100-day Challenge & Giving Back Archives - GRBN.ORG

Helping measure progress in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals around the world

GRBN_News — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 06:57:04 +0000

We are extremely proud to announce that Paragon Partnerships, along with Kantar Public and SDG Action Campaign won this year’s MRS President`s Award. Huge thanks go to Kantar Public and SDG Action campaign who worked in a great partnership to ensure the reporting countries` citizen perceptions around SDGs are measured and reported in the UN HLPF in NYC with great success. Paragon Partnerships was launched at the MRS Annual Conference, IMPACT 2016, by Stan Sthanunathan of Unilever, in response to the UN’s 17th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) – the call for private sector partnerships to help the UN achieve the SDG’s by 2030. It was realised very early that the sustainable development goals cannot be achieved by any single agency – even the UN! A successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society. And these inclusive partnerships built upon principles and values, a shared vision, and shared goals that place people and the planet at the centre, are needed at the global, regional, national and local level. Hence, Paragon is the initiative of the global market and social research industry sector, aimed at enabling Governments, Academics, the UN and NGOs around the world, which are working to tackle the 17-point plan of the UN Global Goals – end poverty, combat climate change, and fight injustice and inequality around the world – to connect with market, opinion and social research companies, which are committed to helping by providing access to quality data and insights on the issues that the world is facing. One of the core objectives of Paragon is to help measure progress with the UN goals to not only keep governments and policy makers accountable, but also gauge how much we are getting closer to the targets so that new policy adjustments can be made – so, in 2017, an 11-country study was conducted for the UN SDG Action Campaign, sponsored by the Paragon Members, Kantar Public and Lightspeed. Kantar Public developed and tested a question library of almost 100 SDG Questions. This in itself was a huge project, which constituted the first step to enable countries to measure their journey to the accomplishment of the SDGs in a consistent way. It was developed by the market research professionals within Kantar Public and therefore had high reliability and validity when used. And most of all, this question library meant that countries could establish a year 0 benchmark and do year over year comparison. Then, based on the priority SDGs of the 2017 HLPF, questions were selected of this question library to include in the study. The priority SDG ‘s for the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2017 were: SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being, SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and SDG 14: Life Below Water. Therefore, 20 of the most pertinent questions based on the focus goals were selected to be asked. The research was conducted in 11 voluntary reporting countries for 2017: Argentina, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand. The results are representative of the online population, providing a baseline against which to measure progress in future years. As a result, a benchmark was successfully established for these countries to improve on as they continue their journey to meet the SDGs by 2030. In 2018 the UN SDG Action Campaign requested further support to measure progress with the 2018 priority SDG’s in targeted emerging markets where accurate measurement is only possible using representative random probability methodologies. So, Paragon, the Global Research Business Network (GRBN), and ESOMAR Foundation called for volunteer agencies in the selected countries to sponsor a survey for the UN. The following 4 Agencies volunteered to conduct a representative survey in their country with no charge, completely pro bono:

– CASN – Central Arab Statistical Network (Lebanon)
– Reach (Lebanon)
– Kantar Sri Lanka
– 360insights (Romania)

The questionnaire was again drawn from the question library developed by Kantar to cover the six priority SDG’s for 2018 : Water and sanitation for all (SDG 6); sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7); cities and human settlements (SDG 11); sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12); sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (SDG 15); and global partnership for sustainable development (SDG 17). Kantar Operations India analysed the data, and the presentation of the data was delivered by Kantar Public at UN HLPF (High Level Political forum) Meeting on July 13^th, 2018. Subsequently the 4 agencies have been connected with local UN representatives and promoted and recognized by the UN SDG Action Campaign on their website, http://sdgactioncampaign.org/2018/10/08/myworldhlpf/, and in social media etc. UN SDG Action Campaign has also made the data publicly available for any government organization and/or NGO to use. What is extraordinary about this initiative:

