Nynke Hack: What are you currently doing at corsus?

Four questions for Nynke Hack, who has been working as a consultant in the field of sustainable municipalities at corsus since May 2021:

What are you currently working on at corsus?

Over the past few months, I have been working on a number of key municipal projects at corsus.
One of these projects is supporting municipalities in the creation of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) – municipal sustainability reports. Together with our project partners Hannah Heinevetter and Julia Frohneberg, we supported the creation of four VLRs.

Another project that I have implemented with my colleague Krishan Gairola is the development of the sustainability strategy for the Föhr-Amrum office. Here, too, we worked together with our long-standing cooperation partner Hannah Heinevetter. In autumn 2023, we drew up a municipal Status-Quo analysis of the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals on the two islands in the North Sea. This resulted in the development of the sustainability strategy.

What are you doing specifically?

A Voluntary Local Review is an international standard of the United Nations with which municipalities, cities and districts can report on the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The reporting provides a solid basis for trend-setting decisions on the way to a more sustainable future for local authorities, cities and districts. The effectiveness of measures, their progress and also successes can be reviewed on the basis of concrete data. As an objective and transparent analysis tool, the VLR can make the strengths and weaknesses of local authorities, cities and districts visible and measurable, thus helping them to implement their sustainability goals.

In preparing the VLR, we worked closely with the project managers from the cities of Geestland and Regensburg and the two districts of Oldenburg and Enzkreis. The aim here was to identify important strategies, projects and developments in the respective city or district and to present the city’s or district’s commitment to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In this project, I advised the two cities of Geestland and Regensburg.

Based on the inventory of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we developed a comprehensive sustainability strategy with five fields of action for the Föhr-Amrum office. Together with administrative staff, representatives of local politics and organised volunteers, we developed strategic and operational goals and measures for the five fields of action in several on-site meetings. The topics ranged from sustainable tourism to the expansion of public transport and healthcare on both islands. I am very excited to see how the strategy will be implemented.

Which topics or solutions from the project are of interest to others?

Through my work at corsus, it is important to me to make a contribution to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to get other people on board. That’s why it’s important to me to take experiences from municipal projects and develop them further in order to advance the transformation. At corsus, we are currently developing scenarios for the implementation of sustainability at municipal level. To do this, we are looking at the legal, social and socio-ecological framework conditions within which municipalities can act and further develop goals that have already been achieved. Our aim is to make it easier for local authorities to access sustainability and to show them where they need to work to achieve sustainable development.