Full Transcription of our Season 5 Launch episode.
Regina Larko 0:04
I had sleepless nights going over the storyline for this episode. I planned to record it weeks ago, but I kept pushing it back. I felt the stakes were too high. This is my chance to take you on a journey of impact. But what if I fail? What if you turn off and switch the channel before we even get past the ridiculously upbeat jingle music? I figured I would just start off by being honest with you.
Regina Larko 0:37
So here it is. My ambition for this season of #impact is to inspire you. But I can’t guarantee that it will. I hope the theme we chose will help you gain new perspectives. But I have no clue if you care to learn about the topics we address. I wish for the stories we will bring you from across the globe will encourage you to take action. But there’s a chance that you might not. And you know what? That’s okay. If you care to listen. And if you’re still listening now that I have a feeling, you might just be ready to make an impact yourself.
Carol Yeung 1:41
I am Regina Larko, Founder of #impact, where we leverage the power of voice to inspire positive change. In Season Five, we will take you on a quest to answer three big questions.
Regina Larko 1:56
What are the Sustainable Development Goals? Why do they matter? And how do they relate to you?
You will follow us to conversations with experts in the field. You will hear stories from changemakers that innovate for the global goals. And along the way, you will get to know my talented co-hosts and me a bit better as well.
In today’s episode, you will hear how lost and confused I felt as I started my research on our three big questions. What are the Sustainable Development Goals? Why do they matter? And how do they relate to me? I met up with sustainability experts working and living these goals every single day. You’ll hear about games, big ambitions, wrong expectations, and what all of this has to do with you. Welcome to #impact Season Five.
It was over a year ago that I decided that the theme for #impact Season five, the one you are listening to right now should be the Sustainable Development Goals. At that point, I had a very shallow understanding of what these goals imply. So I started my research. And a quick Google search brought me to the United Nations dedicated site for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
As I browsed through what it said there, I glanced up and down the screen, the colorful logo and blocks were competing for my attention and it all made so much sense. Every word, so much depth.
Carol Yeung 4:41
What I love most about this, was the boldness and the ambitions that these goals set. As I started researching more, I got a bit frustrated with the broadness of these goals. And it was only after I spoke to Pat Dwyer from The Purpose Business that I realized why these goals Goals are designed to be that broad. Here’s Pat:
Pat Dwyer 5:01
You can imagine that something like this cannot be prescriptive to the t. And I’m empathetic to the United Nations in terms of keeping it as broad as possible, it has to be, you cannot legislate to the level of the micro-industry and the organization that is there, right. But it’s generic so that it brings everyone along again, leave no one behind is the mantra. So it has to be applicable to a teacher who just wants to make a class fun all the way to a group of fishing cooperatives that are trying to lobby for protection on how they keep their livelihood all the way to a big family conglomerate that is multigenerational or a national government that wants to stand for new infrastructure.
So yeah, we’re straddling a whole lot of stakeholders. So the question being, if that is so broad, how do you know what’s right for you? Well, you need to know what’s right for you. First, you need to know you. And like any other individual, you need to know what’s important to you what it is that you do what’s important to your family. And that’s how the SDGs will resonate with you. It’s the same principle behind materiality for companies, you need to know where your operations are, what your impacts are.
So it is a good thing that they are broad because that means there is something in there for everyone, every stakeholder and each level in every country, and also for you as an individual, just like Pat said, but here’s where I got lost again.
Regina Larko 6:35
So there we have these 17 goals that are intentionally kept broad. Within each of these goals, when we look at them Goal 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You can see the topics, for example, good health, education, infrastructure, life on land and underwater. And so a year ago, when I decided that the Sustainable Development Goals should be the theme for the season, I figured we could dedicate one episode to each goal. I and my co-host Amanda chatted about that in our last season finale.
Amanda Williams 7:13
Of course, season five, just around the corner. What can we expect from Season Five, Regina?
Carol Yeung 7:20
Yes, so I don’t want to give away too much. Because I want to keep this exciting for you. And also, I want you to come back. So I’m not gonna give it all away. But I can tell you that we will focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I’m very excited about that one.
