’ development. Volunteers devote their time, energy, and expertise to short- and long-term projects that strengthen the skills and knowledge needed in areas such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and business. 
  • Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education: AASHE’s mission is to inspire and catalyze higher education to accelerate the transition towards a just and sustainable world. AASHE works with and for higher education to ensure that our world’s future leaders are motivated and equipped to solve sustainability challenges.  
  • Sustainable Development Solutions Network: The United Nations SDSN operates at the intersections of science, policy, and development practice to maximize SDG achievements at the global, regional, national, and local levels. They support peer-to-peer learning to promote the identification of best practices and local solutions, as well as global and regional cooperation to achieve the SDGs. 
  • Talloires Declaration: A ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations, and outreach at colleges and universities globally. 
  • University Climate Change Coalition: UC3 connects some of the world’s leading research universities committed to accelerating climate action on campus, in communities, and at a global scale. Member universities actively participate in collaborative, cross-coalition activities such as working groups for peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing, and coalition-wide initiatives, which encourage deeper collaborative inquiry into specific climate issues that impact all members and the sector as a whole. 
  • World University Services of Canada: An NGO that works to find youth-centred solutions for improved education, economic, and empowerment opportunities to overcome inequality and exclusion in over 15 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. 

Western’s International Research Collaborations 

  • Africa Institute: Established to promote and facilitate impactful research done by researchers at Western in Africa. Its members are building sustainable collaborations and partnerships with African peoples and institutions to promote initiatives that address some of the most pressing issues facing the African continent. Partnerships forged by the members of the Institute extend over several sectors, including but not limited to research, health, education, business, government, engineering, and arts and literature.      
  • Frugal Biomedical Innovations Proigram: FBIP is a multi-disciplinary initiative established to facilitate co-design, development, and deployment of innovative medical technologies that improve healthcare access for patients in remote and low-resource contexts. FBIP harnesses the principles of “frugal innovation” to accelerate research and education focused on frugal biomedical innovations that serve communities that need it most. In Sub-Saharan Africa, FBIP has established a Global Research Coalition to make tangible strides towards equity. 
  • International Research: Western Research helps develop an international research development strategy and identify and establish relationships with global partners. Through matchmaking, team building, partnership agreements, and funding opportunities, the team brings international partners to Western and takes Western research to the world. The 17 SDGs provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, shaping our research strategies. 
  • Participatory Agroecological Research for Transforming Knowledge and Equity in African Communities: PARTAKE is an innovative partnership aiming to test the extent to which agroecological practices and participatory knowledge mobilization enhance African communities’ resilience against climate change in Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. The team intends to improve food security, health, and wellbeing; reduce post-harvest food loss; enhance environmental sustainability; and achieve gender, intergenerational, and socio-economic equities. 
  • Western Heads East: A collaboration between Western staff, students, faculty, and African partners using probiotic foods to contribute to health and sustainable development. Their work impacts all 17 SDGs. The grassroots program, started in 2002, combines global partnerships with local leadership, experiential learning, research, teaching and service.  
  • Western in the World Global Engagement Plan: Our university’s new multi-year global engagement plan, designed to strengthen our internationalization efforts for greater impact, in pursuit of a more sustainable, just, and inclusive society. We are committed to exploring not just how Western can make a positive difference in the world, but how people around the world can help us cultivate more inclusive, diverse, and sustainable practices. 

Best Practice

  • Best Practice Spotlight Organization: The Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing has partnered with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario to become a BPSO. BPSOs are healthcare and academic organizations selected to implement and evaluate best practice guidelines. This internationally renowned program’s strategic approach has been proven to trigger evidence-based cultures, improve patient experience and health outcomes, and lower cost of care by preventing complications.

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  • Network for Business Sustainability: NBS shares evidence-based sustainability guidance for leaders thinking ahead to build a world that is fairer, and more ecologically sound. Housed at Ivey Business School at Western, NBS engages an international community of business leaders, scholars, and policy-makers to review and co-develop best practices for tackling the SDGs. Through rigorous research and cross-sector collaboration, it creates open-access content that enables practical action. NBS also facilitates opportunities for global sustainability changemakers to connect, exchange insights, and increase their capacity for collective impact. By regularly synthesizing global knowledge and sharing comparative approaches, NBS helps shape international benchmarks in sustainable business practice. Its reach and influence continue to grow: In 2023-2024 alone, the NBS website welcomed 157,000 new users from around the world. 
  • Sustainability Centres Community: Run by Ivey, this member community is part of NBS. Leaders of sustainability centres housed in universities worldwide connect to share best practices and support one another through virtual collaboration and in-person events. A list-serv allows members to ask questions, seek collaborators, and pose provocations. Regular events bring the community together for learning and action shaped by the SDGs.

For more information about our participation in collaborative networks see: Sustainability Memberships. 

Collaboration with NGOs

Western collaborates with NGOs to tackle the SDGs. Western Research facilitates flexible and beneficial relationships among the university research community and industry, government, and non-profit partners.

Volunteering Programs:

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  • Student Volunteering | Leadership: Our careers office connects students with volunteer opportunities on campus and beyond, providing support to NGOs.
  • Community Engaged Learning: The CEL program integrates service to the community with curricular course credit, providing practical experience in the community.
  • Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: This innovative program is aimed at supporting student-led initiatives that engage with our local communities to collaboratively advance sustainability. Teams of students conduct research projects focusing on at least one of the 17 SDGs.
  • Volunteer with Western International: Many opportunities exist for students to get involved with NGOs like United Way and Pillar Nonprofit Network.
  • Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging: Helps volunteers gain meaningful experience while supporting older adults in our community.
  • Volunteers in Progress: This structured program facilitates volunteering in local hospitals.
  • LEADER Project: A student-driven, overseas, economic development program with the mandate of empowering promising entrepreneurs in frontier markets to envision, launch, and scale new ventures. LEADER aims to enable high-potential individuals to develop local business solutions into engines for sustainable economic growth, and positive social change for their communities. LEADER has trained 10,000 entrepreneurs and students in 23 countries. 

