The following will show the background, process and materials that the ISC GIN Global Village Leader used to facilitate and lead 58 of his peers through the global systems mapping process. Led by an expert student facilitator, this was a challenge that Guilherme (Gui) bravely stepped up to as it had never been done on this scale, in-person. Gui did not do this alone. He onboarded and adeptly trained a team of global village leaders to work alongside each group of incoming participants while they discussed, researched and developed their Global Issue Systems Map. The In-class/ In-Conference Systems Mapping Pilot was a hands down success that Guilherme proudly delivered. Scroll down to learn more about “the process”; a process Gui helped to co-develop as a GIN Youth Director.
- Identifying As A Global Citizen
- Global Issues As Systems That Include Local Issue Systems
- Understanding Interdependence
- Understanding The Past to Present of a System Empowers Equitable and Sustainable Action
It is imperative to see ourselves as global citizens, our actions as impactful, and to recognize that global issues create and are influenced by local realities. We must work to draw out our own personal experiences in relation to global issues in order to understand the far reaching effects of global issues. We must work to make global issues understood as a shared responsibility in order to make these large and overwhelming issues real not abstract.
To take action we must first understand that local issues and global issues are made up of complex systems that are created, influenced and affected by the environment we inhabit and our behaviour as local and global communities. Furthermore, we must recognize that our behaviour and the way in which we shape and prioritize our value system determines how we interact with our environment. Our value systems create and develop our perception of the world. Our perception is our living reality. “If we begin to approach global issues as local-global issues, we can grow relationships and networks of local community teams that act within their local context to challenge and address our shared global issues, as global citizens. As an activated team of global citizens we can begin to build or re-establish empathetic systems that align not only with local needs but with systems founded on equitable sustainability.”
– GIN Theory of Change
Studying our traditional value and belief systems draws out our understanding of our present situation. This also gives us insight into potential local and global solutions. If we begin to take on the values of equitable sustainability (a process of sustainability that starts and continues with stakeholder collaboration and problem-solving) and environmental justice (a reaction and the ongoing process of mitigation of injustices that sees both human rights and environmental sustainability as interdependent and interrelated on local and global levels) we can begin to take action that has an understanding of historical context and systems. This dual pronged approach can create identity and value systems of understanding that can transform systems and empower empathetic global citizens to form a perception that transitions our understanding of global issue systems to local-global issue systems.
It is instrumental to empower yourself, when addressing a global issue. This is why it is important to recognize the interrelated relationship between local systems and global systems. Understanding our local issues in relation to global issues, enables us to examine and identify both our local and global issues as interdependent systems, with both cause and effect properties and relationships. This understanding translates into purposeful action, as our local actions have a global impact.