SDG 17: The Goal You Can’t See, But Can’t Succeed Without
Everyone talks about clean water, climate action, quality education. But without Partnerships for the Goals, they stay siloed and do not automatically connect to each other to serve communities needs holistically. SDG 17 is the unseen engine that turns good intentions into large-scale impact. Credit is shared—it’s about collective success, not individual recognition. And that’s precisely why it’s the most powerful goal of all. The most lasting change happens when we pool our resources, skills, and trust to create something bigger than ourselves.
If we all stick to our own missions, who will step up as the architect of the partnerships needed in a specific geographic area that make it all possible?
SDG 17 often overlooked because it’s not a goal you can photograph. It doesn’t build a school or plant a tree on its own. Instead, it’s the engine that makes all those things possible—by bringing us together.
Real change for better in sustainable ways in a broader way and entire regions takes time. Building trust and collaboration is a long-term process.
The results aren’t quick. You can’t measure systemic change in a single report.
SCN Kenya invests in an innovative model that puts SDG 17 and regional progress at its core.
SCN Kenya brings SDG 17 to life by connecting local NGOs, community leaders, companies, and institutions to co-create regional ecosystems. Simply, because we are convinced that we need to act differently if we want a different impact!
This means:
✅ Co-creation over competition – members share tools, knowledge, and networks.
✅ Local ownership – solutions are rooted in the communities they serve.
✅ Holistic impact – projects link health, education, livelihoods, and environment.
From farmer training tied to water management, from health to better mobility to empower local markets, from digital skills for the most vulnerable to youth employment linked with environmental action — SCN Kenya proves partnerships are the engine of change.
1. Co-creating Regional Ecosystems
🛠SCN goes beyond project implementation and co-develops entire regions where solutions interlink to serve people.
SCN brings together health, education, livelihoods, water, and mental wellbeing under one community activation model. Example: In Bungoma County (Tongaren), farming, food security, women’s empowerment, and local governance are linked in one local system supported by 3 NGOs, farmer cooperatives, and public partners.
2. Embedding Collaboration as a Measurable KPI
🔗 SCN doesn’t just talk about collaboration—it tracks and improves it.
SCN uses a System Index Tool to assess and strengthen collaboration among NGOs, communities, and external stakeholders. Each partner reports not only outputs but how well they collaborated, how knowledge was shared, and how systems were influenced. Collaboration is treated as a core performance metric, not a soft value.
3. Local Ownership + Global Learning
🌍 Empowerment is local—but enriched through international learning exchanges.
Kenyan NGOs lead all implementation and community engagement. SCN provides structured peer exchange with NGOs and experts in India and Germany, supporting south-south and global-local learning. Example: Kenyan youth projects draw lessons from India’s self-help group models and adapt them to urban slums in Nairobi.
4. Integrated Community Activation Zones
🌱 Safe housing, mental health, water, and skills in one connected system.
SCN supports “activation zones” where multiple NGOs work together to offer layered services—from safe houses for teen mothers to food forests, climate education, and mental health access. Example: The VICCO Knowledge Hub in Nairobi’s Mukuru slums links a community shelter for girls, mental health counseling, and vocational skills training—managed by local actors with SCN facilitation.
5. Open, Shared Infrastructure for All Partners
🧩 SCN builds tools and processes that all partners benefit from equally.
Includes training modules on systems thinking, monitoring templates, community needs assessments, and shared back-end tools. SCN is not a funder or top-down controller, but an enabler of cooperation, trust-building, and shared tools.
6. Focus on Market-Enabled Empowerment
💼 Sustainability includes market readiness.
SCN strengthens basic economic structures like local cooperatives, social enterprises, and producer networks to ensure continuity and income generation. Example: In farming regions, SCN supports value chain development, not just technical training—ensuring access to buyers, processing tools, and shared profits.
7. Learning by Doing & Sharing What Works
Avoid idea killers. Start small, grow big, but start!
SCN documents what works, shares openly across networks, and adapts quickly. Partners engage in joint reflection, “fail forward” debriefs, and peer coaching formats. Idea killers to us are sentences such as “it will never work“, „it is against what others do” and “ there is no money for that”. We believe that if we do what others did, we just get what other got. If we want to achieve more, we need to try.
SCN Kenya 