A range of events is due to take place throughout Inishowen to mark Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Week this coming week.
Community partners such as Buncrana Tidy Towns Committee, The Exchange Inishowen, Artlink Fort Dunree and Donegal ETB, are all getting behind the sustainability drive with ChangeMakers Donegal.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Week, which takes place from 23 September to 1 October 2023, works towards ambitions such as ending poverty, sustainable economic development, protecting the environment, and gender equality.
To celebrate this week, ChangeMakers Donegal has organised a series of events throughout Inishowen which aims to support and celebrate a more sustainable way of living.
ChangeMakers, which is an Inishowen Development Partnership Initiative that is partnered with Donegal ETB, Self Help Africa, Trócaire, and Concern and funded by Irish Aid, also plan to promote their new Sustainability Passport throughout SDG Week.
Myra McAuliffe, Project Co-ordinator of ChangeMakers, explained that their new Sustainability Passport is a guide to a more sustainable life and is open to individuals, communities, businesses, and Social Enterprises.
“People shouldn’t feel they have to single-handedly solve the world’s problems,” said Myra.
“It’s only by raising awareness in the community and supportively bringing people together into groups that we can achieve real change.
“With our Sustainability Passport, for example, we break Sustainability down into five areas of life and make small suggestions as to what people, community groups, businesses, and social enterprises can do.”
Myra hopes that by raising awareness during weeks such as SDG they can reach more people and groups and encourage them to play a part in making the world a greener and fairer place to live.
The events include a Sustainable Communities Workshop in the Exchange, Buncrana on Thursday 28th September from 11am – 1pm and Documentary Screenings at the ChangeMakers, Concern Worldwide, Disappear Here Film Club at the Disappear Here Film Festival in the Ballyliffin Hotel on Sunday, October 1 at 2.45pm.
“Also, anyone living in Inishowen, who embraces sustainability in their lives is invited to come and have their photo taken for a photo exhibition by Artlink Fort Dunree and ChangeMakers at St Mary’s Hall, Buncrana on Saturday 30 September at 11am,” added Myra.
The ChangeMakers Project Co-ordinator explained that these events will be a chance to meet like-minded people and to discuss how to be more sustainable in our daily lives.
“Governments around the world signed up to achieving these goals by 2030 but that timeline is not looking realistic, unfortunately,” added Myra.
“For our part at ChangeMakers Donegal, we are hoping that by raising awareness through these events, we can collectively acknowledge that we all have a part to play and critically that we must work together to be sustainable and make change.”
To find out more about the full programme of events see www.changemakers.ie
