Global Issues Activity Badge

These badge requirements were updated on 26 January 2018. The previous badge requirements can still be used until 31 January 2019, to allow for transition where necessary.

How to earn your badge

• Spend three days living on food that costs no more than £2 a day. Share with others about how it went including a top tip for cooking meals with so little money. This could be a discussion, blog, video diary.
• Visit a homeless shelter, foodbank or other social enterprise in your local community and consider the challenges faced by homeless people and what factors lead to homelessness.
• Explore various media sources to find information about migration and immigration. Review what you find and discuss your thoughts and feelings about the information and how this issue is perceived at a local and global level with your Unit.
• Individually or as a group compare youth issues in the UK with the same issues in another country, such as voting age, access to education or youth services. Discuss with your Unit.
• Deliver a game or activity to others about a global issue that you feel passionate about and explore what small action you could take to have a positive impact on that issue (sign a petition, write to your MP, raise awareness).

Top tips

Reflection activities can include discussion, blogging/vlogging, scrapbook or presentation.

If you choose to deliver a game and explore what small action you could take, you could work towards the Community Impact Staged Activity Badge and take the action.

Guidance for Leaders

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030. This badge helps young people to explore some of the global issues that make up these Goals and what role they have to play in achieving them.

Previous badge requirements

These requirements will be discontinued on 31 January 2019.

How to earn your badge

You need to complete three of these activities:

• Spend three days living on food that costs no more than £2 a day. Keep a diary of how it went and share your experiences with others.
• Using cardboard, build a shelter and camp out in your local area to understand and experience the challenges faced by homeless people.
• Explore different media outlets to find information about migration and immigration. Review what you find and discuss with your Unit your thoughts and feelings about the information and how this issue is perceived  at a local and global level.
• Compare youth issues between the UK and another country, such as voting age, access to education or youth services and discuss with your Unit.
• Give a presentation to your Unit or another section about a global issue that you feel passionate about. Perform an action such as signing a petition about the issue, researching a charity or writing to an elected representative.

Adapting Badge and Award Requirements
Badge and award requirements can be adapted (for example, for young people with additional needs, medical conditions and disabilities) to ensure a similar level of challenge for all young people.  This may mean that you need to scale the level of difficult up or down to suit the individual’s needs.
The things to consider are:

1. Whether the individual elements can be adapted or whether they need to be replaced by an entirely different challenge
2. Whether to change the requirements for one young person or whether it is more appropriate to change them for the whole Section to ensure the young person doesn't feel singled out
3. One thing that many Leaders do to adapt badge requirements in similar circumstances is to develop some of the individual challenges into a team challenge so that the young person can use their individual strengths and abilities to achieve a team goal. Again, this avoids one Member being singled out.

Each young person who participates in the Programme, including badges and awards, should face a similar degree of challenge, and requirements can be adapted according to each young person’s abilities.  For more information and practical tips see our guidance on flexibility.