The Global School for Social Leaders (former Latinomics) brought 13 social entrepreneurs and change-makers from Latin America to the Ban Ki-moon Centre on August 8th, 2019. The group consisted of individuals from across the region, including Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Columbia, Argentina, and Honduras and who came to discuss on the topic of global citizenship and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Each individual shared their own ideas and works that are committed to the betterment of their society and to advancing the SDGs. Interesting projects were introduced, including supporting the rights of women prisoners and their children, having food as a core of social transformation, developing a mentorship project online, transforming modules in education for children, and so on.
“You are forging partnerships to make these Goals happen!” BKMC CEO Monika Froehler spoke to the group.
Froehler moderated a couple of exercises with the group to get to know more about the SDGs and global citizenship from diverse perspectives. Presenting the 17 SDG signs, she asked the group “what do you consider as a game-changer for the world by 2050?” by bringing up climate change as one of the biggest challenges the world is currently facing. In the end, every Goal and its impacts were mentioned, which showed how all the SDGs are interconnected and comparable to achieve.
The group then got divided into small groups to work on drawing a character that represents their own definition of the notion of global citizenship. Each character looked different and unique, but they shared many common characteristics such as respecting others, advocating for gender equality, embracing different cultures, preserving resources and nature, and aiming for sustainable development and peace.
Froehler said, “if all these characteristics are implemented into your projects and initiatives, the SDGs can be reached.”
She introduced to the group some of the successful cases of social movements and initiatives such as Fridays For Future, Alibaba, and Global Citizen.
Roberto Arrucha, Director of the Global School for Social Leaders, concluded that
“we need all leaders from all sectors and all directions. By finding these initiators and actors, we can contribute to making changes.”