Millennium Development Goals - Resources

MDG Day in Burnley School

This is a full day activity for a whole year group, upper KS4 or sixth formers, which Global Link has run at several secondary schools in Lancashire. It’s a day of role play, research and debate.

Global Link has run Earth Summits on many different topics, and this one has engaged the students like no other.  The students become passionate in their debates about which of the goals is the most important.  Some students even wonder if it’s all ‘real’!

At the beginning of the day, students are brought together and put into roles- they may be governments of individual countries, NGOs, businesses or the media. 

They are addressed by the Secretary General of the United Nations who briefs them on the extent of extreme poverty and the undertaking which was signed in 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  They are presented with an opportunity- a wealthy philanthropist, Mr (or Ms, depending on who plays the part) Yates- will donate their entire fortune to achieve one, but only one, of the goals.

The students, in role, now have the task of deciding which of the goals should be chosen.  Of course each group also has their own interest to pursue, maybe they stand to gain more from one goal than another.  Whilst the governments are free to promote any goal they wish, the industries and NGOs have a clear interest in one or other of the goals. 

They spend the day researching, with the help of resource packs provided for them, lobbying each other and debating.

At the end of the day the governments meet to vote, and the press record the day’s events.
When the voting has finished, the students are brought out of role and debriefed.  They are then given the chance to vote again, as themselves, and the day ends with an activity about how they, as young people, can help achieve the MDGs.

To run a day like this requires a lot of preparation and planning, which Global Link has already done- if you are in the North West we may be able to run the day for you.  If you are not in the North West, contact us, we may be able to train you to run the day yourself, using materials we provide.

We have also run this day as a training exercise for ITE students, in which case we can provide the students with their own materials for future use in schools.

For more information or to arrange and MDG day in your school, please get in touch

'I had a really fun day and it has made me think as I knew nothing about the MDGs'
'It was a good way of dealing with real life issues'
'Today was a good way of letting people know about important issues and motivating us to get involved'
'Very interesting debates/ brawls!' 'Education is the key!'
'An excellent, well organised day- informative and enjoyable.'
'Really enjoyable. Thank you.'
Responses from staff and students