Members of the global market research industry are coming together (agencies, clients, even competitors) to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
A question library is developed and is now available for any country to use as they need, which is consistent, developed by highly qualified market research professionals, and allows for year over year comparison
Small/local market research agencies from all around the world volunteered (including Kantar and Lightspeed, in addition to the smaller ones in 2018), without not even asking to be compensated for basic cost. The whole effort was completely pro-bono.
The dedication of the agencies showed itself when they made it happen in a very short time to meet the deadlines of the UN HLPF

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Using the power of MR to help tackle the UN Global Goals

GRBN_News — Tue, 02 May 2017 07:23:42 +0000

During my years working in this sector, I have seen time and again the power of market research and insights to affect change at the strategic, tactical and operational level. GRBN is working together with Paragon Partnerships to leverage that power to help achieve the UN Global Goals, which seek to end poverty, reduce inequality & tackle climate change. You can learn more about the Global Goals here:

Source: www.globalgoals.org/ Governments, NGO’s and academics around the world are working on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and we believe that by providing them with better access to high quality market research resources, they can be more effective in doing their work. To make it easier for Governments, NGO’s and academics to gain access to the MR resources they need, we are putting together a database of companies and individuals, who are willing to donate resources to help those who need them.

40 plus companies / individuals already on-board

We now have over 40 companies/individuals signed up to the database and we invite you to join them. It doesn’t matter how big or small a contribution you are able to make, and you don’t have to commit to anything specific at this stage. You just need to indicate your willingness to help out should a project come along, where the needs of the project match the resources you are able to donate. When joining the database, you can indicate which parts of the world you are able to cover and the type of resources you are able to donate. For example, you might be willing to help with project planning and/or analysis, or you might be able to donate resources for qualitative and/or quantitative fieldwork. There is a lot to be done throughout the world to tackle the 17 Global Goals and we are proud to support in this way the efforts of the UN and its partners to build a better world with no one left behind

Join the Database

You can read more about the initiative here and if you already know that you are interested in joining the database, you can do so directly from here. We believe this will become a fantastic resource for those needing both data and insights to help them in the battle to achieve the 2030 targets. If you share the belief that this is great way to demonstrate the power of what we do and the value we contribute to society, please sign up to the database and encourage your peers to do the same.

Next target 100

Insights Association is kindly providing us with exposure for this initiative at their upcoming NEXT Conference in New York, and we intend to use the opportunity to push towards our next target of 100. Wish us luck! Andrew Cannon Executive Director, GRBN

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Tackling the UN Global Goals – Your expertise is needed

GRBN_News — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 07:00:04 +0000

As more and more companies, as well as individual researchers, are becoming aware of the joint Paragon Partnerships and GRBN initiative to create a global database of research companies willing to help Governments, Academics and NGO’s tackle the UN Global Goals, we are slowly but surely getting more people to sign up to that database, but there is certainly room for more. We want to take this opportunity to give a voice to a few of the people, who have indicated their willingness to donate resources to those who need them to tackle the the 17-point plan of the UN Global Goals – end poverty, combat climate change, and fight injustice and inequality around the world. We hope that their passion will encourage you to join this admirable group of both research agencies and researchers, who are committed to giving back to society by providing access to quality data and insights on the most important issues that the world is facing. Please take a few moments to read their opinions and be inspired “To work in a market research company is to work also in the knowledge industry. And having access to so much information (public opinion, the opinion of the different groups of our society, of the different leaders that trace the political and economic paths of our countries) makes us doubly responsible for what happens in our reality and the world. Research companies can not turn their backs on the problems of the world and that knowledge should be the main engine for us to commit to this initiative and act accordingly.” Upri Torrado, Datum “Diffusion of responsibility is a precarious road, we all have stakes in this – and we believe in our collective power to make it happen. It is also an opportunity to be part of something that is bigger than ourselves – an initiative that will make life better for all beings.” Sohna Wikman. Research Director and Co-Founder, Pure Research and Design. “Querlo, is a chatbot technology capable to establish direct conversation with people located in any part of the World and build qualitative and quantitative data base in real time. We are honored to join forces with organizations like GRBN and Unilever to help solve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including poverty, hunger, health and education. The Paragon Partnerships is a unifying initiative that can truly change the World putting data at its best use”. Francesco Rulli, Querlo

Inspired by these thoughts?

