The in action for a better world initiative is a holistic approach to promote the 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals within Greek society, aspiring for the active participation of responsible organisations and active citizens, and the adoption of practices that improve the quality of our life.
The 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals address the global challenges we face in our efforts to build a better world, free from poverty, hunger and inequalities; a world with decent work and quality education, without the threat of climate change; a world which, through the principles of sustainable development, will not only care for the needs of this generation, but of future generations as well.
The participation and coordinated efforts of everyone are required to fulfil the vision represented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals!
The in action initiative was distinguished at the 2019 European Sustainability Awards as the best programme of non-profit organisation in Europe for disseminating and raising awareness for the Global Sustainable Development Goals. This encouraged all stakeholders to continue this innovative programme.
Being certain that the in action initiative is aligned with our national and personal goals as responsible organisations and active citizens, we invite you to take action and assist in developing it further.
All of us together – organisations, teachers, students, families and local communities – should start taking action on a personal and collective level for issues that concern us, to build a better world for ourselves and our children!
It focuses on:
- raising awareness and sensitizing all of us – responsible organizations and active citizens of today- in adopting practices that improve the quality of our life.
- educating the student community, aiming to shape the active citizens of tomorrow; the ones who will take action to change our planet by 2030.
- raising awareness and mobilizing local communities for developing cooperation and intervention actions on a local level, with a view to addressing local challenges.
The in action for a better world initiative consists of 3 parts:
- The educational addressed to primary schools and high schools, such as the introductory material for the Goals -the World’s Largest Lesson, the official UN educational programme for the Goals – enriched with the Greek SDGs Library as well as experiential workshops and digital educational platforms to support the teaching material.
Bravo Schools, a nationwide school competition that showcases the best educational initiatives for the 17 Global Goals, which also acts as a wider mechanism for raising awareness within Greek society. As part of the competition, we urge all the schools across Greece to unite their voices, actions and proposals for a better world.
- the awareness programme for families and active citizens with suggestions for responsible practices that can be adopted in our everyday lives so that we all become
- the local cooperation and action programme for local governments and civil society that aims to get the local communities to actively participate in promoting the Global Goals, by developing local festivals in action for a better world and forming the respective in action SDGs School & Cities Clubs.
The in action initiative is powered by QualityNet Foundation in partnership with international and european bodies, such as Project Everyone, Unicef, Unesco, the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) and the European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN).
On a national level, it has been approved by the Institute of Educational Policy of the Greek Ministry of Education and is supported by organisations that wish to be linked to the Global Goals and to contribute to creating the Greek SDGs Library and developing local actions through the festivals in action for a better world.
The success of its implementation is based upon:
- the institutional bodies of our country that, with their guidelines, we have been able to combine the international experience with the national priorities in the adoption and adaptation of the Global Goals to the Greek reality.
- the educational community, with its positive acceptance with which it embraced all stages of the program and its contribution with teaching materials that can be used as best practices at national and international level.
- the student community, with its creative approaches and suggestions for a better world, gives us inspiration and direction for the younger generation issues of interest.
- the responsible organizations, associated with the Global Sustainable Development Goals and through their funding the educational / informational / audiovisual materials were adopted in the Greek language and also the Greek SDGs Library were developed, connecting the global goals to the Greek reality. They also support the promotion of the digital education through the digital equipment awards offered at Bravo Schools competition.
During its first year of operation, the in action initiative was backed by the National Bank of Greece, HYGEIA Group, the Hellenic Banking Institute and ElvalHalcor.
The results of the pilot implementation of the programme (2018) have been impressive. A total of 650 schools with 100,000 students participated in the educational process, while 32,000 students from 202 schools totalling 545 participations actively embraced the Bravo Schools initiative and submitted their own proposals for a better world. On a national level, schools from 13 regions, 43 prefectures and 109 municipalities participated in the establishment of the first in action SDGs Schools & Cities Club. Additionally, the local community was mobilised, resulting in the participation of 8,420 active citizens and the awareness of a total of 240.000 people.
You can see the bravo schools 2018 results here.
1
Inform and educate the
educational
community
to shape the
Active Citizens of Tomorrow,
who will take action
for the great change
on our planet by 2030
2
Waking up and activating the
family &
the local
community
to develop
local interventions
that are linked to
local priorities
1 The information and
sensitization
all of us
in adopting
practices that contribute to
improve the quality of life.
2 The Education
of school
community,
the active
citizens of tomorrow who
will change the world.
3 The awakening &
activation
of the local community
for developing actions of
cooperation and intervention
to local challenges.