SDG Index as a tool to learn about sustainable development
Description
Institution
Organizations/areas of the university involved
Institute of Earth Science
Country
Russia
I teach a class on sustainable development (SD) to bachelor students where we, in general, learn about SDGs. For seminars, we used SDG Index as a tool to see interconnections of SD issues and find possible policy solutions to solve them. I organized our work in the format of a workshop where all students were divided into teams of 6-7 people. They worked with one of the UN regions in the teams and each student also worked in one particular country individually where they addressed the SDG Index. There were several stages of work: (1) they made a lit review on the region and identified key SDGs for region, (2) they identified key SDGs for their country using Index, (3) as a team they reviewed SDGs identified on the first step and corrected them based on results from step 2. In the end, they need to find one key SDG that will push the whole Agenda implementation in the region. Students present every step of the workshop during 4 weeks course.
Results and impact measured or expected
During the process, students learn deep the SDGs and their targets and indicators used by SDG Index. In the end, they are able to see the comprehensiveness of Agenda and issues we have to deal with. They are able to understand the cross-cutting issues of the Agenda and they do not search for easy solutions.
Connection with the SDG framework
Practical work of my course is completely based on the SDG framework. During this work, I also use materials provided by my NGO Openshkola – http://sdg.openshkola.org
Barriers and follow up
Not all students fully speak English, so we need to translate the indicators and the information on the SDG Index. Not all students are motivated to learn about SDGs as this course is mandatory.