Games For Sustainable Development Goals Namibia: Towards Youth Engagement In Achieving

Mangundu, R. and J. Braby. (2019). Games for Sustainable Development Goals Namibia: Towards Youth Engagement in Achieving Sustainability.

Solutions 10(3): 57-60. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/games-for-sustainable-development-goals-namibia-towards-youth-engagement-in-achieving-sustainability

On The Ground

Games for Sustainable Development Goals Namibia: Towards Youth Engagement in Achieving Sustainability

by Reinhold Mangundu and Justine Braby

Moral Katonyala

Participants playing the Food for All game on arable land

T

here is a lot of research that shows that simple interactive games can help us better understand systems and anticipate emerging complex phenomena . The games for the SDGs enable us to study complex interwoven challenges and think ‘outside the box’. This enables us to come up with possible solutions and to build resilience through selfaction. The Sustainable Development Goals, through the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development, are also complex and interlinked, and require complexity and systems thinking to fully understand and act upon. Around the world, simulation gaming as a tool for problem solving is slowly gaining momentum. In the scientific discourse, training workshops and seminars are slowly integrating scenario planning into simulation games for better and inclusive decision making among various stakeholders.

Most of these games provide an interdisciplinary understanding to complex global challenges that can only be addressed with well informed and integrated decisions. These decisions come as a result of changes in perception and culture.1 Through gaming experience, participants experience and explore different impacts of problems and how they impact our societies in real life. The experience during the simulation exposes participants to various emotions

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On The Ground

Moral Katonyala

Namibian Youth Coalition on Climate Change Project coordinator leads participants into a debrief

and feelings. These often results to changes in behaviour and perceptions.

During the entire process, participants become sensitised and empowered to take stewardship in achieving sustainability. Risks taken in the game enables participants to navigate and co-create possible alternatives when the usual strategies do not work out.2 This is fundamental because, real complex problems us to take incremental steps and co-create possible solutions.

Where Is Started and How Far the Games Have Come In 2016, a group of young passionate Namibians started with a series of games called ‘Games for the SDGs ‘.They first piloted the game called World Climate Simulation, which was

developed by Climate Interactive in conjunction with MIT.3 The team of young people hosted the game ahead of the Conference of Parties that took in Marrakesh, Morocco in 2016. It successfully managed to put young Namibians in the shoes of world leaders at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP22). Young people were exposed to climate science and their ambitions were tested against a climate model used worldwide. The game enabled them to see the effect of their decisions on the world and the urgency that comes with addressing the climate crises. This is very fundamental as it promotes activism and ensures young people take the responsibility of being

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the stewards of the earth. It has been played in 64 countries with over 28 000 participants so far. A recent survey conducted few years ago, showed that 76 percent of all participants felt that they were more likely to engage and change their behaviour around climate change. The success of the game thus led to the series of games called ‘Games for the SDGs’.

These games were hosted by Progress Namibia in conjunction with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the National Youth Coalition on Climate Change, the National Youth Council, as well as AISEC Namibia. Most of the games have already been developed by various organisations and individuals.

They are often contextualised to the local context and so they speak to the

On The Ground different SDGs and their targets (In this case, Namibia).The games strongly targets and speaks to young people.

The majority of young people are the most vulnerable to global challenges at the hands of uncontrolled and unsustainable actions of the anthropocene. Young people are the future to sustainable and resilient societies and thus, it is imperative to equally engage them in the discussion about the complex challenges we face today and how these may affect the future of young people.

A lot of young people have the ability to mould unprecedented innovative ideas into amicable solutions. These can help to address most of these emerging complex problems.

For this to happen, there needs to be platforms for inclusive discussions geared towards achieving long-term sustainability.

During the period of February 2017 and November 2018, about 25 games have been successfully run.

