A route to social change for sustainable development.
Delivered by Global Action Plan International at the 8th European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns –
TRANSFORMATIVE ACTION: THE POTENTIAL FOR EUROPE, 27-29 April 2016, Basque Country, Bilbao.
Operations Management -- Sustainability and Supply Chain Management.pdf
Empowering Citizens for Sustainable Social Change
1. Engaging and empowering citizens
A route to social change
for sustainable development
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2. Global Action Plan
Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
We design and deliver effective programs
• Empowering individuals
• Engaging citizens and employees
• Bringing about long-term, sustainable change
3. WHAT, HOW, WHY
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What?
Social change leading to
resource savings and social cohesion
How?
Scientific, evidence-based design
Empowerment of people and groups
Why?
SDGs, Paris Climate Agreement, more…
4. WHAT
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Resource savings
Typical measured long-term reductions in use of
• Electricity 10 %
• Mobility (fuel) 20 %
• Water 19 %
• Solid waste disposal 50 %
…and next, Food
5. WHAT
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Resource savings
…and next, Food Action, coming in 2017
6. Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
Social cohesion
Community development built on proven
principles for stakeholder-driven processes.
Examples:
• Ballymun, Ireland
• Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
• Hanoi, Vietnam
WHAT
7. WHAT: City example 1
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Ballymun, Ireland
Possibly this century’s largest slum regeneration
project in Europe with a low-income, low-
education, high drop-out profile.
GAP has supplied methods, materials and staff to
engage citizens over more than a decade.
=> Result: a vibrant community with the original
residents still there, and thriving
8. WHAT: City example 2
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Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
A national school program engaging more than
100,000 pupils and their families in GAP-
designed Lessons for Sustainable Development
=> has led to a ’sustainable’ household and
neighbourhood program in cooperation with the
social services, city hall, utilities, and local NGOs
9. WHAT: City example 3
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Hanoi, Vietnam
A household ’Green Living’ program
=> led to ’Green Teams’ in specific
neighbourhoods, each with self-defined
projects, such as reclaiming a huge river-bank
area from crime and pollution for social and
urban-agricultural activities
10. HOW
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Scientific and evidence-based program design
focusing on individual and group empowerment
yields long-term results and a high RoI
Examples:
• Health care employees, UK
• Activate, Basque Country, Spain
11. Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
An action research program
starting with a European meeting in 1996
* funded by the Swedish EPA
* of researchers & practitioners in
EMPOWERMENT
Current state embodied in the book ESD
Dialogues, Mehlmann & Pometun, 2013
HOW: The science 1
12. HOW: The science 1
Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
The action research has resulted in
guidelines embodied in educational programs
• Empowering writing: online course
• Design of effective social change programs:
training program, including data collection
• Empowering coaching: training program
• On-the-job learning from experience: training
and facilitation
13. Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
Design of effective social change programs
builds on an ‘empowerment spiral’ + social diffusion:
invite to experiment, engage early adopters, start
from participants’ own concerns… and collect data
through ‘before&after’ monitoring systems.
HOW: The science 1
14. HOW: The science 1
Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
On-the-job learning from experience
Beyond SWOT analysis, Learning for Change creates
a space to build on strengths: “What are you most
proud of?”, and
accelerate
learning. Taught
in more than
40 countries.
15. HOW: The science 2
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Academic research
including
• Longitudinal study of household behaviour
change, Leiden, Netherlands
• Research published by other universities i.a.
in London (UK), Hanoi (Vietnam), Gävle
(Sweden)
16. HOW: The science 2
Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
Longitudinal study , Netherlands
The Leiden studies of the EcoTeam program, over a
period of years, show that
• Participating households make many changes to
save resources
• The changes are not only sustained but amplified
over time
17. HOW: The evidence 1
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Health care employees, UK
A partnership between GAP UK, Barts Health NHS
Trust and two businesses to engage employees
nation-wide in innovation for more sustainable
health care:
environmental, social and economic
Savings to date: £9.2M and 48,511 tonnes of CO2
18. HOW: The evidence 2
Global Action Plan International 2015 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
Activate, Basque Country, Spain
73 municipalities, 42 schools engaged, 1,408
households registered. Focus on electricity, with
monitored savings
High local media impact, important contribution to
Local Agenda 21
3-year budget: only € 189,000
19. WHY
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Social sustainability goes mainstream
– for instance:
• ‘Agenda 21’ becomes Agenda 2030:
SDGs adopted September 2015
• Paris Climate Agreement signed 22 April 2016
• New national, regional and interregional goals
concerning social, environmental and
economic development
20. WHY work with us?
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Based on
• 26 years of experience in 25 countries
• two decades of action research
• research from numerous universities:
GAP has methods and tools
to meet the new urban challenges
21. Global Action Plan International 2014 | globalactionplan.com | secretariat@globalactionplan.com
A global leader in sustainable
behaviour change
Editor's Notes
University College, London – and some others. Hanoi: National Pedagogical University.