The SDGs and Volunteering

Promoting SDGs and Volunteering in NGOs in Okinaw

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs) were formally adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. As a new international development target for 2016 – 2030, the SDGs have been promoted throughout Japan since then. Okinawa Prefecture, where I live, has also been actively working to achieve the SDGs since 2019. The prefectural government established “Okinawa Prefecture SDGs Promotion Headquarters” to comprehensibly promote and integrate the SDGs into the prefectural policies. In this study, we investigated the correlation between volunteering and NGO activities in Okinawa during the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, where we have been developing a mechanism to raise awareness and to stimulate participations in volunteer activities. This paper then summarizes the research on the importance of volunteering to promote the SDGs and how we can create the volunteering opportunities and trainings.