At the Jorge Luis Borges School, a training session on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was held, which aimed to sensitize and raise awareness among secondary school students about this topic. These goals were set within the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
The program, promoted by the administration of mayor Enrique Cresto, through the Coordination of Strategic Affairs directed by María de los Ángeles Petit, aims to sensitize and raise awareness among secondary school students from different schools in the city of Concordia about the topic, providing tools for knowledge and action, informing about the local government's progress regarding SDGs, and promoting local action by school actors with commitment and responsibility.
During the activity, two talks were held: one, an introduction to the 2030 AGENDA and the SDGs, led by International Relations graduate Camila Tisocco and the Municipal Strategic Affairs team; and another, an in-depth look at SDG Nº6 Clean Water and Sanitation, and SDG Nº13 Climate Action, led by Environmental Health graduate Aristeo Giménez, Environmental Health technician Santiago Moledo, and monitoring assistant Gisela Sánchez, who are part of the Environmental Development and Abasto Park Administration Unit (UDAPPA).
In it, students and teachers were able to apply the content worked on to real local problems, thus seeking a true commitment from the actors involved. At the same time, they delved into a specific SDG in each training session, with the participation of local government agents specialized in the relevant areas to teach.
Regarding the implementation of the program, Camila Tisocco, head of the Focal Point under the Coordination of Strategic Affairs of the Municipality of Concordia, stated that from the area “what we do is present to the students of the city a program on Sustainable Development Goals to generate awareness and training for the kids, so that they know what the 2030 agenda is about and also to show what is being carried out by the local government on this subject.”
“At the Jorge Luis Borges School, the boys and girls have selected two SDGs to work on in depth: SDG Nº 6, which deals with Clean Water and Sanitation, and SDG Nº 13, which is Climate Action. In this framework, what we do is bring in specialists who work within the municipal sphere, in this case from UDAAPA, who address the environmental reality of the city,” maintained Tisocco, and clarified that “with this program, we help the kids develop a part of what would be the Sanitation of the Manzores Stream, a work and a project that the school is already working on, and help them complement in different issues the idea that the kids adopt the concepts of the 2030 agenda and sustainable development, and thus be able to achieve that they take ownership of caring for the environment as a task.”
As explained by Tisocco, Jorge Luis Borges is the first school where this experience is developed. Subsequently, this activity was applied at the Gerardo Yoya School, where the chosen SDGs worked on were Nº2, which is Zero Hunger, and Nº3, which is Good Health and Well-being; to address these SDGs, they were accompanied by the Director of Primary Care, Ana Paula Vila, to work on everything related to the nutritional part.
“What is positive and innovative about this program is that we work on a practical part and there is always a closing workshop so that the kids can really put into practice everything that has been worked on and can really know from their place how they can commit to caring for the planet and the community,” she stressed.
Finally, Camila Tisocco also described that this initiative is within the framework of the Concordia Youth Agenda, which has different types of policies for youth. “We work on one program, but there are others such as the Innovation program or the Sustainable School Network. But what they have in particular is that the 'SDGs in your School' program covers absolutely all municipal areas, so we remain at the disposal of those schools and teachers who want to be interested in this to go out and accompany them,” she concluded.