Research Programs:

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Educational Resources:

  • Ivey’s 39 Country Initiative: Provides free access to Ivey Publishing, disseminating teaching content for faculty in the world’s poorest 46 countries, to support SDG 1 No poverty, SDG 4 Quality Education, and SDG 8 Decent work and economic growth.
  • SDG Week Canada: Western partnered with SDG Cities and Pillar Nonprofit Network to educate students and the local community on how to advance the SDGs in their own sphere of influence.
  • Climate Crisis Coalition – Western Chapter: CCC is an NGO that facilitates, participates in, and publicizes local and national climate actions that draw attention to the climate crisis and the strong measures needed to address it.
  • Engineers without Borders – Western Chapter: This NGO educates about the SDGs through toolkits, workshops, community engagement, and online resources to contribute to an equitable and sustainable future for marginalized people and the planet.
  • Discovery Healthcare: This one-week medical science summer camp is designed to connect high school students with local NGOs to mentor and inspire interest in a career in healthcare.
  • Purple Hands: This student-run NGO bridges the gap between the student populations and marginalized and vulnerable individuals in London through outreach, advocacy, and educational events and campaigns about homelessness.

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Other NGO partners include:

International Collaboration to Measure SDGs

Western University actively participates in gathering and measuring data for SDGs through membership in several global networks. These networks represent a wide range of organizations working in the field of sustainability at different scales and with different focus areas. Participating in these networks helps Western to advance sustainability initiatives both on- and off-campus in partnership with other organizations. 

  • Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education: AASHE is a global organization dedicated to promoting sustainability in higher education. Since 2011, Western has submitted data for its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, a framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. 
  • Higher Education Sustainability Initiative: HESI is a United Nations partnership that connects higher education institutions, networks, and student organizations to create a community of shared learning in support of SDG integration. As a member of HESI, Western University promotes collaboration and knowledge exchange to advance sustainability practices and policies within higher education. 
  • Ontario College and University Sustainability Professionals: OCUSP is a dynamic network of sustainability professionals within Ontario’s post-secondary sector. It facilitates knowledge sharing, professional development, and advocacy for sustainability initiatives, projects, and policies. This network strengthens institutional impact by providing opportunities to exchange ideas, benchmarking progress, and developing coordinated approaches to sustainability challenges. 
  • Sustainable Development Solutions Network: Western is a member of the SDSN, which operates under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to mobilize the world’s universities, think tanks, and national laboratories for action on the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. SDSN empowers societies through free online education and translate scientific evidence and ideas into solutions and accountability. 
  • University Climate Change Coalition: Western is a member of the UC3, a Second Nature initiative, which connects 23 of the world’s leading research universities committed to accelerating climate action on campus, in communities, and globally. Second Nature supports UC3 universities to collaborate effectively, share knowledge, facilitate cross-sector partnerships, and drive meaningful and scalable action on climate change, including annual progress reporting. Western is also an active participant in this annual progress reporting. 

SDG-Education

Education for SDGs

 

Western University is committed to meaningful education around the SDGs across the university, that is relevant and applicable to all students.  

As part of its commitment to sustainability education, Western engages with the AASHE STARS reporting framework, which includes a comprehensive Sustainability Course Inventory. All the listed courses reflect connections to the SDGs, offering students opportunities to explore global challenges through a range of disciplinary perspectives. In parallel, Ivey Business School has reviewed and tagged all its teaching cases for relevance to the SDGs, embedding sustainability themes into management education and requiring all students to learn about the importance and relevance of the SDGs. 

100% of Western’s departments teach sustainability courses. 

Sustainability Courses

Western has specific programs and courses on sustainability. We report on our Sustainability Course  
Offerings through AASHE STARS. 

  • Master of Environment and Sustainability (MES) program: No matter what your background is, whether it’s in science, engineering, social science, arts and humanities, or business, the interdisciplinary MES degree will prepare you for a range of career options in the environmental and sustainability sector. MES graduates go on to work in all levels of government, private enterprise, and industry, including NGOs, not-for-profits, and social enterprise organizations. 
  • Graduate Diploma in Business and Sustainability: Sustainability and social responsibility now need to be at the core of an organization’s strategy and value creation model and fully integrated across all elements of the organization and its supply chain. This diploma encourages the development of broader perspectives of sustainability as a holistic systems agenda, incorporating environmental, social, and economic dimensions. 
  • Certificate in Sustainability: This certificate provides Ivey students with a coordinated set of courses and experiences that position them as responsible, forward-looking leaders. Students will network with morally exemplary CEOs, sample best-for-the-world sustainability reporting and consulting practices in different types of organizations and sectors, master storytelling for positive change, and hone their ability to evaluate, communicate, design, and deliver sustainability-focused innovations. 
  • Connecting for Climate Change Action: Adult learners across the globe can now access an award-winning Western course on climate change action for free. The online, asynchronous course is offered through Coursera. The course uses a storytelling approach to braid Indigenous knowledge and Eurowestern science together to educate, encourage discussions, and motivate action on climate change. 
  • Sustainable Promotional Product Marketing: Promotional Products Professionals of Canada has partnered with Western University’s Division of Continuing Studies to develop a new 12-hour-long synchronous online course to equip professionals with the knowledge and tools to design and market products that align with sustainability goals and meet consumer expectations.

Community Education

Western has outreach educational activities for the wider community, including alumni, the local community, and refugees.

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