| dc.description.abstract | The international community recognizes the importance of partnerships and collaboration across multiple institutions and stakeholders to implement sustainable development goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a global framework of targets adopted by 193 countries in September 2015 within the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development to attain a sustainable future for all by 2030. Canada is committed to the implementation of SDGs and is currently ranked 21 on the SDG index. Canada’s National strategy of implementing the SDGs is “Moving Forward Together” by involving all levels of government, municipalities, civil society, the public and private sectors.
Youth and local organizations are recognized as important stakeholders in the implementation of SDGs. Youth are important actors for their implementation as well as the impacted. Young people are referenced in more than one-third of SDG targets. According to the United Nations, youth play vital roles as critical thinkers, change-makers, innovators, communicators & leaders in the implementation and success of the SDGs. Literature in the field of sustainable development has captured the capacity of youth to strongly contribute to various SDGs in various roles across different parts of the world .
Apart from youth, local organizations also play important roles in the implementation of the SDGs by promoting sustainable development at the local level. Some key areas include mobilizing resources, generating and interpreting specific local knowledge, local monitoring, forming community norms and common expectations. Strong local organizations are needed to mobilize people to utilize technologies for innovation that increase productivity and sustainability of resources. Locally centered sustainable development thus is recognized as a key developmental opportunity for the implementation of the SDGs by the United Nations.
Since research on the SDGs is relatively recent, specific literature on the collaboration between youth and local organizations working on sustainable development projects is lacking. Though collaboration is an extensively researched topic across multiple disciplines and situations, it has not been studied in the context of sustainable development, especially the intergenerational collaboration between adult organizational staff and the youth who are not employed by the collaborating organizations. The aim of this study is to explore the attributes of such intergenerational collaboration on projects aiming to have a positive impact on SDGs, their positive elements, challenges, and perceived success factors. The study is qualitative in nature and uses a grounded theory approach. Data are collected through semi-structured key informant interviews (KIIs) and analyzed using NVIVO software. This study contributes to both practitioner and academic literature on collaboration between youth and local organizations working on the SDGs. Theoretically, the study contributes to the broader literature on collaboration by exploring specific intergenerational collaboration attributes, challenges, and impacts on projects carried out by local organizations in collaboration with youth. Practically, the study contributes to the literature on sustainability development by exploring intergenerational collaboration between local organizations and youth who serve as external stakeholders of the former on projects achieving SDGs. The insights can be useful for designing more effective projects involving youth and local organizations collaborating on projects that intend to have a positive effect on sustainable development goals. | en |
