A big number of people have been asking me questions like ‘What are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?‘ or ‘Why should I work with SDGs?’ Interestingly enough, many people who asked work in education and are simply not familiar with the SDGs. 

Considering where the world is at, I believe it is essential for all of us to know about the SDGs and to integrate them into our schools, businesses, kids’ education, our own discussions.

So… WHAT are SDGs?

To make it simple, Sustainable Development Goals tell us about issues existing in the world and the goals we need to reach in order to solve these issues and create a better, more sustainable world for the current and next generations.

Basically, ‘SDGs’ is as ‘a universally agreed framework’ for us to understand better what world we live in, what we should work on and what will happen if we do and if we don’t.

In numbers:

2015 – the year when SDGs were launched

17 – the number of Goals

169 – the number of targets under all the Goals 

WHY should you use SDGs? Here are 4 skills you (and your students, if you are an educator) develop when working with SDGs.  

1. Real-world and Project-Based Learning (PBL). All students, no matter their age or subjects they take, lack the motivation to study if there’s no real-life application. SDGs as a framework provides a perfect base for combining theory and practice, and seeing how the students’ learning process results in impacting the world.

2. .loggedin. Global Mindset. According to the National Geographic Society and their educators program, geographically there are 3 levels of impact: local, regional, global. Very often we forget about the big picture, so the SDGs help us keep the focus on the global impact even when we act locally or regionally. 

3. Accountability and Agency. Learning about SDGs helps us see the journey we as humanity have taken so far. It also helps us see how each step we make today builds tomorrow. By organizing or participating in sustainability activities and conversations we contribute to creating a better world while developing a deeper sense of accountability and agency.

4. Cooperation and teamwork. Making this world sustainable requires all stakeholders to come together to start conversations and take action. This is why SDGs are all about the connection between public and private sectors, local and global communities, youth groups and NGOs, leaders, educators, policymakers, and many others. Are you one of them?

Which skill out of 4 do you think is the TOP skills to develop for the next generations? 

Please share in the comments!

Great links to check out: official UN website about SDGs and a community of educators who work with SDGs 

Who wrote this post? Margarita Lukavenko, Educator, Teach SDGs Ambassador and EDU Matters founder.