Regina Larko 7:36
So it will actually be Season five, and six will address the UN Sustainable Development Goals because there are 17. And we don’t have so many episodes for each season. So that’s why we cut it into a two-part series. And so each episode will be dedicated to one sustainable development goal that we will address together with an NGO.
I have to sigh and roll my eyes when I’m listening back to this. How naive I was. And my understanding of the Global Goals at that point was very, very shallow. Just like Benita Chick from Encompass pointed out how most people think about the SDGs today. Here’s Benita.
Benita Chick 8:30
My impression is most people only understand SDG at a superficial level. Like they understand they know that there are 17 goals, but they might not understand what are the 169 targets or what they imply or how they relate. So I think that’s one of the core objectives of my work, to help people to gain a more in-depth understanding of the SDG and how are they related to daily life.
Carol Yeung 8:58
And why are they so important to you? What is your driver, your personal driver, why are you so passionate about this? And I mean, your whole business, correct me if I’m wrong, is built on those goals, like the values and the messages that you’re bringing out there is based on these targets that are laid out within these 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Why do you care?
Benita Chick 9:34
I really think SDG is a very good framework for understanding our world and how everything is related. So for example, I do a workshop on sustainable coffee a lot and I use coffee which a lot of people drink as an example to talk about responsible consumption or gender equality or clean water. I think SDG is not that remote. Some people think oh, it’s something you and it’s not really related to me. But it’s actually everybody has a part to play. And I think because of my background as a scuba diver and as an environmentalist, I really want everybody to learn about it and do something about it.
Regina Larko 10:14
And we were both holding our coffee cups just now in the briefing period, right? Is there coffee in your cup as well? (laughing)
Benita works with corporates as well as universities and individuals to help them gain a deeper, richer understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals.
One of the biggest eye-opening moments during my research on the SDGs was when I played the SDG game, it was a game-changer for me, it was around a year ago that I joined an event here in Hong Kong, organized by local nonprofit called Shared value Project. That event is called Creative Collision. I think it has turned into something like a flagship event for them. It’s so impactful, they’ve also been running it again this year. What I loved most about this event was that there was a very engaged conversation between all the people in the room caring to learn about the Sustainable Development Goals and implementing them in their businesses, in their work processes, in their research, in their studies. You had startups pitching their ideas to the participants. And you could raise your hand if you wanted to support the startups right away, put in your name card so that they can reach out to you, it was really engaging.
And there was Carol, from iNNOVGoals that day, facilitating the SDG Game. Carol had a big baby bump, just like me at that moment. We were both expecting babies. And there she stood, giving instructions to the game. And I thought, yeah, I’m just gonna play a game, right. And I had no idea how much this game would change my perception of the SDGs. It opened my eyes to how interconnected each of these goals, actually were.
Lena Wong 12:27
I am so happy that I got to reconnect with you after that game. Because there were so many people in that game. And a lot of people came up to me after. They felt different, as you said, after the game. So yes, the 2030 SDG Game is one of the training programs that I run within in the goals, and probably the most featured program, and most people find me to do the program for their organizations.
Carol Yeung 12:54
The 2030 SDG Game makes these goals more reachable for people to understand. Because these 17 goals, as you said, we got hundreds of targets, we got hundreds of indicators. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to grasp that information. We want to educate, even the younger generation. But how can we educate them? Are they going to read everything, word by word? That’s boring, I’m sorry, to tell you.
So the SDG Game is allows a simulation and an experiential learning experience for the audience so that they can learn about the SDGs in a way where they can break it down from a game world equal to the real world.
So you’re like, Okay, Carol, what you’re talking about? Let me give you an example. So Basically, you are going to think about how would you react in the real world. And if we would give you all these kind of projects or resources, how do you play the game? And how would you act in our real world? So, therefore, this game is not intended to learn about the individual goals within the game. But it is to give you a mindset change. That’s the most important thing, a change in terms of how you live in a co-creating space with different people in the world and ask yourself how we design for a better future with our limited or existing resources.