These are games ranging from 8 to 50 participants per game. The games focused on a different set of goals each time, although the SDGs are all interwoven. Only one game from the series of games was hosted each month month. At the beginning of each game, participants would receive an introduction to the SDGs, as a way of familiarising them with the SDGS . In most cases, the SDGs do not trickle down to all levels. The young people particularly, see them as something too complex to understand and that they are only meant for high level decision making in our governments. This lack of awareness undermines young people’s ability help contribute to the realisation of a ‘sustainable and just society’. The presentation shows them that, we all have a role to play because the SDGs apply to every single individual, society and nation.

Creating a Safe Space for Discussion The Facilitation of the game is usually for small groups (anything between 10 and 40 people, depending on the specific game). This type of facilitation promotes a safe and intimate space which allows time for deep dialogue, which is the most essential part of the game. It takes place after the game and steers deep reflection and enables the facilitator to unpack complexities felt by participants. In order to ensure that the feedback and voices of every participant is heard, the dialogue requires the group to sit in a circle, creating a safe space to speak freely.

When participants feel free and safe, they are more likely to open up to conservations and unpack powerful lessons provided by the game.

There has been a growing demand from local universities and schools.

During the year 2018, there were a diverse number of young people from various backgrounds who had enthusiastically showed interest in the games and as a result, some of the games were run at their respective schools.

On the 17th of October 2018, three of the games where run in parallel with about 150 young people from all spheres of the country as part of the Youth for Global Goals Conference. The aim of the conference was to introduce young people to SDGs and co-create and navigate ways in which they can contribute to the achievement of the ambitious goals. In November 2018, the Department of Architecture and Spatial Planning from the Namibian

These games provide an interdisciplinary understanding to complex global challenges that can only be addressed with well informed and integrated decisions.

The impact of the games is always seemingly high in nature, even when the numbers are small. There has been several returning participants as well as participants who have had emotional and deeply connected experiences (what we in the facilitation world call ‘edge work’ where a participant goes to an uncomfortable space, the ‘edge’ in order to have a change in mental model/world view).

For this to work, the series needs to be intimate and reach participants at a very personal level.

Key Lessons After two years of successful gaming, several key lessons were well documented to improve the whole process.

University of Namibia had put in a request for the games. They were used as an interactive presentation tool for the research of undergraduate students. Two of the games were used to steer discussions around the feasibility of urban agriculture and the provision of adequate water and sanitation facilities for the informal settlements of Namibia .

There’s a need to develop new games to avoid repetition of some of the games, especially given that that participants are returning each month. So far only three new games have been developed by the team.

The team is working towards exploring and developing new games that could possibly look at scenarios in

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On The Ground

Moral Katonyala

Participants pose for a group photo

which 100 percent of all SDGs have been achieved. The team is also further looking into the possibility of developing digital games to enhance outreach to many young people from all grassroots.

The Future of the Games for the SDGs—Moving Forward The games have shown to be very successful due to the increasing demand.

The Hanns Seidel Foundation and the British High Commission in Namibia have both allocated funds to continue the collaboration into 2019. About 12 games will be hosted this year and time was invested in research and development of two interactive civic education games on effective governance and democracy. The civic games will be used to engage

citizens, pre the Namibian national elections planned to take place in November 2019. There is a need for this engagement as citizens are not entirely aware of the importance of

A lot of young people have the ability to mould unprecedented innovative ideas into amicable solutions

The Namibian Youth Coalition on Climate Change has been selected to take ownership of coordinating and hosting the games, in conjunction with the initial key partners. A training of trainers was thus, conducted in the beginning of 2019 , with about ten young people who will be running the series of games for the entire year.

References 1. https://games4sustainability.org/2015/10/28/thepower-of-games-will-games-change-the-world/

their vote in a democratic country, where decisions by the government affect their everyday of living. The organisational structure of the game process for 2019 has been changed to make provision for youth ownership.

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2. Meya, J. N.; Eisenack, K. 2017: Effectiveness of gaming for communicating and teaching climate change. The Systems Discussion Paper No. 2017-3.

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Pp. 1-31. edoc.hu-berlin.de/series/thesysdiscpapers 3. https://climate-change-initiative.org/research/ simulation-games