Preparing for Italy’s second Sustainable Development Festival

To help engage citizens and organisations for the 2030 Agenda, Italy’s Alliance for Sustainable Development launched an annual nation-wide Sustainable Development Festival in 2017. This year’s second edition will take place from 22 May to 7 June 2018.

Last year’s Festival comprised 221 events in both big cities and small towns, and included large conferences, smaller workshops, flash mobs, games and shows. The events attracted high-level officials, including the Prime Minister of Italy, but also involved hundreds of young women and men, thanks in particular to the support of the Network of Universities for Sustainable Development.

The “Youth in Action for the Sustainable Development Goals” competition awarded 18 projects from both Italian and foreign universities. The Alliance also used contests to engage around 200 schools in a reflection on the 2030 Agenda, helping bring the SDGs into classrooms.

This year, the Festival’s organisers hope to reach even more people and plan to hold twice as many events. To achieve this goal, they have forged new partnerships with media organisations, including national newspaper “La Repubblica”.

In its Voluntary National Review on the National Sustainable Development Strategy of 2017, the Government of Italy highlights the need to promote the principles and objectives of sustainable development “in the widest and most accessible manner” (see page 95).

According to 2017 Eurobarometer survey (see page 78), 39% of Italians claim to have heard about the SDGs, placing Italy just below the 41% EU average. 11% of Italians say they know what the SDGs are, up from 9% in 2016.