SDG 17 - Building Partnerships for Common Good / United Nations Role

Networks (By @Pixabay from Pexels)

SDG 17 recognizes the importance of establishing partnerships to achieve all the Goals. Global problems do not respect a country's administrative borders, therefore, a joint effort through international agreements between several countries is necessary to find a solution. The United Nations is an international institution founded after World War II made up 193 Member States, aiming to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems; and to harmonize the actions of nations.

The construction of partnerships involves creative thinking, teamwork, collaboration and problem solving. In the first session proposed in this activity, participants are invited to experience and reflect about these competences through a teambuilding game. Based on this game, they will reflect about how that experience can be translated to reality.

In the second session of the activity, participants are invited to go deep into the work of the United Nations and to understand how this institution contributes to promote a more peaceful world.

Action Areas

Learning Objectives

Cognitive learning objectives:

The learner understands the importance of global multi-stakeholder partnerships and the shared accountability for sustainable development and knows examples of networks, institutions, campaigns of global partnerships

Socio-emotional learning objectives:

The learner is able to work with others to promote 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.

Behavioural learning objectives:

The learner is able to contribute to facilitating and implementing local, national and global partnerships for sustainable development.

Competences

Strategic competency
Collaboration competency
Critical thinking competency

Instructions

Session 1 (60 minutes)

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:

This SDG is transversal to the Agenda and highlights the importance of collaboration and the establishment of partnerships to achieve common goals. Global problems are complex and interdependent, so participation and joint work between different stakeholders is urgent.

Step 2) Defend the Egg (50 minutes)

Before the game:

Create groups of 4 or 5 students. Each member of the group will have a different characteristic (one cannot speak, another will only use his left hand, another will be blindfolded, another will be the observer).
Students must be in a space outside the classroom.
Call the observers from each group apart and explain only their tasks; then call those who don't speak and explain their role, and so on. To each one, say they cannot reveal their characteristic (Eg.: there will be an activity and your characteristic is that you cannot use your left hand. During the game you cannot reveal your characteristic and until the game starts no one can talk). It is important that before starting the task, none of the elements are aware of the differences of the others ...
After the group is formed and the elements aware of their “differences”, the following game instructions can be presented to students.

There is a raw egg hanging from the ceiling by a thread and a plate on the floor under the egg, they cannot touch either the plate or the egg (they are about 2m apart).
The goal is to find a strategy so that when the wire is cut, the egg touches the plate and does not break. They can use the material provided (magazines, scissors, cardboard ...).
They have 10 min, at the end of which they must move away and the thread will be cut. (During the game, you can put pressure on the group, either by saying the time remaining, or by saying that the egg is raw and that it will break).
The game can begin!

In the end, before opening the discussion to the group, the observer of each group must describe the group's actions during the game and its conclusions.
After all observers have spoken, the discussion should be open to the group about the impact of the game on students. Some suggestions for debriefing:
- When you knew what the challenge would be, what did you feel?
- Was it possible to come up with a solution? What was the solution? What contributed to it? How did you feel along the way? What were the difficulties?
- What was the contribution of each member of the group to the final solution? What were the difficulties experienced by the “different” elements and the group in relation to them?
- What lessons did you learn during this game?
- How do you think it is related to your personal and professional life?
- How do you think it is related to the global problems facing humanity?

At the international level, each country has different “characteristics”, however, to find solutions to common global problems, they have to work together. The ability to listen, the assertiveness in the discourse through constant dialogue and the ability to work as a team, without leaving anyone behind, are essential in this path.

What examples of global problems do you recognize?
Which organizations deal with these problems?
Have you heard of the United Nations? What is it?

Introduce what the United Nations is through this short video.

Research (Homework)

In teams of 4 or 5 students, ask students to research and be ready to discuss the following question:

Has the UN been successful to promote a more peaceful world?

To prepare the debate, they should look for data to support or refute the above statement.

Session 2 (60 minutes)

Step 3) United Nations Presentation and Debate (50 minutes)

Each group has 10 minutes to present on United Nations and their perspective about the question for debate.

After all the presentations, the different groups can make comments and questions to the other groups, promoting a debate. You (or a group of students) should moderate this debate.

Step 4) Conclusion (10 minutes)

Conclude the session making the relationship between the initial game and the role of the United Nations. Provide a brief overview of who the United Nations is, how it works and its role to address common global challenges.

- CALL TO ACTION 1

Do a research on documentaries, short films, success stories about the importance of collaboration and partnerships and the United Nations. Based on these survey, you can organize an event at your school to view the film / documentary / short films followed by a moment of debate about it.

- CALL TO ACTION 2

To spread the work done by the United Nations, organize a Campaign in your school about this institution and their achievements. Create a communication plan for your campaign, defining the goals, clear and simple messages, the target group, resources, the communication channels (social media posts, newspaper articles, street actions, flash mobs,...) and a plan to implement the actions.

Requirements

Resources

Click each section below to see all resources available.

Videos

ODS 17 | Alianzas para lograr los objetivos

How does the United Nations work? | RMIT University

Notes for Educators

Estimated Total Duration: 1 hour (session 1) + 1 hour (session 2) + Call to Action

Preparation

The minimum number of participants is 4.

Session 1

After the introduction, you must ask the students to leave the room. In the meantime, you should prepare the room (secure the eggs to the ceiling of the room with a string and place the plate underneath). Prepare the room in order to have space to do this activity with 1 or more groups.

Session 2

Give some places where they can find more information to start their research about UN:

United Nations Website (information about policy, history and current reports with infographics)
United Nations at a Glance

Variations

If you have the opportunity and interest in deepening the role of the United Nations, you can do a simulation of a United Nations Assembly. You can find instructions for doing this activity here.

Further Information

The United Nations is an international institution founded in 1945, after World War II. Currently, it is made up of 193 Member States aiming to take action against global challenges, such as peace and security, climate change, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, sustainable development, among others. Currently, the UN’s chief administrative officer is the Secretary-General António Guterres.

The main Organs of the UN are:

General Assembly: Deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN;
Security Council: responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security;
Economic and Social Council: principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals;
International Court of Justice: principal judicial organ of UN;
Secretariat: comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN

Here, you can find more information about UN.

Source