As an organization, we can be serious but…we also love to have a good time.
When we heard about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) hangout organized by Connected Development (CODE) to commemorate the Global Week to #Act4SDGs, we were excited. Hangout equals fun, right?
CODE was launched in 2012 to improve public governance in Nigeria and across Africa by empowering marginalized communities to demand high levels of accountability and transparency from the government. Through its Follow The Money (FTM) Initiative, CODE enables citizens to demand better from their government and directly influences government policy to ensure public funds work for public good.
Shades of Us has followed the activities and been an ardent fan of CODE for years and we were excited to be part of the celebration of their decade of impact in mobilizing communities to #FlipTheSwitch for the SDGs. On September 17, 2022, we donned our excitement caps and attended the SDG hangout.
The hangout was fun filled and we got to meet various individuals and learned of organizations working on similar SDGs projects as we do: no poverty; zero hunger; good health and wellbeing; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; decent work and economic growth; reduced inequalities; climate change; peace, justice and strong institutions; and being open to partnerships for the goals.
One of the key highlights was seeing children explain the SDGs and honestly, quite better than many adults. Children are not just the future of the SDGs…or any form of development: they are the present. We must be deliberate in including children, adolescents and young people to meaningfully contribute to the global goals and envision a better community, nation, continent and the world at large.
We were especially excited to just unwind, dance, eat and enjoy the ambience of activists and advocates taking a breather. Imagine our surprise when the Nigeria Idol star, Francis was called to the podium. He serenaded us with two new songs and suffice to say, many women wanted to be married at that moment.
When the event was over, we were ecstatic to get back to work on the SDGs. There is, after all, a lot of things to achieve as we work towards 2030.
Check out more pictures here.
How did you commemorate the Global Week to #Act4SDGs?