I know we are, and hope you are inspired enough to join them in the database? It’s incredibly easy to sign up. Simply click here and fill out the form indicating what resources you are willing to donate should the need arise. No company or individual is too small to take part. Governments, Academics, UN and NGO’s will then be able to tap into this pool of resources, and easily connect with people, who can help them get the data and insights they need, when they need them.

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Want a good excuse to call your client? How about the client 100-day challenge?

GRBN_News — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 07:00:47 +0000

We can never have enough good reasons to engage our clients, right? And how about having a reason, which isn’t asking them to spend money? Perfect! The GRBN 100-day challenge offers a perfect way for you to connect with and engage your clients on something which will drive their business forward and show them you care. The GRBN 100-day challenge offers you the opportunity to bond with your client around a common goal make your relationship even stronger. We’ve created 7 challenges related to these three themes. So why not take look at the different challenges on offer and select one that you and your client have the most passion for. For example we have two challenges related to value to clients: We are sure that working together on one or both of these value to client challenges will be a rewarding experience both for you and your client, but also some of the other challenges are definitely worth having a look at. For example, what if you did some pro-bono work together? Or worked together over the next 100-days to specifically ensure that participants in your research projects have the best possible user experience? So what are you waiting for? Challenge your client today! Sign up here and send the link to your client. Start a conversation, join the movement and cause change to happen?

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Querlo joins Paragon Partnerships to help tackle the UN global goals

GRBN_News — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 07:00:28 +0000

We took the pledge! We have decided to set aside some of our resources and set out on helping solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Querlo realizes that the only way to do so, is to join forces with Paragon Partnerships and GRBN on this mission to bring companies together who are willing to our goal is to bring companies together to help donate resources. Those resources come in many different sizes and shapes. However, when the intentions and goals are the same we can make a noticeable difference. With the help of the Paragon partners and other companies, which are donating resources, we can have a profound effect on others, the world and ourselves. We hope we can be part of this effort to take philanthropy to a higher level, and together accomplish great things.

Researching and evaluating the condition of street children – the missing millions

Querlo is a big supporter of sustainability in developing countries, especially supporting the empowerment of women through education and technology. Querlo supports organizations that work to empower women and children via technology, it has built 13 computer classrooms for high school students in Afghanistan. In addition, more than 10,000 female students have directly benefited from digital literacy classes offered in the classrooms and online. In addition, with this valuable tool Querlo is providing its support to establish a direct conversation and relationship with the young men and women of Afghanistan with the purpose to research and evaluate the condition of street children– the missing millions. One of our most recent research projects included connecting with 1,000 young people in Afghanistan. This project collected data on local demographics, varying income levels, and relationships to the street children. Querlo can provide invaluable data that helps gauge how to solve UN Global Goals, including the problems of hunger, climate action, gender equality, by helping bridge the gap between qualitative and quantitative data. We, at Querlo, support the Paragon Partnerships efforts to change the world, and believe that we can together make progress through the invaluable resources a person or a company can offer… together equals progress, just as division equals failure. These partnerships with other companies help provide resources that assist in translation, data processing, data analyzing, even minute to minute reporting, and much more. Whatever your skill or your company’s model may be, your resources are invaluable to those who need them. How will you contribute? The offer to join our mission to help those in need is one that is never at its capacity. No contribution is too small, nor is any amount of donations too large. Join us on this mission by signing up here as a corporate member and showing your commitment to give by donating. Francesco Rulli and Elaha Mahboob Querlo

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Make a corporate commitment to the 100-day challenge

GRBN_News — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 06:00:33 +0000

The 100-day challenge is also a good way to get employees, whether in small teams, large departments or as the whole company, to actively participate in an initiative, which is not only good for the company, but also for the sector as a whole. The 100-day challenge makes a perfect team-building workshop. In order to make things super-easy for you, we’ve created a handbook giving step-by-step instructions for a number of different workshop options. If you have a larger company, why not turn it into a team competition to see which team can achieve the most change over 100-days? So why not take the challenge today; drive your business forward, motivate your employees and do good for the future of the sector? In order to make it super-easy for you we have created a “how to run a 100-day challenge workshop” ste-by-step guide. Get in touch with us to get your copy and inspire your team today! And don’t forget you can take an individual challenge from here. It’s a great way to connect with like-minded people and build your reputation. #grbn100days

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How to take a personal 100-day challenge?

