Sustainability
SDG Challenge
The SDG Challenge is our new annual initiative to build awareness and encourage action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It’s open to both youth and adult members of Scouts Australia, and we encourage you to form a Project Patrol to tackle your own SDG Challenge.
Learning from experiences in tackling the Millennium Development Goals (from 2000 to 2015), countries, organisations and leaders from around the world worked together to develop the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – focusing on key areas that we need to address to deliver a more sustainable world by 2030. As Scouts we are committed to taking action on the SDGs as part of the #Scouts4SDGs movement – both through our program and embedded in our other practices (like through our Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan). We have researched what our members Australia wide think and know about the SDGs already as well as what they don’t know about SDGs.
The SDGs give us key focus areas that we can explore and address to improve environmental, social and economic sustainability for people around the world. While the Earth Tribe provides a fantastic program for youth interested in certain environmental components of the SDGs, the SDG Challenge is designed to work across all 17 SDGs, with members forming Project Patrols of youth and/or adult members who work together to:
- Gain Awareness
- Take Action
- Inspire Others
In Project Patrols, members will explore the 17 SDGs and the difference they can make, then design an initiative to take action on two or more SDGs. Members will be encouraged to complete a Challenge every year, with Joey Scouts & Cub Scouts putting in at least 10 hours of effort while older members put in over 20 hours.
While you can complete the Challenge as part of the Achievement Pathways (e.g. as a Special Interest Area), it is not a requirement to complete your peak award. Following the Plan > Do > Review > approach, members will then reflect on their initiative and share their efforts through their community and social media to build further awareness for action on the SDGs. We encourage Patrols to share their project on sdgs.scout.org so their efforts contribute to Scouting’s worldwide action on the SDGs.
A broad resource for more information – such as how the SDG Challenge fits into the program and Achievement Pathways – can be found in the document Your Guide to the SDG Challenge. This will be updated from time to time, to address your questions.
Youth members can purchase an SDG Challenge badge to wear on their uniform as an Additional Award – while adults can buy a woggle to show they have completed a Challenge. Youth can also wear the woggle if they wish. This badge and woggle can now be purchased from the Scout Shop. They feature elements of the SDG Challenge logo, and the border colour will be updated annually with a new SDG colour – so you can earn a new one each year!
Reach out to the SDG Challenge team if you have any questions.
We will update this page from time to time with more information, and connect to new pages where you can access resources to help you get involved. We have created a guidance document to give you some tips and tricks, and soon will share our social media frames, SDG Challenge graphics and our brand guide so you can create your own social media content.
