A group of 20 students from Sarajevo’s Second Gymnasium visited the UN House and participated in a very successful Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) workshop, organized by the SDG Roll-Out Project Team.

The main objective of the event was to explain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the students of IB Middle Years Programme, who were led by their professor, Senada Bajrović.

The IB offers an education for students from age 3 to 19, comprising of four programmes that focus on teaching students to think critically and independently, and how to inquire with care and logic. The Middle Years Programme (MYP) encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective learners.

Aida Laković-Hošo, Project Manager for the Integrated Local Development Project and SDGs Roll-out Support and Private Sector Engagement Project, welcomed all of the participants and emphasized the importance of the Agenda 2030 for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens.

After watching a brief video about the SDGs and how they relate to the youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina and listening to a presentation by  Envesa Hodžić-Kovač, Development Coordination Officer/Economist at the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator, it was time to get to work.

Or, in this case, it was time to break open the board games! We are, of course, talking about the interactive board game which helps the participants to find and create imaginative solutions around a selected sustainable development goal or a specific task or a problem.

“The presentation, followed by interactive game that the Team prepared, has been an outstanding resource that will definitely encourage students to think more about the way they act”, professor Senada Bajrović told us while her students were busy trying to find creative solutions for local problems.

The students were, indeed, fully engaged in this very interesting workshop. They showed a lot of vigor and interest and all teams managed to apply SDG goals and targets to their own local context. The main targets identified for action by the students were elimination of hate speech, environmental protection and education.

“I expect our students to get a better insight into global issues, in particular those addressed in the 2030 Agenda, and how Bosnia and Herzegovina respond to those goals. I hope they will be inspired to be more involved in finding solutions for their brighter future”, professor Bajrović concluded.

In 2015, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and a set of 17 SDGs. All of the SDGs have targets directly related to the responsibilities of local governments and communities. That is why the Team was very happy to see these bright students proposing their own creative solutions and showing that they are ready to “be the change they want to see”. 

SDGs Roll-out Support and Private Sector Engagement Project is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is funded by the Embassy of Sweden in BiH.