Shaping Fair Cities promotes the SDGs among different groups in Alicante
The City Council of Alicante, through its Department of Immigration and Cooperation, has been part of the Shaping Fair Cities European project over the last year. As a result of this program, various initiatives have been carried out to raise awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among different groups. As part of the actions undertaken, a call for subsidies was issued, thanks to which three projects were funded in the city of Alicante. These projects worked with different groups to promote the goals of the 2030 Agenda, adapting to the new public health circumstances and have been successfully developed in spite of the difficulties arising from COVID-19. Below, we sum up the proposals funded thanks to this call and their results.
VICENTE FERRER FOUNDATION
More than 2100 students from three different high schools of the city of Alicante have participated in the campaign organised by the Vicente Ferrer Foundation: "Women, Strength and Change". The students, aged 13 to 18, from Figueras Pacheco, Mare Nostrum and Playa San Juan high schools participated in the training workshops and in the exhibition, which aimed to raise awareness of gender issues, a topic included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Vicente Ferrer Foundation created an exhibition called "Women, Strength and Change", which was shown in the halls at Playa San Juan high school and Mare Nostrum high school. However, it was not possible to show it at the third high school because of the delays generated by the declaration of the State of Alarm in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There was an active involvement in the 14 participatory workshops, which aimed to establish an area of information and discussion about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals; especially, about diversity, prejudices and gender discrimination.
The activities consisted of a workshop called "The SDGs spinning wheel", intended to publicise the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs through a participatory and fun game. The second activity was called "Bringing the SDGs 5 and 10 closer to the classroom", and it was carried out as a role play to encourage reflection among the students on different forms of gender inequality taking place in different world societies.
Teachers of the different high schools also participated in these activities, which gave them fuller information about the SDGs.
VALENCIAN COUNTRY INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
SIPV (Spanish initials for Valencian Country International Solidarity) has organised a series of activities as a part of their programme called "The citizens take action for a sustainable and intercultural development". This consists of social theatre and audiovisual techniques workshops for 70 young people for the dissemination of the Sustainable Development Goals. The project of this NGO is also intended for the immigrant population, with whom they have carried out gender equality workshops. Overall, the International Solidarity proposal included the participation of 110 people (63 women and 37 men) divided in different activities.
About 70 young people were divided in different groups to take part in the theatre and audiovisual techniques workshops. These activities are a form of expression that brings the participants closer to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, promotes contact between people from different realities, and helps them to make further progress in the implementation of the goals established by the UN through actions taken at a personal, family and social level.
In the case of the workshops, 40 immigrant women from different countries have participated and have been able to learn about situations of discrimination and to learn to identify spaces of gender segregation and inequality.
All these actions intended to raise awareness and convince people to take action at an individual level to address Goal 5, which highlights the need to redress inequality situations and to achieve equal rights for women and men.
The activities have been carried out in two areas of the city where the residents have different socio-economic profiles, in the northern and central area, and both with a great success of participation.
SOLIDARITY, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Solidarity, Education and Development (SED) NGO has focused its actions on the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among the 775 school children from fifth and sixth grade of the Marist school in Alicante, thanks to the Shaping Fair Cities European project.
The people in charge of SED understand that the dissemination of the activities about the SDGs has been wider than just the children who participated in the activities, since they have also been spread through the most popular social networks.
The project focuses on children in the final years of primary education, placing them as the main actors in disseminating and achieving the SDGs. The action planning, which undergone some changes because of the State of Alarm, consisted of an exhibition about the SDGs, some training tasks for the teachers about the global goals, and a number of classroom activities based on the teaching proposal created by SED.
The main objective is to "contribute to the social change promoted by the Sustainable Development Goals", which focus on three key areas: Education (SDG 4), Environment (SDGs 13, 14 and 15) and Responsible Consumption (SDGs 8, 10 and 12).
To do that, SED prepared different materials, like the exhibition about the 2030 Agenda, information leaflets, various learning resources and an explanatory video targeted at young people. The purpose of the campaign is very clear, it seeks to turn the young people of today into the "agents of the social change through learning."