The strategy will drive the development of the Institute for the next five years, ensuring that SEI delivers results across the three core aspects of its work: scientific research, policy engagement and capacity development. It also sets out goals for communication, SEI’s signature tools and information technology, management and finances, and how we learn as an organization and monitor our work. Each element feeds into and supports the others, and all underpin the outcomes we strive for.
SEI Executive Director Johan L. Kuylenstierna says, “Our strategy will renew our research agenda, sharpen how we work in partnership with decision-makers, and empower people to bring about a better future for all.”
Explore and download the SEI Strategy 2015–2019 at www.sei-strategy.org
Central to the new research agenda are the SEI Initiatives. SEI will invest core resources in a set of major research enterprises – currently eight in all – which will aggregate and integrate SEI’s research expertise to address critical issues in sustainable development. The initiatives will work across disciplines to provide knowledge on areas ranging from climate mitigation to sustainable sanitation.
SEI Research Director Måns Nilsson says, “These initiatives will build on SEI’s tradition of innovation and interdisciplinarity in pursuit of relevant knowledge and evidence-based, workable solutions to key issues in sustainable development.”
The goals also focus on redefining SEI’s partnerships with decision-makers.
“Another important plank of our strategy is to work on integrating environmental issues into mainstream social and economic decision-making, corporate strategies, and physical planning. This effort is at the heart of achieving sustainable development, but this integration remains far too rare,” says Nilsson.
SEI formally presented the strategy to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), whose financial support underpins the new SEI Initiatives and other key aspects of the strategy.
Sida Director General Charlotte Petri Gornitzka says, “SEI’s new strategy will place Sweden at the forefront of efforts to find solutions for interconnected challenges facing the environment and development. By combining robust scientific research with effective decision support, SEI’s work helps Sida to deliver its mission to reduce poverty in the world.”
Kuylenstierna says, “Sida has been a close and supportive partner for SEI. Our goals would not be possible without the financial and substantive support in developing the capacity and impact of the institute.”
The strategy is based on thorough consultations with the SEI staff, Board, and Scientific Advisory Council, and responds to in-depth feedback from SEI’s network of partners across the world in research, policy, civil society, and the private sector.
The goals guide a comprehensive results-based framework that sets out measurable targets for achieving them. This year SEI will establish a baseline for these targets, and each year up to 2019 will set a new benchmark for progress.
