LESSON PLAN ā¢ IMPACT LAB
SDG Changemaker Challenge: Impact Campaign
(Self-Guided)
For individuals or teams. Watch a set of SIMA films, research a global issue, and design and run an impact campaign in your school or community. Join learners worldwide taking on the challenge.
Purpose
This challenge connects your creative capacity to positive change in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the 17 global goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 to end poverty, promote equity, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. You can complete it on your own or with a team.
You will:
- Analyze a social issue in its global context
- Practice self-reflection
- Brainstorm and collaborate with others
- Plan and carry out a campaign or event
- Strengthen your communication skills
Preperation
Read Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for background, definitions, and indicators.
AT A GLANCE
FOR
Individual learners, student teams, and leadership cohorts
TIME
Three days to twelve weeks
FORMAT
The SDG collection film for your chosen goal, plus 2 to 4 more
FILMS
3 to 5 films from the SDG collection. Suggested films are listed below.
YOU’LL NEED
SIFT worksheet; Impact Gaps Canvas; Advocacy Campaign Brainstorming and Planning worksheets
SUGGESTED DISCERNMENT LENSES
Evidence and Perspective
Step 1: Warm up. Get to know the Sustainable Development Goals
Watch the 8-minute #TeachSDGs video, an overview of all 17 goals.
Take the 5-minute Kick-Off Survey:
Look at the SDG poster and research how the world is addressing these goals today. Then reflect:
- What are a few positive things about your community or school that others may not know?
- What challenges in your community or school should be addressed?
- What unfair situations have you seen or experienced that need attention?
- Which Global Goal is connected to the issue you would change?
Journal on the prompt “Which Global Goal is important to me, and why?” If you choose more than one goal, explore how they connect. For example, child poverty (SDG 1) is linked to hunger (SDG 2) and to access to quality education (SDG 4).
Step 2: Watch the films
Choose the film for your goal in The Interconnected SDGs, then 2 to 4 more from the SDG collection. Use The Discernment Protocol, focusing on the Evidence and Perspective lenses, and the SIFT Worksheet to record your reactions. Write down your questions as you watch, and read each film’s filmmaker Q&A afterward.
Step 3: Map the issue
Write your goal in the center of a large sheet and circle it. Around it, write what you learned from the films: related goals, stakeholders, causes, and existing solutions. Draw lines to connect related ideas. Let it be messy.
Use the Impact Gaps Canvas (developed by Daniela Papi-Thornton) to explore root causes and existing solutions. Then investigate:
- Interview people in your community. What does a family member think the problem is? A neighbor?
- Visit the UN Global Goals site. Read the Overview and Targets and Indicators tabs for your goal.
- What is already being done? What is missing?
Answer: What have I learned about the root causes? What solutions exist? How could my project support one of them?
Step 4: Design your impact campaign
Design a campaign based on your goal that is realistic and actionable in your community.
Example: A group of students noticed an overflowing landfill in their community. After watching E-Wasteland, they connected the issue to SDG 12 and SDG 15, launched a campaign to recycle electronic devices, and set up e-waste recycling stations across their school and neighborhood.
Use the Advocacy Campaign Brainstorming worksheet to generate ideas, then narrow them down:
- What are your short-term and long-term goals?
- Who could be your partners and allies?
- Who is your audience?
- What actions will reach and mobilize them?
Use the Advocacy Campaign Project Planning worksheet to work through the eight-step plan.
Step 5: Run your campaign and reflect
Contact your partners and allies and carry out your campaign. Afterward, reflect on your role, the challenges you faced, what you are proud of, and what you learned about creating change.
Take the 5-minute Wrap-Up Survey:
Suggested films
- The Interconnected SDGs: a 17-film collection, one per goal
- Megolonyo: With a Mother You Are Rich (16 min). SDG 5.
- When God Roars (19 min). SDG 8.
- Taking Flight (11 min). SDG 4.
- Isle De Jean Charles (9 min). SDG 13
Browse films by goal in the SDG collection. Go behind the scenes with the filmmaker Q&A.
ā CHANGEMAKER AWARD
Students, educators, and institutions who take their learning further can apply for the SIMA Changemaker Award.
Standards Alignment
Global competence: OECD PISA Global Competence; Asia Society Center for Global Education.
Common Core (US):
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1: Participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.5: Make strategic use of digital media in presentations.
International Baccalaureate: MYP: Individuals and Societies; Language and Literature; service as action. DP: Individuals and Societies; CAS. CP: service learning.
