The IDG Water Innovation Project is a showcase how the integration of the IDG’s into the SDG Solution Design became transparent at COP 29 and indicated that the UGIH (Massamba Thioye on Summit stage 2024) accepted the IDG’s to become an established SDG solution contributor for inner transformation to achieve outer change.

Country: Germany
IDG HUB: Cologne/ Bonn
Link to website: https://idgcolombiacentre.com/
Link to presentation:

In June 2024 it has been clear to us that in order to be recognized within the UN as possible solution provider you need a real business case to showcase where IDG’s can play a critical role in achieving a climate change challenge that finally could be later presented at COP. When participating the UNFCCC “Sixth Systemic Innovation Workshop in Bonn June 11th 2024”, it became transparent that many of the shared worldwide City Challenges had to do with Water, like floods, droughts, dirk water issues etc.

So we agreed with Massamba Thioye UNFFF – UGIH to target an awareness Project around the SDG 6 “WATER” under the name “IDG Water Innovation Project”. We formed a team including Massamba that looks at this challenge from different angles and designed a Concept Note that we could showcased later the year at COP 29. We got Partners involved with different backgrounds that did help with the needed expertise.

The “IDG WATER Innovation Workshop” guided by Massamba Thioye at Summit 2024, has helped us to gain a worldwide Network of Water challenge Partners and like minded people so we founded “The IDG Water Network”, which shares the mission, to see the IDG’s in a supportive role for a mindset shifts to achieve our Vision “to become a Water valuing society’.

Finally we presented our Project Concept online at COP29 end of 2024, we joined the International Transboundary Water Cooperation Event at the University in Bonn in April 2025 with guests from arround the world including representatives of the German Government and presented at the UNFCCC 13th Systemic Innovation Workshop in Bonn in June 2025 our current project status. Our learning, become concrete, integrate the IDG in a concrete SDG challenge and showcase the inner capacity changing impact.

In what way does your project relate to the Summit theme “Bridging Polarities”.

Within our IDG Hub day todays work, when living our mission to spread the word and integrate IDG’s into Society, we still come quite often across people, that refuse the connection between floods, and droughts, seen as results of the climate change and that it’s impacted by earth warming. The IDG’s are supporting us on this way overcoming the polarities of “right or wrong” by bringing in skills like “complexity awareness” “perspective thinking” ,“empathy and compassion” and “intercultural competences” just to name a few.