Weekly Briefing: What's your mission statement?

Top Stories

Design a mission statement for your department. You know what your organisation does on a day-to-day basis – but do you know what its long-term purpose is? Design thinking can help you figure out what problems you’re trying to solve for citizens, and what your vision for the future is. (Benjamin Teed, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Northwest Territories)

A Latin American innovation lab is solving climate financing. With government funding lagging and the private sector still slow to invest, the lab has developed non-traditional financial instruments to fund climate solutions. So far, it’s made $1.9 billion in investments across 35 projects. (Apolitical)

The US has become a land of “abortion deserts”. In 27 big cities, women have to travel more than 100 miles each way to obtain an abortion, and six states only have one abortion clinic. Here’s what policymakers can do to make the procedure affordable and accessible for women in need. (Rebecca Griffin, The Bixby Centre for Global Reproductive Health)

Want to get rid of your department's siloes? Improve its efficiency? Here’s how to make change last. Very few transformations achieve their objectives – and many are complete failures. Here are six components to keep in mind when pushing through large-scale change. (Martin Stanley, Understanding Policymaking)

Upcoming

Are you a UK civil servant? Learn how to get promoted in a free online workshop. On September 17, we’ll share tips and tricks to help you stand out, insider advice on how to use success profiles to your advantage and everyday things you can do to fast-track your promotion. (Apolitical)

Energy, Environment and Economic Opportunity

India and Pakistan have teamed up to tackle air pollution. Scientists collaborated to set up air quality monitors in major Pakistani cities, with the goal of improving transparency around air pollution. India and Pakistan are among the world’s most polluted countries. (Hindustan Times)

Helsinki launched an app to help residents and visitors reduce their emissions. 'Think Sustainably' ranks local restaurants, hotels, transit options and attractions against sustainability criteria, and has a route planner that shows users their CO2 emissions per trip. (Positive News)

The future of farming is here, and it’s in Paris. The city will open the world’s largest urban farm on a rooftop next spring. It’s expected to produce 2,200 pounds of fruit and vegetables daily during high season. The goal is to make the farm a globally recognised model for sustainable production. (The Guardian)

Evolving Cities

Burning Man, an arts and music festival, has become a model for urban planners. Inspired by the way it incorporates art, play, community and citizen engagement, city leaders are taking cues from the popular gathering, which draws some 70,000 people to Nevada every year. (Governing)

Boston saved millions by routing school buses with an algorithm. A team of researchers wrote up code to optimise bus routes, helping the public school system save $5 million. Boston has 25,000 students and the highest transportation costs in the US. (CityLab)

Safety and Justice

New York will allow adult victims of childhood sex abuse to sue their alleged abusers. A new law — known as the “look-back window” — allows victims one year to bring cases that are beyond the state’s statute of limitations. One assembly member said it “tells survivors like myself that our stories matter to government". (NPR)

Health and Wellbeing

Kenya opened its first human milk bank. Every year, 13,300 kids under the age of five die as a result of preterm births in Kenya. One of the best ways to protect them is by giving them human milk. At the bank, new moms donate extra milk, which is collected, stored and pasteurised. (Quartz)

And finally

The UK wants to combat crime by plastering #knifefree across 300,000 fried chicken boxes. The boxes feature firsthand accounts from reformed offenders, which the government hopes will deter young people from carrying knives. Critics called the campaign crude and offensive. (The New York Times)

(Picture credit: Unplash)