Introduction to How to Use Gaia Education's SDG Flashcards/Tools

This Introduction to 'How to Use Gaia Education's SDG Flashcards/Tools' online and self-paced course is to get an understanding about how to use our flashcards and tools to conduct vitally important conversations about how to achieve and to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs at the local and regional scale in ways that are carefully adapted to the bio-cultural uniqueness of your community, using the Gaia Education whole systems based approach to sustainability and regeneration.

The training is based on and uses the ‘SDG Implementation Flashcards’, containing more than 200 questions structured into the four dimensions of Gaia Education’s whole systems approach to sustainability (social, ecological, economic and worldview).

Participants will learn some basic methods and approaches for exploring these four dimensions of the 17 SDGs in methods of question-focused explorations aimed for participants at identifying actions and strategies that will support the implementation of the Global Goals. You will learn how various exercises can contribute different perspectives in local communities and in turn can generate ownership of the SDGs and ensure that implementation is done in ways that are sensitive to your local culture and ecosystems.

Furthermore the use of the SDG flashcards is complemented by the SDG Project Canvas to set up local SDG implementation projects. The tools can be downloaded from the SDG website. 

As a short introductory course on getting to know how to use the SDG flashcards/tools, does and cannot replace additional, more in depth and practical approaches for conducting SDG workshops in practice. 

Additional and further information on conducting half to one day SDG Training of Multipliers or SDG implementation workshops yourself at your locality, can be found in the SDG Manual for Multipliers as well as specific information on conducting workshops and trainings in:

- Schools (or other formal, non-formal or informal training for youth),

- Universities (or other tertiary educational institutions), and

- Communities (like local councils/authorities, community groups, NGOs, SMEs etc).

If you would like to learn more processes, activities and hands on methods and approaches on conducting and facilitating your own SDG workshops in more depth, we strongly encourage you to attend a face to face SDG Training of Multipliers at a place near you (or ask Gaia Education to organise and conduct one at your locality) or the online SDGs Multipliers course  as pathway to become a skilled SDG Multiplier and also toward becoming a Gaia Education SDG Trainer. 

The purpose of this introductory training is 

• To get an introduction on how to initiate and conduct community focused conversations on local SDGs implementation with the use of our SDG flashcards (and other tools); 
  

Methodology

The introductory interactive training engages participants in progressive explorations about the local relevance of the SDG – based on the SDG flashcards and related tools.

By exploring the four dimensions of sustainability (social, ecological, economic and worldview) of some of the 17 SDGs in question-focused explorations, through different exercises/activities, participants will get a basic understanding and some skills to support the methods for creation for local and regional SDGs implementation through a series of project ideas using the SDG tools.

You will get an introduction to the flashcard based facilitation process and a basic understanding on how to replicate community conversations about the SDGs in your government department, at the university, in schools, businesses, and community groups at your locality.

A brief SDG Background section on the Agenda 2030 and the SDG provides some short context of the SDG (to set the scene) in relation to the multiple crises we face and how global responses to these have evolved. 

Learning Outcomes

During the online self-paced introductory course participants will be able to

• learn about the basics of the wider context of the UN sustainable development process and its history leading up to the creation of the SDGs in context of the multiple crisis we face and where we currently stand;
• acquire a multi-dimensional perspective on all 17 SDGs and their 169 targets;
• get an understanding and practical experience on some of the processes and uses of the SDG flashcards (and tools). 
• learn ways to prioritise a number of goals that are particularly important for their contexts; how to participate in own explorations to support the identification of policies, projects and resources that could support SDGs implementation;
• learn processes on how to sketch out ideas and strategies of how to mobilise local stakeholders around possible projects;
• understand the pathway of becoming an active multiplier of conversations that matter to your community (e.g. through completing a face to face SDG ToM or the online SDGs Multipliers course).
  

Sustainability is not an end point in a journey. It is a community centred process of learning how to live sustainably and regeneratively in a particular locality with its ecological and cultural uniqueness. The Gaia Education SDG tools are intended to support and facilitate such processes in your community.

So become an active and facilitating part of these conversations in your community from today!

This introductory online "How to use the Gaia Education SDG tools"  has recently (end of 2024) been completed and access provided to all existing SDG Flashcard holders 

Access to this online course is by purchasing the SDG Flashcards, a link to it will be provided as part of the purchase confirmation email.