Once your project is up and running, and you are familiar with all the SDGs and have a decent idea of where in the Agenda your project is situated, it may be a good idea to zoom out and get an overview of the impact not just on your key SDGs, but on all. The most important aspect is to identify if your work negatively impacts any of the other SDGs.
ICLD highly suggests you sit down in the first or second year of the project and asses how your work contributes to the SDGs.
The SDG Impact Assessment Tool is a pedagogic tool to take you through all the SDGs and let you reflect on how your project impacts each one. The purpose is to identify areas where positive impact can be strengthened and negative impact reduced.
How will the SDG impact assessment help your ICLD project? It will allow you to think creatively about your work – a project on waste management, for instance, can contribute positively to environment and working conditions, but also less expected goals such as gender equality depending on the design. You might also find out that it affects a goal negatively, for instance your waste management project might actually reduce equality of marginalized communities are left outside the project.
This video explains how to use the tool in five steps.
The assessment will probe you to answer the following questions:
How can we strengthen the positive impacts of our project?
How can we reduce the negative consequences of our project?
How can we address the knowledge gaps we have?
This video guides you through the process.
The tool requires you to set up an account, and will take around 3 hours to complete. The team discussions is likely the most rewarding part. You can explore it briefly before moving on to the next section, and if relevant, come back to it and make a proper assessment once your project is up and running.