Introduction
View from Space (By NASA from Unsplash.com)
“A global citizen is someone who is aware of and understands the wider world – and their place in it. They take an active role in their community and work with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fairer” (OXFAM).
Currently, the ease of communicating with people from all places and continents has revealed the interdependencies that exist globally and how we are all part of this global world. This globalization allows greater proximity to everyone at various levels: cultural (media, telecommunications, travel, migration), economic (international trade and international finance), environmental (the planet as a global common good) and political (international relations and systems regulation) (OXFAM). Despite this proximity and ease in sharing information and resources between the different countries, the inequalities are still very evident.
About half of the world's population lives on less than $ 5.50 a day, while the richest 1% in the world has more than twice the wealth of 6.9 billion people (OXFAM, 2019). Through a simulation game, students will become aware of world inequalities in terms of population and wealth distribution by continent. This session also aims to lead students to recognize themselves as global citizens and about their role in combating social inequalities.
Learning Objectives
- The learner understands global issues, and the interconnectedness and interdependence of different countries and populations.
- The learner is able to raise awareness about the importance of global partnerships for sustainable development.
- The learner is able to experience a sense of belonging to a common humanity, sharing values and responsibilities, based on human rights.
- The learner is able to become a change agent to realize the SDGs and to take on their role as an active, critical and global and sustainability citizen.
- Collaboration competency
- Critical thinking competency
- Self-awareness competency
Instructions
Step 1) Introduction (10 minutes)
- Start the session explaining the scope of the project or the educational process in question. The SDG 17 refers to partnerships for the goals – show the short video to introduce the SDG from resources section.
- Briefly introduce the SDG through a short introductory reflection based on the vídeo:
All countries share the responsibility to meet the goals of sustainable development, but in a different way. SDG 17 is a transversal goal of the Agenda which recognizes the need to establish partnerships at various levels (private sector, government, civil society, individual) and scales (local, national and global) to contribute to a more fair, sustainable and equitable world.
Inequalities in the distribution of resources are one of the main challenges in global terms, which can be exacerbated by the increase in the world population expected in the coming decades.
But how is it that the world's population and wealth are distributed across the different continents?
Step 2) Simulation Game (15 minutes)
1 – Population: Students represent the world population and have to distribute themselves proportionally by region. You correct at the end according to the table in resources section.
Africa () North America () Latin America () ASIA and Oceania () Europe ()
2 - Distribution of GDP: There are x chairs and each represents a unit of wealth (GDP). Chairs are x because in the world there is enough wealth for everyone. The students have to distribute themselves proportionally according to what they think each region has. Finally, they have to "sit" on them by taking their feet off the floor (no chair should be empty and no participant should be left out of the chairs). You correct at the end according to the table in resources section.
Africa () North America () Latin America () ASIA and Oceania () Europe ()
3 –Request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF): By region, you have 5/10 minutes to prepare a 2-minute presentation to the IMF asking for money for whatever they understand the region needs.
A group of facilitators act as IMF (a facilitator is the President) and receive the representatives for each region, giving the time previously defined. NA (4 min) ASIA and OC (2 min) LA (30 sec) AF (1 sec) EU (3 min)
It is important that, during speeches, the IMF President does not allow dialogue or interruptions between participants. (IMF committee: 2 or 3 facilitators)
Step 3) Reflection (15 minutes)
- What did you feel?
- Is this a strange, surprising or a familiar scenario?
- Did anyone feel uncomfortable on your continent? And what did you feel about others?
- How can you react to these inequalities? What can you do? How can you contribute to change?
Step 4) Work Group (25 minutes)
Distribute people into small groups (3/4 people) and asks them to answer each question on a post-it in a hashtag format
1 – What is the inequality in the world that most disturbs you?
2 – Why is this happening?
3 – How have you contributed to these inequalities?
4 – How do you want to intervene in these inequalities? What is your role/place in the world/ in this reality?
Students share their hashtags, explaining why and put the post-it on the board.
Step 5) Conclusion (10 minutes)
Summary about global citizenship:
- Awareness of inequality in the world
- How do I react to this inequality
- My responsibility as a Global Citizen
- CALL TO ACTION 1
Based on the inequalities that most concern the students, the groups should present a small activity proposal for implementation. In this proposal you must include a short introduction, objectives, description of tasks, materials, costs, where and when the activity would be carried out. Some examples: a face-to-face or online campaign, a food collection, among others.
- CALL TO ACTION 2
Find an organization near you, which develops its works on Education Development and Global Citizenship. Prepare an interview to do to a representative of the organisation. Some examples: What is development education and global citizenship? What projects are you implementing? What is their impact? How do they contribute to reducing inequalities? Do you promote some kind of volunteering? What volunteer opportunities do you have? Make a newspaper article or a paper based on this interview and share with your colleagues.
Notes for Educators
Estimated Total Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes + Call to Action
Preparation
- This activity is possible to develop with 5 to 40 students
- For this activity there has to be at least 2 facilitators for the IMF Committee
- The IMF Committee should put on a performance in order to highlight the inequalities between the representants of the different countries (e.g. you can treat the representatives of Europe and North America very well and with more contempt or with stereotypes the representatives of Africa and South America)
Variations
- If there is only one facilitator available, instead of submitting the request for funding to IMF, students can just share their perceptions about the different challenges that each continent faces.
- As an alternative to chairs and if space is limited, the facilitator can choose to represent wealth with a chocolate bar, for example. In this case, everyone has to eat chocolate because there is wealth for all (here, it will happen that the continents of North America and Europe will have many squares of chocolate for a few people and the Asian and African continents will have too little chocolate for many people).
Further Information
Global citizenship recognizes the complexity of connections and interdependencies that they demand at the global level. As such, the choices and actions of all citizens have repercussions at various scales (local, national and global). However, for most citizens about global challenges such as inequality, poverty, human rights violations or environmental problems.
Global citizenship fosters respect, solidarity and inclusion for all and encourages deep and critical thinking on issues of equity, justice and environmental protection.
According to OXFAM, a global citizen is one who:
- is aware of the wider world and has a sense of their own role as a world citizen
- respects and values diversity
- has an understanding of how the world works
- is outraged by social injustice
- participates in the community at a range of levels, from the local to the global
- is willing to act to make the world a more equitable and sustainable place
- takes responsibility for their actions.
The interdependencies that exist at the global level allow all citizens to relate socially and culturally through the media and telecommunications and travel and migration; economically through international trade; environmentally, since there are no administrative boundaries for environmental issues; and politically through international relations between countries, such as the establishment of international agreements such as Agenda 2030.
Source
- https://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/who-we-are/what-is-global-citizenship/
- https://www.worldbank.org/