Game of Goals – Sustainable Development Goals explored through play in Pskov

First published on 6 June 2020. 

The Game of Goals is a 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) business game. The Game of Goals brings together creative players to find bold new projects and solutions to achieve sustainable economic growth – the growth that will not lead to depletion of natural resources but will both benefit the humanity and preserve our natural wealth.

This case study has been created as a part of the cities.multimodal project.

Context 

Business games are becoming an important educational trend. Competitive excitement, championship fight and the opportunity to apply professional knowledge and experience in the form of a game stimulate participants to work together in a team, develop the project and managerial thinking and motivate the implementation of practical actions. The Green Mobility Initiative produced the Game of Goals for drawing the attention of young people to the global problems of our time, to foster the development of global citizenship through the promotion of 17 SDG's.  

In action 

On 05 September 2019, The City of Pskov hosted the 17 SDGs business game “Game of Goals”.

The game focused on SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities contributing to the sustainable development of the city of Pskov. During the game, the project teams composed of city officials, businesses, NGOs, and youth have been developing projects to foster Pskov’s sustainable development.

1. Participants of the game were divided into teams of 5-6 people
2. Each team member randomly pulls a card with one of 24 ministerial posts
3. The moderator provides fact sheets about Pskov for players.

The 'minister' of each team developed a project to address the 11 goals for the sustainable development of Pskov. When creating the project, the resources used by the teams were not allowed to exceed 100%. The project was developed according to a special template to be potentially implemented in real life.

Each team then presented their project and explained how they have used the resources available to them to meet the global goal challenges posed. Each 'minister' then voted for the project they thought was best (using anonymous voting) and were not allowed to vote for their own project. According to the voting results, the winning team and the best project was determined.

Results 

As a result of the game, organisers came to the understanding that in order to achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to combine the legislative opportunities available to the municipality with the mobilising capacities of civil society and the resources of commercial organisations in order to more effectively identify and overcome obstacles to social progress and sustainable development.

In Depth 

This case study was created as a part of the cities.multimodal project and based on a report by pskovcbcmail [dot] ru (Kristina Kobyz) Head of the Committee of Cross-border Cooperation and Tourism Pskov City Administration and olga [dot] iakimenkoyandex [dot] ru (Olga Iakimenko) expert of ICSER Leontief Centre.

This case study has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication.