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Bringing universities, municipalities, and community organizations together to work collectively on the Sustainable Development Goals and create a more prosperous and sustainable future.

Assessing progress and future planning: University-Municipal teams collaborate to measure progress towards the SDGs

Collective Impact: Creating a collaborative ecosystem among community actors to build sustainable cities

Data localization: Develop context-specific indicators to measure change at the local level

News

Colourful boxes and lines making a drawing of a brain

Last week we hosted our webinar “AI and the SDGs: Promise, Challenge, and Community Impact.” We invited three fantastic speakers to share their insights on how artificial intelligence (AI) needs to be developed to keep social good and advancing community goals as a top priority.

As education, health services, and employment are increasingly integrating AI systems, unequal digital access will translate into unequal access to basic life opportunities. The promise of AI is very real, but without intentional investments, the perils threaten our progress every step along the way.

AI and the sustainable development goals: promise, challenge and community impact. Headshops of speakers

From advancing health and education to strengthening climate resilience and food security, AI holds real promise for accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. But that promise comes with hard questions about equity, energy use, data governance, and who ultimately benefits. Join us for a webinar on September 23 for a conversation on the technical realities of how AI systems are built and how they can be put to work to advance community goals here in Canada and beyond.

In April, we launched a Community of Practice on Collective Impact and the Sustainable Development Goals which provides an opportunity for members to come together regularly to learn new skills for multisector collaboration and to strengthen networks with changemakers across the country.

When we talk about “collaboration”, it is often about sharing information, networking, and working together on specific projects or activities. Collective Impact offers an enhanced approach that focuses on building intentional, integrated coordination between partners by aligning work, building long-term relationships, and sharing resources towards long-term change.

This past spring, we travelled to our five partner communities across Canada — Halifax (NS), Kingston (ON), Kitchener (ON), the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (BC), and Yorkton (SK) to connect with community members and municipal leaders on their work with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In each community we wanted to understand if people were aware of the SDGs, how they were being used, and if they were generally considered useful.

What a week it was at the United Nations for our Local Futures team! We’re home from the 2026 High Level Political Forum, energized by the effort and momentum to advance the SDGs all around the world.

With less than four years to go in the SDGs mandate, there was a strong message throughout HLPF that we must focus on the implementation of the SDGs.

We are excited to be joining the Canadian delegation to the United Nations next week for the annual global SDGs check-in conference, the High Level Political Forum (HLPF).

With time running short for the SDGs agenda (ending in 2030), it’s clear the world still has a long way to go. No country in the world is on track to achieve them and progress has been far too slow. Yet there is a lot to remain hopeful for.