About

Why Global Goals Jam?

The challenges before us are so complex that no single discipline, mindset, or expertise will be able to solve them. To address social challenges globally, we need to collaborate and learn from local ideas that are being developed across the globe.

To collaborate, we need to engage in a way that goes beyond talking, towards making and creating, in a space for people from all backgrounds who bring in their local knowledge, ensuring a bottom-up, grassroots approach.

This is why we started the Jam: a 2-day event to engage makers and designers to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals by creating short-term interventions with long-term impact. More than an event, it is a network of cities and organisations that are excited to engage their local communities to create real impact for the Global Goals.

Local organisers – ranging from universities and design labs to NGOs or consultancies – can apply to host a Jam. Together with partners from the local industry they co-design challenges related to one or more of the selected global themes. We provide them with a toolkit and online training to guide the design process.

A brief history of growth and impact

The Global Goals Jam was founded by Marco van Hout and Gijs Gootjes of Digital Society School (DSS), Boaz Paldi, Simon van Woerden and Hana Omar of UNDP and has been further developed and coordinated by Anneke van Woerden (DSS). In the first edition in 2016, 17 cities participated, in 2017 45 cities, in 2018 75 cities, in 2019 over 85 cities, in 2020 (due to COVID19) 35 and in 2021 we grew back to around 60 cities. Thousands of change makers have used our methodology and are now part of this growing learning community around the SDGs, ready to design 2030 now.

What does a Jam look like?

2 days in the weekend before Climate Week in September
local challenges related to one of the Global Goals, co-created with the local community and industry
multidisciplinary teams of creatives, researchers and sustainability experts
short design sprints (4 sprints divided over 2 days)
Global Goals Jamkit with methods and tools to guide the design process
Process and results are shared so that the community can build upon each other’s work

Interested in organising a Jam?

For Organisers

Design Waste

Vital insights from the design process are not documented, shared, found and re-used, and therefore go to waste.

We desperately need a new, more sustainable mindset to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

We believe in creating a common language, using a shared process of design methods, and building upon each other’s work. And we have to dare to do it together: governments, educators and businesses.