From using AI to protect whales and the Mojave Desert to teaching digital skills to those in need in Brazil, Morocco and India, Capgemini colleagues work in the around the world on projects that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“To create a sustainable future for our planet, we all need to work together,” says Catherine Tiefenbach, Enterprise Transformation Manager at Capgemini Invent in Hamburg, Germany. “Everyone can do something to help, no matter how small.”
This collaboration is exactly what Capgemini colleagues Catherine Tiefenbach and Marie Steffens and Sargon Korkis did when they decided to support the UN SDG Action Campaign. According to the team, the project reflects Capgemini’s goal of unleashing human energy through technology to achieve the future we all want.
“The campaign is a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General,” explains Catherine. “It aims to raise awareness of the UN SDGs and engage people around the world.”
Sustainable Development Goals
There are 17 UN SDGs, which constitute an urgent call to action for all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand in hand with policies that improve health and education, reduce inequality and boost economic growth, while tackling climate change and working to the preservation of our oceans and the forests of our communities.
The team came together to provide strategic and technical support to the action campaign and to increase its impact.
For example, the initial registration process on the UN website discouraged people from reporting their actions on the world’s map connect, leaving many voices unheard and stories untold. The revamped registration process allowed users, whether individuals, organizations or official partners, to register and log their actions. The redesigned profile pages have also made it easier for users to establish contacts and network with each other.
Flip the script
“The campaign slogan is #FlipTheScript,” says Catherine. “It’s about changing the narrative and showing that change is possible and that a more inclusive, peaceful, just and sustainable world is achievable – that every action matters, no matter how small, as long as it makes a difference. positive difference.”
Examples of actions featured on the map include a school in Bali participating in a beach cleanup to remove plastic waste, introducing municipal plastic recycling bins in Algeria, and discovering the benefits of bamboo as a sustainable material in Zimbabwe. According to the team, taking positive action can be as simple as watching a documentary about climate change.
“When we discussed how to improve the world map, we wanted it to be a really useful tool for the UN SDG Action Campaign and not just a fancy addition to the website,” explains Marie, senior consultant at Capgemini Invent in Hamburg. “By showing a detailed picture of all the small sustainability actions taken around the world, we can raise awareness of how others can also take action. In this way, it becomes a tool that gives the campaign team an overview of activities and allows them to report on the success of the campaign. We hope this will in turn help the UN SDG Action Campaign to continue to receive funding in support of the SDGs .
Provide technical expertise
Sargon, vice president of digital experience services at Capgemini in Berlin, says such a grassroots global initiative often needs additional support to succeed.
“The goal of the UN SDG Action Campaign was to involve as many people as possible,” he says. “But really big organizations like the UN sometimes need a little extra help to get things done quickly. With our experience and technological know-how at Capgemini, we knew we could help make a difference.
Catherine and Marie also encouraged their own colleagues to get involved: “Our work with the UN SDG Action Campaign continues and we ask our colleagues to commit to taking action and helping to raise awareness about improving the SDGs.”
Create a positive future
For the entire team, the project was a good example of how Capgemini colleagues can bring different skills to the same project.
“Catherine and Marie reached out to the client to really understand what the project was about,” says Sargon. “My role was to contribute my knowledge on creating immersive experiences before passing it on to the technical team of the UN SDG Action Campaign. It was a real collaboration. We reviewed their approach and strategy, and shared ideas on what they needed to change for the campaign to have the greatest impact.Working with the UN SDG Action Campaign team enabled us to do this what we do best at Capgemini, which is to use technology for a positive future. And if that future is to be sustainable, says Catherine, “the campaign message that every action counts is a message that we all need to memory.”
