SDGs as assesment tool for European Guide and Scout Centres

By Tobias Simonsen, #TeachSDGs Ambassador
 
Sometimes the SDGs gets criticized for being too broad and all encompassing--for being goals without tools for actions and for not being specific enough.
When I started work with the SDGs some years ago, it was crucial for me to think of the SDGs as a framework ready to add in tools and initiatives.

In the summer 2018, I had the pleasure of hosting International Centres Day, an online yearly competition created by The Goose Network for European Guide Centers and Scout Centres. For the event, individuals at the participating Centres received their assignments online and then carried out their assignments in their local areas.

Deciding a theme for the competition was a big honour and responsibility and offered an opportunity to start the SDGs conversations among the 10 participating represented countries. As the organizer, I decided to see the SDGs as individual tasks in a bigger picture and created an SDGs Bingo game. 

Each SDG had its own task awarding 1-3 points depending on efforts (I was of course the judge 😉). If an individual did all tasks, they were assigned 20 extra points.

For SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), the participants had to show how they were interacting with their local communities in their value chains. For Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland, this video was made showing how the scout centre is collaborating with a local cheese distributor.

For climate action, participants addressed a task for SDG 13. The World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM), has made an environmental certification for Guide and Scout Centres called SCENES (Scout Centers of Excellence for Nature and Environment). For SDG 13 the task was to show how the participating centers are taking care of the environment at their local facilities.

Link to SCENES: https://www.scout.org/scenes

For Houens Odde International Scout Centre in Denmark which is certified with SCENES, this was solved by taking a picture of a sign in front of their firewood lockers, saying that the scouts should only take the fire for their camp fire that they needed.

After completing all tasks, the participants then had a simple framework to review which they used to assess the practices at their Guide and Scout Centers.

As a final task, the Guide and Scout Centers were asked to implement the game in their own centres. It was important for me, that the game did not only impact the staff members on this special day, but that the game was an activity that every visitor in the future could experience. The participants were therefore asked for the 18th task to design and make an implementation plan to show how they would keep focusing on supporting the SDGs in their Guide and Scout Centers.

At the end of the day, I was full of optimism and hope for our common future.
Through gamification, we created a space where new ideas were developed and best practices were shared. 
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You can find all materials from the day on this page: https://goosenetwork.wordpress.com/staff/upcoming-events/icd-2018/

Author: Tobias Simonsen
Ambassador & Blogger #TeachSDGs and #iLoveGlobalGoals
Board Member #VoresBidrag and #CISUdk
Public Diplomacy Manager - Future Leaders #Tunisia_Denmark
​Twitter: @SimonseTobias

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