GRBN_News — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 09:00:39 +0000

Our sector has a great opportunity to meet the growing demand for data and insights, but also has some serious challenges to overcome. The GRBN 100-day challenge is a call to people, who are passionate about research and the value it has, to join a movement to co-create a positive future for our sector. Taking the 100-day challenge is a personal commitment to do something differently over a 100-day period in order to make a difference, however small. There are seven different challenges to choose from, related to value to clients, value to society and value to business. Simply choose what you are passionate about. Getting involved and taking a personal 100-day challenge is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

All you have to do is visit the GRBN 100-day challenge page.
Click on the challenge you want to take
Confirm the challenge you want to take from the drop down menu and enter your personal details

If you already know what you want to do, great! But if not, don’t worry as we’ll be in touch with you and help you on your way. Thank you in advance for considering joining the movement. Don’t forget that in addition to feeling good about making a difference, the 100-day challenge is a chance for you to grow your network and connect with like-minded people across the globe, as well as to build your reputation and get exposure for yourself and your employer. Together we really can make a difference. Don’t forget to share your story at #grbn100days

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Want to change the world from your desk? Here’s how.

GRBN_News — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 07:00:06 +0000

Elizabeth Pitts, Master of Marketing Research Candidate at the University of Georgia, and Catherine Rickwood, Experience Director at MESH The Experience Agency, are two of the people, so passionate about the future of our sector and our ability to add value to society, as well as to clients, that they decided to join our 100-day challenge catalyst team and work together with GRBN, to encourage as many people as possible to take a 100-day challenge…. to make a difference. We asked them both why they wanted to be on the Catalyst team… Catherine: “Personally, I’ve always been drawn to research because it builds understanding of the world, and who isn’t curious to understand the world? To me, this initiative is the ultimate application of that.” Elizabeth:“I am drawn to research because it allows us understand our past, gain valuable insights into what’s going on in the present, and predict how trends will develop in the future. When shared, the knowledge that research provides can change our world. I look forward to being a part of this movement.” …and to share their views on why they think you should sign up to the Paragon 100-day challenge and give something back to society…

Want to change the world from your desk? Here’s how.

Calling all market, opinion and social researchers! Help us end poverty, combat climate change, and fight injustice and inequality. We all want to make a difference, but it’s often hard to know how. Well not anymore! Paragon Partnerships, founded by Unilever and other global companies have teamed up with GRBN to make magic happen. And here’s the opportunity for you to be a part of it. The aim is simple: connect the people, who can collect and process data with the people who can use the data to make a difference! By donating resources to this joint initiative, you will help governments, academics, the UN, and NGO’s around the world gain access to quality data and insights on the issues that the world is facing. Governments, academics, UN, and NGOs will then be able to tap into this pool of resources so that they can get the valuable information they need – easy, efficient and hassle free.

Use your research prowess to give something back to society

To kick things off, we’re challenging everyone to get involved! Are you up for the challenge? If so, we invite you to join us for our 100-day challenge initiative and you can sign up to donate resources here… http://grbnnews.com/paragon-partnerships-challenge/ If you’re not sure and want to read more about the joint initiative, you can do so here… http://grbnnews.com/paragon-unilever-initiated-partnership-grbn-join-forces-create-global-database/ and if you want to find out more about Paragon Partnerships, you can do so here… http://www.paragonpartnerships.com/ We’d love to hear from you, however big or small your company is, and you can even register as an individual rather than a representative of your company. So, come on and join the movement.


Elizabeth Pitts	Catherine Rickwood

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100-day challenge – What’s in it for me?

