A webinar entitled “From Activism and Science to Political Change” took place last November aiming to help bridge the gap between knowledge, policy, action and ultimately, social change. Experts with rich backgrounds including on civil society activism, policy-science interface and transdisciplinary research joined the webinar as interlocutors to share insights from their experiences in grappling with the complexity of bringing about social change.

The webinar included interventions on the following topics:

• Transdisciplinary Research: Perils and Possibilities for (Pr)Academics (Hali Healy)
• Getting in exchange with policy makers–bridging the gap between policy makers and science (Céline Charveriat)
• Pros and Cons for CSO to be engaged with scientific communities (Leida Rijnhout)

The participants explored experiences in fruitful collaboration among science – civil society / NGO – policy and discussed how the Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production Knowledge-Action Network (SSCP KAN) can inspire and enable more active interaction.

The webinar was organized by the Working Group on the Political Economy of Sustainable Consumption and Production, of the SSCP KAN. This was the first webinar in a series of two and a follow-up meeting is planned to discuss how researchers and NGOs can plan collaborative activities.

Speakers:

Leida Rijnhout

Cultural Anthropologist, more than 30 years active in civil society activism and advocacy work, on national, European and international level. She founded SDG Watch Europe, an alliance of 100+ NGOs, to coordinate cross-sectoral collaboration to improve advocacy for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development at EU level. She facilitates civil society groups to actively engage with UN processes (New York, Nairobi) and support NGOs in developing their long term strategies.

Celine Charveriat

Executive Director, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). She has more than 20 years of experience in sustainable development recently with a focus on the domestic implementation of SDGs in Europe. She Founded the Think2030 platform and the Think Sustainable Europe network. Céline worked for 10 years at Oxfam International, where she conducted campaigns on inequality, climate change, gender and humanitarian crises and conflict. Céline is a member of the European Commission’s high-level expert group ESIR and of the Assembly of the Soil Health and Food Horizon Europe mission. She was also the Chair of the Board of the Climate Action Network Europe until 2019, where she conducted multiple stakeholder consultations and consensus-building exercises within civil society.

Hali Healy

Senior Lecturer, Department  of Anthropology and Development Studies., University of Johannesburg. Hali is a “pracademic” with experience in both civil society and academic realms. Currently her research is focused on post-colonial environmental justice in South Africa. She also has over 10 years experience in writing, implementing and evaluating co-operative research proposals involving CSOs and social sustainability scientists.

You can download the webinar program from here.