About Spark Change

In the Autumn of 2017 The Wheel, Ireland’s association of community and voluntary organisations was part of an open call to the Environmental Protection Agency ‘EPA Research – 2017 UN Sustainable Development Goals Call’.

The Wheel, in partnership with Trinity College Dublin, were successful in applying for a project titled “Piloting innovative approaches in sustainable communities towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Ireland”. It was one of 3 projects funded during the open call and the only one that focussed specifically on communities.

The research fellow from TCD working with The Wheel on this project is Dr Vincent Carragher. The project hopes to build on Dr Carragher’s previous work in this space, EPA report 238, “Factors that Drive the Sustainable Behaviour and Transition of Communities, Groups and Individuals”[1]

In January 2019, programme coordinators issued a call to community and voluntary organisations across Ireland to take up the Spark Change Challenge. Those who took part linked their work to relevant SDGs and tracked their progress through a series of surveys. In return, they were offered mentorship, information and access to The Wheel’s Sustainable Communities Toolkit. Throughout the challenge, 55 success stories were documented on www.sparkchange.ie

Among those who completed the challenge, impacts were recorded in the SDGs related to global human welfare, rights, solidarity and environment. The biggest impact was recorded in SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 4 (Quality Education), 11(Sustainable Cities and Communities), 14 (Life below Water) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Eighteen of the 39 projects that completed the challenge were nominated for the Spark Change Awards, which took place a Dublin Castle on 18 October 2019. A panel of independent judges chose a winner in each of the six categories.

In 2021, EPA published a research report based on the project, Piloting Innovative Approaches in Sustainable Communities Towards Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Ireland (PDF) by Dr Vincent Carragher and Hugh O’Reilly

The Wheel also published a guide for community and voluntary organisations, Lessons in Sustainable Development for Community and Voluntary
Organisations (PDF)

The project website will remain live until 2023, and will serve as a library of success stories that can be replicated in communities.