The Global Citizens Assignment will be a semester long project to be completed individually. This project will raise awareness of the UN Sustainability Goals while giving you the opportunity to practice researching and reporting on an issue you find interesting.
It will require you to choose one of the global issues provided (see below) as the main focus of your project. The potential topics listed are derived from the UN Sustainability Goals list.
The purpose will be to develop a report that provides recommendations for a company to address a given global issue. This will require you to research the UN Sustainability Goal and critically think about how an organization can change their behavior to address the issue.
Once you have chosen a topic, that topic will be the focus of your project work for the rest of the course. Although the final product will be submitted at the end of the semester, you will be required to make submissions throughout the semester. There are three stages to this assignment, each with a deliverable to ensure you are moving along with the project.
The following will outline the deliverable for each stage of the three stages of the project. It will also outline some important information about writing a report for this class. This will include information about referencing and formatting your document.
Samples for each section will be provided throughout the semester as we approach each deadline. Please also watch for announcements about meeting times to come in to ask questions. These sessions will take place closer to the end of the semester and focus on the final submission.
Deliverable List
Stage One. This stage requires you to complete three parts.
Part 1A (1%): Choose a Goal from the UN Topics list that you would like to have as the focus of your audit. Please choose a topic that you are interested in researching.
The deliverable for this part is to list the goal you choose. Please note, however, that once you pick a goal you cannot change it. If you change it, you will have points deducted. You need to be sure that this topic interests you and that you will use for your final report.
UN Sustainable Development Goals Topic List
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 (Links to an external site.)
No Poverty
Zero Hunger
Good Health and Well-Being
Quality Education
Gender Equality
Clean Water and Sanitation
Affordable and Clean Energy
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Reduced Inequalities
Sustainable Cities
Responsible Consumption and Production
Climate Action
Life Below Water
Life on Land
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Partnerships
Part 1B (2%): Find a company that is doing something to help address this goal and research what it is doing. You will consider this your Exemplar Company. You want to find a company that others can use as a benchmark. The purpose of researching this company is to find ideas of what is being done in a given area or industry. Ideas that you can use in providing recommendations to your Case Company (see Stage 2 for details).
The deliverable should provide evidence that you have researched the Exemplar Company. This should include a list of at least 5 references that you will use in your report that provide information about either the company or the UN goal you have chosen. This can be any combination of references, but at least one has to be about a company or organization that is already doing something to achieve the goal. Meaning you can have 4 about the goal and 1 about the company. Or 4 about the company and 1 about the goal. The purpose of this process if to start the research process for your final report. Please see the Stage 3 requirements to give you a better idea of what the report requires to help guide your research.
You are not required to provide a write up. References should be provided in APA format. For details on APA formatting see https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html (Links to an external site.).
Part 1C (1%): Find a company that you would like to help improve. This should be a company or organization that is not doing enough to address your chosen UN topic and that could benefit from what is being done by the Exemplar Company. This will be considered your Case Company. In your final report you will be providing recommendations to this company. The deliverable is to list the company. Please note, however, that once you pick a company you cannot change it. If you change it, you will have points deducted. You need to be sure you can use the company for your final report.
Stage Two This stage requires you to complete two parts.
Part 2A (2%): At this point you will have researched your UN Sustainability goal and have read about at least one company (Your exemplar Company) that is doing something to try and achieve that goal. Now you need to think about how you are going to help your case company start moving toward the goal. Based on your research what things can your case company do to move toward achieving the US Sustainability goal.
The deliverable for this section would be an outline of your final report. Provide an outline of the report that has brief descriptions of each section you will have for the final report. The purpose of this outline is to ensure that you are on track to have the project completed.
You want this to be as polished as possible. So include a title page, a table of contents, page numbers, and references.
Part 2B (2%): Complete the reference and formatting quiz. Review the material provided in Module 11 and complete the quiz to ensure you know the requirements for the final report. You will have two attempts to complete this quiz.
Stage Three
Final Product is to be a 6-8 page paper on your recommendations for your Case Company. This could be no shorter than 6 pages but cannot exceed 8 pages. The page count does not include title page, table of contents, references or appendices. (12%).
This is to be a report on the goal, its importance, why the company should care and how this company can move toward making a difference in this area. Think of yourself as a consultant hired to help the company meet the chosen goal. You will need to make a case as to why they need to change and how they can change.
In this type of report, you want to give the organization options. Usually a report would have three potential courses of action that vary in scale, complexity and cost. Think of it as a small budget change (little disruption), a moderately budget change (moderately disruptive) and a large budget change (disruptive).
Once you have given the options, you then choose the one that you think is best suited for the company at this time.
NOTE: due to the length of this assignment, this will not be returned within the normal turnaround time. It will be returned before final grades are posted.
