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Writer's pictureDr Takeshi Takama (CEO)

[vision] Updating the Five Steps to achieve SDGs

Tomorrow will be my last SDGs class at Clark Memorial High School. As a result of the work I have been doing over the last few months, I have slightly updated the Five Steps to achieving our SDGs vision.





It is generally thought that moving into the future means predicting the future and doing business to meet it, but the SDGs require the opposite - backcasting. The SDGs are a great but must-have future, so we need a process of creating the future, not predicting it. There are five steps to achieving this. The first step is to imagine (vision) the future we want to achieve the SDGs. The first step is to think about what experiences have led you to think of the direction you want to take. Just in the direction or aspect of the future is enough and not necessary to make it concrete. The second step is to think about the first target you want to achieve in the direction of your vision. As this is the first target, it should be small and at a level you feel you can achieve. You don't need to think beyond the first target because that first experience can help you think about what you can improve next and may even change the direction of your vision. The third step is to understand the current situation, which will take us towards that vision. We then consider the factors and people that support us and the environment that prevents us from moving towards our vision. The fourth step is to identify the problem that lies between the second and third steps because the current situation is not achieving the objective. The fifth step is to decide on and implement a plan to solve the problem. Again, it is important not to think about big solutions but to think about what can be done first.

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If you have a clear vision with a target level and deadline, yes you can identify a problem as a gap between vision and now. In many cases, vision is quite abstract, so that we compare a shorter and clearer target.

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cynthiaismail
cynthiaismail
Feb 22, 2021

Yeah, at the beginning I thought I should go to log-framework but I think the framework could not describe the dynamics of how we can come to a solution (it seems linear approach), unlike the framework you offer, we are suggested to revisit again the target --> I like this idea. I also agree with we can't propose a solution without understanding the problem. So I thought, after defining our solution, we can move towards the vision by defining the target (like the pic). But, I guess putting target after visioning still makes sense. Thanks, Tak!


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By definition, backcasting do not look at the current status, but in reality, your decision is influenced by the current status. For the government plan, it will e good to look at log framework. It is implemented by international agencies, the project must have "impact and outcomes" which works s a vision of the project. To understand the current status will be your research ;-). The solution is the process to close the gap between the target and the current status, i.e. problem. So, you can not find a solution before finding the problem. Similary, you cannot find the problem before understanding the current status.

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cynthiaismail
cynthiaismail
Feb 21, 2021

As discussion, I'm thinking to put identifying current situation as step 2 after visioning then we identify the gap (problem) before finding solution and target. As I was preparing the materials about energy in Bali, it's a bit challenging to propose a solution/target without understanding the current situation. What do you think?

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