SDG Brainwriting - Manual Thinking - Tools for co-creation

SDG Brainwriting

ODS brainwriteThe Sustainable Development Goals created by the UN propose a plan for action to create a sustainable world for all its inhabitants. With Manual Thinking we offer a easy to use, hands-on format with which schools, companies, institutions and individuals can explore what they can do to contribute to accomplish all 17 goals, set for the agenda of 2030.

Brainwriting is a fantastic manner of idea creation in teams. It is an associative, quick and effective procedure where we communicate our ideas in silence, through drawing and writing only. In this application, we combine the Brainwriting technique with the different Sustainable Development Goals, to get your team acquainted with all the SDG´s and create many ideas in only 15 minutes!

On the SDG Brainwriting template, one of the 17 SDG´s is visualized on the first label of a sheet of 6 circular labels. In teams of 3-5 persons, each participant takes one sheet and draws/writes an idea regarding the specific SDG on the second label. In intervals of 2-3 minutes, all participants pass their sheet to their right neighbor, who interprets the idea(s) on the page and adds a new idea that builds on the previous ones.

Brainwrite SDG

Download the template

To give direction to the creative flow of ideas, we have added an indication of scale on each label, from XS to XL, which will help the participants to think of ideas with different levels of implementation. The guidelines for these scales are:

  1. XS: What can I do? What can I do at home and with my family?
  2. S. What can we do in our building? What can we do with the neighbors or in the neighborhood? How can I involve friends and acquaintances?
  3. M: What can we do at school, at the company or institution? What can we do in the municipality?
  4. L: What can we do on a provincial or national level? How can I involve or influence large groups of unknown persons to take action?
  5. XL: Can I initiate or contribute to actions on a global scale?

Try it yourself! You can download the templates for free. Just print them on our labels and get started!

For more information on the Sustainable Development Goals, visit: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/