NEW PAPER OUT! Participatory pathways to the SDGs

Inviting divergent perspectives through a cross-scale systems approach

Hot Off The Press! XPaths researchers David Collste, Ana Paula Aguiar, and Zuzana Harmáčková, along with other experts, recently published a scientific paper key to the XPaths project. Their innovative research introduces a novel participatory approach, called the Three Horizons for the Sustainable Development Goals (3H4SDG), which was developed to facilitate the engagement with a wide range of stakeholders in jointly envisioning and exploring sustainable futures.

The paper shows how important it is to include diverse voices and contrasting perspectives when shaping sustainable futures. In this paper, the 3H4SDG approach is contextualized and discussed with a focus on the method and how it is being carried out with participants in its piloting during the 2nd African Dialogue on The World in 2050 (TWI2050) which was held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2018.

The insights presented in the paper influenced the practical research process undertaken by the XPaths project. The Xpaths team adopted the 3H4SDG approach to dive deeper into the complex relationships surrounding sustainability challenges across scales in the context of drylands. Inspired by the lessons learnt from this research, the XPaths project co-creates action plans that meet local needs and align with global goals such as the SDGs - but add systems thinking tools by using participatory modeling.

Keep an eye on our website for more updates as we embark on this exciting adventure towards crafting sustainable futures in drylands!