GRBN_News — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 09:00:51 +0000

I know we all like to do things out of pure generosity right? At least now and again anyway. But there are so many thing we could do and so little time to do them all in. So, it doesn’t help to get some personal benefit at the same time as doing some good. The GRBN 100-day challenge is designed to do just that, so what is it in for you?

A chance to grow your network and connect with like-minded people across the globe
A chance to get exposure for yourself and your employer and build your reputation

And at the same time you will feel good by helping co-create a positive future for our sector.

So what are you waiting for?

Click here and start your 100-day challenge today. Still not sure? You can get more information about the 100-day Challenge here.

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Paragon, a Unilever initiated partnership, and GRBN join forces to create a global database

GRBN_News — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 09:00:56 +0000

Paragon, a Unilever initiated partnership, and GRBN join forces to create a global database of research companies willing to help Governments, Academics and NGOs tackle the UN Global Goals NEW YORK – January 16th, 2017 — Paragon Partnerships and Global Research Business Network (GRBN) today announced in conjunction with Unilever and other global companies as their members, a joint initiative aimed at enabling Governments, Academics, UN and NGOs around the world, which are working to tackle the 17-point plan of the UN Global Goals – end poverty, combat climate change, and fight injustice and inequality around the world – to connect with market, opinion and social research companies, which are committed to helping by providing access to quality data and insights on the issues that the world is facing. GRBN has created a form on its news website, www.grbnnews.com, where people working for research companies, either as individuals or as representatives of their companies, can sign-up and express their willingness to help solve these global issues and indicate the resources they are willing and able to donate to assist Governments, Academics, UN and NGOs in order to do so. Governments, Academics, UN and NGOs will then be able to easily tap into this pool of resources so that they can get the data and insights they need, when they need them. As part of its 100-day challenge initiative, GRBN will be encouraging as many of its 3500 plus corporate members as possible to sign-up during the first quarter of 2017 and in this way to show their commitment to giving something back to society. Dilek Ozler, Senior CMI Manager at Unilever, commented: ”Humanity has a hard task in front of it to bring Sustainable Development to our world. And the to-do-list for the planet will only be achieved if everyone plays their part, and work together. Individually, no single body, government or business will be able to find solutions to address these challenges. Our only hope is to work in partnerships. And that is why the partnership between Paragon and GRBN is so important. This is going to open up a new venue for market research agencies all around the world to contribute to this noble cause. And that makes me so proud of the industry I belong to. I encourage all agencies to join this effort and contribute as much as they can.” Andrew Cannon, Executive Director at GRBN, said: “We are extremely proud to be able to support this fantastic Paragon Partnerships initiative and to use our reach into the global research industry though our 45 national association members. We are confident that the research industry will step up to the challenge and dedicate resources to tackling these serious issues for the benefit of people needing help.” Jane Frost CBE, CEO of the Market Research Society (MRS) – GRBN’s partner in Britain – said: “This initiative was launched at the MRS Annual Conference, IMPACT 2016 and we are delighted to support this initiative. It’s great to see organisations coming together to tackle the big issues facing the world today. The research and insight sector has so much to offer in enabling understanding, and it’s only once we truly understand our problems that we can begin to create innovative solutions.” — End About Paragon Paragon was created to infuse insights that will help to tackle the 17-point plan of the UN Global Goals – end poverty, combat climate change, and fight injustice and inequality around the world. Paragon brings partners together to work on finding solutions to these issues; Research Companies and their Clients generate and provide access to quality data and insights on the issues that the world is facing, helping Governments, Academics, UN and NGOs around the world to accomplish their goals. You can read more about Paragon and the partners here: http://www.paragonpartnerships.com/ About GRBN (www.grbn.org) Global Research Business Network connects 45 research associations and over 3500 research businesses on six continents. More than US$25 billion in annual research revenues (turnover) are generated by these businesses. GRBN’s mission is to promote and advance the business of research by developing and supporting strong autonomous national research associations. Twitter: @grbn_org CONTACT: Andrew Cannon GRBN +358.50.5226922 andrew.cannon@grbn.org OR Dilek Ozler Unilever USA +1 (201) 289-1014 dilek.ozler@unilever.com

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