Of course, everyone is different. Everyone makes different experiences. And I loved that in the conversation I had, together with Carol and her friend and partner in crime Lena Wong, who runs Hong Kong Momtrepreneurs, because when we talked about this SDG Game, Lena shared from her experience how it was for her to play this game for the first time. It was not as straightforward as it was for me. That shows how, and Lena reflects on that here as well, how you go into certain experiences also with wearing a certain hat. I let Lena share more about that.
Pat Dwyer 15:24
(laughs) I think as a trainer, sometimes we will fall into this trap, that we’ll attend training as a participant, we always try to put on that trainer cap, you know, and try to think from the trainer perspective. This restricts us from enjoying the process as a participant. And so I think that I fell into that moment.
Lena Wong 15:53
But the second time I played the game, if I may just kind of recap because I guess in a way, that’s why I forgot about my first time. The second time I played the game, it was when the game creators came to Hong Kong in April 2019, March 2019. And that’s when I got the Aha- moment because it was a much larger audience, there were about 25 or so participants. So I got people in my group, I got to talk to people, interact, and I got to really enjoy the experience of the game.
Regina Larko 16:35
What Lena shared here really highlights and illustrates for me how important it is to connect with others, to share ideas, to hear other people’s perspectives, and also understand where you are coming from, with what perceptions, with which hat that you’re wearing that day.
If these conversations that I had over the last few months, preparing for this first official launch episode of season five, have taught me anything is that it’s okay to feel a bit confused and overwhelmed by the complexity of this topic. But at the same time to be encouraged, and inspired by them. Just like Pat shares. Pat Dwyer from The Purpose Business really hits a nerve here.
Pat Dwyer 17:44
That is why I’m passionate about the SDGs when they first came up in 2015 because it just represented how complex the world has become. And the world that was with the Millennium Development Goals, with about, you know, less than 10 goals, it was eight Goals, then it was Yeah, fighting extreme poverty, malnutrition, education. Those were, I don’t want to belittle it and say they were basic problems.
But when you have the reason for the awkwardness of the 17, it’s actually because nothing was certain and nothing was orderly with the issues. It just shows you the complexity of the world that we live in, where Yes, you’ll have gender equality, but you also have industry innovation and infrastructure, which is goal nine.
And then you’ll have things like, whether it’s a straightforward goal dedicated to climate action, but when you look at what that demands of governments, of companies of organizations in general, it’s so so, so complex, and it represented the world in 2015, going into 2030. But today, 2020, 10 years down the final goal of the 2030 agenda, we are even battling more of the symptoms of that complexity of the world.
And the excitement on our part is to see how far along can we really change because we only get one shot. We all say, you know, this is the world that our generation can act on. I don’t want to look back when I’m 70 or 80 or 90 or whatever age I could look back from, and say I got a chance to do something and I didn’t.
Carol Yeung 19:29
You can hear the full conversations I had with these incredible women, Pat Dwyer Benita Chick, Carol Yeung and Lena Wong in our season five episodes that we will start releasing shortly. You find all of our season five episodes at www.hashtagimpact.com/season5
Regina Larko 19:50
But there’s even more. Together with my team based in Hong Kong, Honolulu, Sydney, New York and Berlin, we will bring you even more thought-provoking conversations as we sit down with changemakers that are innovating for the Sustainable Development Goals.
You will hear us ask hard questions about measuring impact. We want to find out what keeps them going, even if, at times, all odds seem to be against them.
Why do they care about the SDGs? Why do they matter? How are they tackling them? There’s so much to learn from their experiences. And we will all gain a richer understanding of the Global Goals and our role in them as well.
At the beginning of this episode, I shared that I am not sure if I will inspire you to take action. But maybe, can I just ask you for one thing today? If you feel inspired by what we do here, then you will love to receive our monthly newsletter. Once you sign up, we will send the #impact Motivation Boost Experience your way.
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And most importantly, this motivation boost will cheer you on to continue making a positive impact in your community.
Because the world needs you. It needs you to make an impact, no matter how big or small.
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- Official Website of #impact Season 5
Helpful resources to educate yourself on the Sustainable Development Goals
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