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SDG 8: Top Tips for delivering green employment and economic growth

As seen in Business Green

25 June 2019

A farmer watering her field
It is also one of the most important for businesses to address, given their central role in both job creation and sustainable economic development.
Find your focus

 

As a result, argues Louise Ayling, director of stakeholder engagement at corporate communications agency Radley Yeldar, "it's important to work out where you should focus within SDG 8 - where are your biggest impacts and where can you can have most influence?"

 

Be realistic... but ambitious

 

Being realistic does not mean shirking the challenge presented by SDG8, Ayling says. "Think big," she advises. "The issues within SDG 8 are huge, and can't be tackled with small incremental improvements, or tweaks to business-as-usual. Tackling issues like child labour and modern slavery often requires radical thinking and business transformation, as well as changing mindsets and behaviours. Be prepared to go back to the drawing board, to think of new ways of working, and to flip challenges on their head."

 

Measure your impact - properly

 

"[You should] aim to measure the outcomes or impact of your efforts. [Says Ayling]. Sticking with the child labour example, an outcome metric might measure the number of children removed from child labour and enrolled in school."

This is an extract from an article which originally appeared in Business Green. To read it in full, please click here.