Working on the UNs Sustainable Development Goals in and out of Saxion

In this interview we chatted with Daria Grekova, a second year International Human Resource Management student who took part in the 2022 challenge, and heard all about her experiences with this project!

Hi Daria, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hi, my name is Daria, I am 19 years old and I come from Russia! I have been living in the Netherlands for 2 years and I have just completed my second year of International Human Resource Management. I’m also taking the Honours Programme Innovation and Business Creation. Besides this, I’ve also been working as a student assistant at the Saxion Green Office since January. My main responsibilities are to promote sustainability and to make sure that the students are aware of the sustainable development goals. I’m also working on some behind the scenes projects to make the Saxion experience more sustainable for everyone!

Sounds good! What can you tell us about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Challenge?

The SDG Challenge is a three month challenge with the mission of uniting young students with companies from diverse sectors to work on sustainable development goals in their organisations. This year, we had ten organisations with various challenges and therefore 10 teams were created. A lot of people assume that the goals of the SDG challenge are fully related to the environment but this is not the case, for example inequality is part of it too!

To be part of this SDG challenge, I submitted my CV and a motivation letter. I worked together with 5 other students, at the company Hess International. Hess International is a European leader in the bulk handling of both liquid and dry products. The problem they had was related to gender inequality in the company, they had an imbalance in this. With this information, our group helped them find a solution.

What was the timeline of the challenge?

To kick-off, we had an online meeting with company representatives and the other students involved. In this meeting we formed a working relationship and established the problem they were facing and also what they wanted to achieve. A few months later, we had the chance to visit the company itself and work on the problem from there, as a group. This is called Sprint Day. We learned why the problem was a problem, what the company had already tried and what didn’t work. This provided us with the necessary information to develop our ideas. We got to see the actual terminals in Amsterdam which was mind-blowing. As a wrap-up, in April we had the SDG final in Rotterdam. Here we gave a short 2 minute presentation followed by questions, which I did with my colleague on behalf of our team. It was a good networking and learning experience for everyone involved. There were two prizes up for grabs on the day; the jury prize and the audience prize. My team was fortunate enough to take the audience prize!

Sounds like a great experience! What motivated you to get involved?

Firstly, my involvement in the Green Office shows the root of my motivation. Before even applying to be involved with this part of Saxion, I already had a major interest in sustainability. There was not much focus on sustainability when I was at school in Russia, and I didn’t even hear about the project itself until I came across it in summer school in Lithuania. But when I came to Saxion I noticed that people seemed to care a lot more about sustainability in general. While there was more talk about the topic, there did not seem to be much action around it, which is why I applied for the SDG Challenge. Also, with a Human Resource background, I am able to pair the knowledge about SDG and sustainability itself with my management background and use this to help companies! The challenge is also a good way to get thrown out of my comfort zone by working with strangers (and grown-ups!).

Those sound like great reasons! What was the most enjoyable part of the challenge?

I would say that the most enjoyable part was the Sprint Day. It was super cool to actually go to this terminal and company to see how the processes work and how the people work. I was able to ask all the questions I had, to both workers and management.  And it was also lovely that they were really eager to answer. I also noticed that everyone seemed really happy to support us and encourages us in developing solutions to the problem, and they see us as equals rather than having a student-client hierarchy which is present at some places.

The final day in Rotterdam was also super cool. I really felt like it was somewhere I belonged and that it was a real right-time-right-place moment. We were all there as like-minded individuals working with the Sustainable Development Goals. The prize and the winners really took a back seat when you consider that 10 teams worked with ten different companies to make all these organisations a little bit better. The news of our solution actually being implemented came on the same day too, which really made us feel that we had made a difference.

Daria also told us that Saxion students who participated in the challenge were awarded a certificate from the Green Office as a part of the Green Ambassador Programme. They were nominated as Green Performers and received their certificates in May to acknowledge the work the students did for a more sustainable future. If you would like to know more about the work of the Green Office or would like to get involved, make sure you check out the website here.