The Observatory of Sustainable and Healthy Territories of Bocaina (OTSS, acronym in portuguese), a partnership between Fiocruz and the Traditional Communities Forum (FCT, acronym in portuguese), was appointed as one of the 10 most innovative initiatives for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation in Brazil by 2021. The selection was announced by the Civil Society Working Group for Agenda 2030 (WG 2030 Agenda) and the Institute for Democracy and Sustainability (IDS Brasil).

The selection received 74 proposals via public call. "This award shows the correctness of the OTSS (acronym, in portuguese) territorial governance strategy and the effectiveness of the solutions that have been developed for the SDGs implementation. Besides, this recognition gives visibility to the contribution that traditional knowledge brings to the 2030 Agenda implementation and to the sustainable and healthy territories construction", points out Edmundo Gallo, general coordinator of OTSS (acronym in portuguese and full researcher at Fiocruz. 

The 10 selected solutions will be participating in the 3rd Seminar for Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development, scheduled or June this year, and will be part of a publication so they get to be known by potential supporters and investors. They will also be provided with qualified mentorship on strategic planning, mapping of actors, impact indicators, among other topics of interest for good business models. The action is supported by the Prosas platform and financed by the European Union.

Enrollment was open for programs, projects or technologies developed by civil society organizations or teaching and research institutions, with active CNPJ (Corporate Taxpayer Identification Number), with high potential of impact and in search of supporters to increase their reach. The solution must be implemented and emphasize innovation in technology, management and/or relations with interested parties, in addition to generating positive socio-environmental impact that can contribute to the implementation of the SDGs towards 2030.

Get to know the ten initiatives selected by the 2030 Agenda Work Group.

2030 Agenda at Fiocruz 

During Rio+20, the member-countries of the United Nations (UN) signed a term of commitment called the 2030 Agenda. This agenda contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that consist of targets and actions to be reached by all the countries by the year 2030.

In 2017, Fiocruz's presidency established the “Fiocruz Strategy for the 2030 Agenda”. The strategy incorporates the United Nations document into Fiocruz's strategic development and work program in the medium and long term, with an understanding that builds on the social determination of health and related topics, social science studies, the ecology of knowledge and critical theory of innovation and development models.

Among other actions, Fiocruz and the Traditional Communities Forum (FCT, acronym in portuguese) have chosen Serra da Bocaina as a laboratory to start a four-year monitoring of the UN's 2030 Agenda implementation in the traditional peoples and communities context. The region was chosen due to the fact that the OTSS (acronym in portuguese) already acts in a way to give a new meaning to the 2030 Agenda indicators and create territorialized strategies for the SDGs evaluation and monitoring, taking into account the traditional communities specificities.

"The Bocaina Project's connection with the 2030 Agenda took on an extraordinary dimension with the decision to carry out the SDGs monitoring in this territory. It is something unprecedented, which emerges as one of the most innovative experiences in social technologies related to the 2030 Agenda", says Paulo Gadelha, former Fiocruz president and coordinator of Fiocruz Strategy for the 2030 Agenda.

To access the Fiocruz Strategy for the 2030 Agenda, click here.

Learn more about OTSS/Fiocruz.

Source: OTSS/Fiocruz.