Bhutan Scouts contributes towards achieving SDGs
“Sustainable Development – Development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.
(World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987”
In 2015, all member states of the
United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It sets 17
goals, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as the central plan
to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. This agenda offers a
universal framework that integrates sustainable development and global
citizenship, emphasizing that everyone has a role to play for it to succeed.
These goals cannot be achieved without the contribution of young people. This
is the largest generation of young people in history which means they need to
be involved today as leaders, partners, and innovators in global agendas for
sustainable development (UNFPA, 2014)
In 2015, all member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It sets 17 goals, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as the central plan to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. This agenda offers a universal framework that integrates sustainable development and global citizenship, emphasizing that everyone has a role to play for it to succeed. These goals cannot be achieved without the contribution of young people. This is the largest generation of young people in history which means they need to be involved today as leaders, partners, and innovators in global agendas for sustainable development (UNFPA, 2014)
To create a better world, there are so many
challenges which Scouts will have to take on. However, these can’t be tackled
alone. Scouts in Bhutan have come together to address these issues at their own
local level.
The 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs are a
great learning opportunity for young people to help them understand complex
issues, and to find new ways of engaging with their communities. Transformative
education that equips new generations with the needed competencies to promote
sustainable development is key to achieving these goals by 2030.
This is where Scouting comes in. Since
its beginning, Scouting has been enabling young people from every corner of the
globe to create positive change in their communities, acting on challenges and
needs at all levels of society. It uses an action-oriented, self-educational
approach to contribute to the empowerment and holistic development of young
people as autonomous individuals and active global citizens.
Education
is a key factor in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Scouting
uses its non-formal education approach, the Youth Program, to enable young
people to be active global citizens that create a better world. This means
asking some important questions: What are the most pressing issues in our
country? How will we adapt the Youth Program to equip Scouts with the
competencies to tackle them? How can we make the learning environment Scouting
offers more sustainable? Scouts for SDGs is an unprecedented
mobilisation of the Scout Movement that will see 50 million Scouts make the
world’s largest coordinated youth contribution to the Sustainable Development
Goals by 2030.
It is Scouting’s Mission
to educate young people to help build a better world. A better world with
better lives for all is one where the SDGs are achieved – and Scouts can offer
a strong contribution to this agenda. These goals are powerful tools to help
young people, as well as adults, organizations, countries and so many other
actors, move in the same direction in making life on earth better for all.
“Aligning” with the SDGs?
Bhutan Scouts’
role in working towards its purpose of creating active global citizens have
enabled us to take up projects at grassroots level in trying to achieve the
SDGs. “Aligning” would indicate looking at Scouting’s educational proposal
through the lens of the SDGs, this allows us to amplify what Scouting is
already contributing to the 2030 agenda, which also encourages us to go
further. Use this opportunity to strengthen the educational proposal of the
youth programme in empowering scouts as active global citizens.
Bhutan Scouts have been able to
contribute a lot in terms of SDGS especially in the Asia Pacific Region. It was
a great opportunity for Bhutan to align to SDG. Some of the major opportunities
are as follows:
• Demonstrate
how our actions impact a bigger cause outside of Scouting in order to continue
inspiring young people to create a better world.
• Offer new learning opportunities to young
people and equip them with the competencies they need to find lasting solutions
to the issues that affect them the most.
• Reinforce the Youth Programme by identifying
and addressing areas of alignment.
• Ensure Scouting’s continued relevance by
answering the current needs of young people.
• Help achieve Scouting’s vision to be the
leading non-formal educational youth movement by being part of the global
agenda for sustainable development.
• Promote Scouting to new audiences by
showcasing Scouting’s impact on sustainable development for more than 110
years.
• Strengthen partnerships and improve
fundraising by being part of SDG 17 – partnerships for the SDGs, and
collaborating with other actors who want to see the SDGs achieved.
• Become more
sustainable as an Institution by aligning with the SDGs across the
organisation’s spheres of work.
- The SDGs are interconnected and indivisible:
Meaning that no
one goal can be achieved without the others. Just as the three dimensions of
sustainable development (social, environmental, and economic) are mutually
reinforcing, progress is required across the entire Agenda for the goals to be
achieved, and so it has to be seen as a whole, rather than addressing one goal
at a time. The uniqueness of the SDGs is that they help us understand how
issues are interlinked. Addressing only one goal at a time is unlikely to
create the most sustainable solutions.
• Leaving no one behind is the
crosscutting principle of the agenda, meaning that the achievement of the SDGs
requires that everyone is onboard, and that the SDGs cannot be achieved unless
everyone can benefit from a sustainable development. This means that those left
furthest behind have to be empowered first.
• The
SDGs reframes the three dimensions of sustainable development – The social,
economic and environmental – into five areas of critical importance for
humanity and the planet: people, prosperity, planet, peace, and partnerships.
