UNDP, through its Africa Sustainable Finance Hub (ASFH) and UNDP Tanzania Country Office, conducted the first SDG Impact Standards Training for Enterprises as part of the Tanzania Growth Stage Impact Venture (GSIV) Programme on 4 – 6 April 2023 in Dar es Salaam.
The training was delivered by Amma Lartey, the CEO of Impact Investing Ghana, who is among the first Accredited Trainers for the SDG Impact Standards in Sub-Saharan Africa following the successful completion of the SDG Impact Standards Train-the-Trainer Course for the region in October 2022.
The SDG Impact Standards Training is part of UNDP’s value proposition to the finalists of the GSIV Tanzania programme, which was launched in July 2022. The GSIV is a highly competitive process that identifies enterprises that have developed at-scale products and services that contribute to the SDGs while achieving commercial success and are committed to embed impact considerations into decision-making, based on the sustainable investment priority areas identified by the Tanzania SDG Investor Map.
The SDG Impact Standards guides businesses and investors on their sustainable journey, so that both financial and non-financial value creation for the organization, people and planet are considered equally important in the decision-making process.
Through the training, GSIV finalists from Ensol (renewable energy), Kilimo Fresh (agriculture), Smartcore (education) and YES Group (agriculture) took steps to advance their sustainability journeys. It built on the enterprises’ existing impact measurement efforts, and focused on practical steps to work with their stakeholders and use impact data for decision-making.
Through the SDG Impact Standards, the enterprises seek to go beyond external reporting on sustainability to consider the SDGs as part of decisions made throughout their operations. Baraka Jeremiah Chijenga, the CEO of Kilimo Fresh noted, “I've learned that as a company, we're creating impact in everything we do, knowingly or unknowingly. So we have to take the initiative in our actions by making sure that in the impacts we're creating, we should minimize negative ones and maximize positive ones. To do this we need to understand key concepts, tools, and initiatives for measuring and managing these impacts, like the SDG Impact Standards – that's why this training was beneficial.”
Joan Manda, Senior SDG Investment Advisor, UNDP ASFH, commented, “Growth stage enterprises are the backbone of many African economies, and I am delighted that we have been able to work with such dynamic ventures as they embark on their sustainability journeys. The ASFH hopes to collaborate with Accredited Trainers to advance the uptake of the SDG Impact Standards across the continent at scale.”
Emmanuel Nnko, Programme Specialist - Head of Inclusive Growth Pillar, UNDP Tanzania, added, “We are thrilled to have hosted the inaugural SDG Impact Standards User Training with an Accredited Trainer from the continent. We consider a strong impact management approach as an essential pre-condition for the private sector’s investments and its potential contribution to Tanzania’s sustainable development progress. We will continue working with the GSIV finalists to turn the learnings into action and enhance their SDG contributions, including through opportunities like the recently conducted Tanzania SDG Investment Forum.”
The SDG Impact Standards and accompanying resources are freely available online. To support the adoption of the SDG Impact Standards, UNDP has developed education and training courses to strengthen sustainability and impact management capability and capacity across the markets.
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