In 2022 there are 49 certified Sweden and SI Alumni Networks in the world. Sweden and SI Alumni Networks consists of groups of people who have once studied in Sweden or participated in an SI Leadership Programme and are now engaging as volunteers in creating platforms for sharing experiences of Sweden and contributing to a sustainable future.
Every year SI grants financial funding for the networks to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals through alumni activities. Since the start in 2016, the number of activities organised by alumni networks has grown exponentially every year. However, due to the pandemic, many alumni networks were forced to cancel a lot of planned events or adapt them to online versions. Despite the challenging circumstances, there was never a significant drop in engagement among active alumni, which has become more apparent than ever this year. As the pandemic situation has improved globally during 2022, there has been a boom in organised alumni activities.
Compared to the same time last year, this year’s number of organised activities has almost doubled from 43 in 2021 to 80 activities in 2022, attracting around 149,000 alumni and members of the general public. Among the organised alumni activities, we find events such as the regional record of Plogging in India, Gender Debates Seminar in Nepal, Global Guy Talk in Ethiopia, Circular Fashion Workshop in Bolivia, Sustainability Seminar in Turkey and many more.
– We are so impressed by the number of organised alumni activities and the big number of participants the activities have gathered all over the world, and the year of operation is far from over! says Linnéa Bodegård, alumni relations manager at SI.
With an increased focus on SDG 16 and creating inclusive societies for all this year the SI Alumni Team is now looking forward to an autumn filled with alumni activities connected to SDG 16 and the alumni network campaign #InclusiveSocieties.