• Education for the SDGs is crucial in
helping to achieve this agenda by developing in individuals the knowledge,
skills, values, and attitudes needed to empower them to develop sustainable
solutions to our current problems. This education must be learner-centred,
action-oriented, and transformative (UNESCO, 2017). See the section on
Education for the Sustainable Development Goals for more details.
• Young people are critical agents of change
in this agenda. Almost one third of the SDG indicators reference young
people explicitly or implicitly, with a focus on empowerment, participation
and/or well-being (UNICEF, 2018). But more than just being affected by the
issues in the goals, young people are also innovators, leaders, change-makers,
advocates, and entrepreneurs who can find new ways of tackling today’s issues.
Scouting’s
action-oriented, self-educational approach is uniquely positioned to help young
people develop into active citizens and contribute to sustainable development.
Over one third of the 169 SDG targets highlight the role of youth and the Scout
Movement’s focus on non-formal education as a pathway to help young people
develop to their full potential links directly with SDG 4 on Quality
Education.2 This approach to non-formal education is articulated in Scouting’s
Youth Programme. The Youth Programme is the means through which Scouting
contributes to the empowerment of autonomous individuals and the holistic
development of active global citizens for the community. As highlighted in the
World Scout Youth Programme Policy, the Youth Programme prepares young people
to be active citizens locally and globally, responding to current economic,
social and environment challenges, and contributing to the achievement of the
SDGs (WOSM, 2017a)
As a movement,
Scouting is a deeply embedded in the context of local communities and able to
respond to the diverse needs and aspirations of young people. It is, therefore,
a prime place to understand and tackle the issues that are brought forward in
the SDGs.
Bhutan Scouts
have over the last couple of years have been actively promoting the SDGs in the
Schools and hundreds of Scouts have been able to positively respond to this.
Bhutan has now surpassed many other Nations in terms of aligning our Scouting
Program to SDGs and we have contributed immensely towards global service hours.
With the
introduction of a platform called scout.org in 2012, Scouts all over the world
have been able to showcase their work in scout.org. Many have been able to tell
their stories through scout.org. Scout.org is a platform for Scouts and Non
Scouts to share their stories and inspire others to do the same. This platform
has been able to inspire thousands of young people all over the world to share
their inspiring stories of creating a better world and making an impact in
their own communities. Bhutan has been able to lead the Asia Pacific Region in
terms of sharing our beautiful stories with the rest of the world. Bhutan has
played a huge part in contributing towards global service hours. Bhutan has
been recognized by the Asia Pacific Region for its efforts.
In terms of the
projects and service hours in scout.org, Bhutan is in the top five positions in
the Asia Pacific Region. Scouts of Bhutan have worked hard towards working in
projects aligned towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The below
highlights the contribution of Bhutan Scouts towards SDGs. The following are
the number of SDG related projects shared in scout.org by Scouts of Bhutan. The
figures given below are an update as of 12th March 2020.
Scouts Projects in relation to SDGs for Bhutan |
Goals
|
Sustainable
Development Goals
|
No. of Projects
|
1
|
No
Poverty
|
452 Projects
|
2
|
Zero
Hunger
|
413 Projects
|
3
|
Good
Health & Wellbeing
|
1294 Projects
|
4
|
Quality
Education
|
862 Projects
|
5
|
Gender
Equality
|
480 Projects
|
6
|
Clean
Water & Sanitation
|
413 Projects
|
7
|
Affordable
& Clean Energy
|
292 Projects
|
8
|
Decent
Work & Economic Grwoth
|
258 Projects
|
9
|
Industry,
Innovation & Infrastructure
|
180 Projects
|
10
|
Reduced
Inequalities
|
425 Projects
|
11
|
Sustainable
Communities
|
1094 Projects
|
12
|
Responsible
Consumption & Production
|
282 Projects
|
13
|
Climate
Action
|
766 Projects
|
14
|
Life
below Water
|
72 Projects
|
15
|
Life
on Land
|
549 Projects
|
16
|
Peace,
Justice & Strong Institutions
|
971 Projects
|
17
|
Partnership
for the Goals
|
534 Projects
|
|
Total
SDG Projects
|
9337 Projects
|
Bhutan Scouts
have contributed about 9337 Projects for SDGs. It is also ranked in the Top
Five positions in scout.org in the Asia Pacific Region in terms of users,
projects and service hours. Bhutan’s contribution towards global service hours
is enormous.
Due to the
Messengers of Peace Program, Bhutan is able to make a tangible mark in the Asia
Pacific. It has been able to venture into diverse Scout projects with positive
impact. Bhutan now competes with large Countries such India, Malaysia, Philippines
and Indonesia with high population and large geographical areas.