Management in non-profit organisations. American Field Service (AFS) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a business model

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

Zusammenfassung

Abstract

1 Introduction

2 The American Field Service-AFS
2.1 The first world war and the American Ambulance Field Service
2.2 The AFS
2.3 AFS Nowadays
3 Understanding the concept sofan thropology and culture 12
3.1 Introduction to Anthropology
3.2 Introduction to culture

4 History behind theSDGs
4.1 The United Nations
4.2 The UN Structure
4.2.1 General Assembly(GA)
4.2.2 Security Council
4.2.3 Economic and Social Council(ECOSOC)
4.2.4 Trusteeship Council
4.2.5 International Court of Justice
4.2.6 Secretariat
4.3 Millennium Development Goals - MDGs

5.1 Analyzing the SDGs 32
5.2 Goal 16: Peace justice and strong institutions
5.3 Goal4: Quality Education
5.4 Goall7: Partnerships for the goals
5.5 Goal5: Gender Eguality
5.6 GoallO: Reduced lnegualities
5.7 Criticisms to the UN system and the SDGs

6 AFS and the SDGs
6.1 The AFS International and the SDGs
6.2 The AFS Germany
6.3 The AFS Brazil
6.3.1 The Effect Global Citizenship Education Workshop
6.4 Volunteers and the SDGs

7 Suggestions for AFS
7.1 Volunteerism
7.2 Programs
7.3 Education
7.4 Advocacy
7.5 Methodused for these strategies

8 Outlook

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

ILLUSTRATION 1: STRUCTURE AFS INTERNATIONAL

ILLUSTRATION 2: THE UN STRUCTURE

ILLUSTRATION 3: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

ILLUSTRATION 4: THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS - SDGS

ILLUSTRATION 5: RESULT ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE

ILLUSTRATION 6: HOW OLD ARE YOU?

ILLUSTRATION 7: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST DESCRIBE YOU?

ILLUSTRATION 8: DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ONE EXCHANGE PROGRAM FROM AFS BRAZIL?

ILLUSTRATION 9: DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN ONE EXCHANGE PROGRAM FROM AFS GERMANY?

ILLUSTRATION 10: ARE YOU AN AFS VOLUNTEER?

ILLUSTRATION 11: DOYOU KNOW WHATTHE SDGS ARE?

ILLUSTRATION 12: DOYOU KNOW ANY ACTIVITY FROM AFS BRAZILTOSUPPORTTHESDGS?

ILLUSTRATION 13: DOYOU KNOW ANY ACITIVITY FROM AFS GERMANYTO SUPPORTTHE SDGS?

ILLUSTRATION 14: AFS INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIE

ILLUSTRATION 15: STAIRCASE MODEL

List of Tables

TABLE 1: POSSIBLE ACHIEVEMENTS FROM EVERY PROPOSED ACTIVITY

List of Abbreviations

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Zusammenfassung

Die vorliegende Masterarbeit gibt einen Einblick in die international Organisation AFS und deren Interaktion mit den Zielen der Agenda 2030. Betrachtet und analysiert werden folgend Fragen wie: Wie kann AFS die SDGs unterstutzen? Und: 1st es sinnvoll fur AFS, die Partnerschaft zur Agenda 2030 zu verstarken? Zusatzlich zu Literatur, wurden Interviews mit funf Mitarbeitenden der Organisation AFS in Brasilien und Deutschland, sowie eine Onlinebefragung mit 89 Teilnehmenden durchgefuhrt. Die Erkenntnisse, welche aus diesen Interviews und der Befragung hervorgehen, ermoglichen durch Analyse die Entwicklung neuer Aktivitaten, urn die Partnerschaft zu verstarken. Am Ende steht die Erkenntnis, dass das Verstarken der Partnerschaft moglich ist und dies neue Perspektiven fur die Organisation schaffen kann. Gleichzeitig bringt dies grofte Herausforderungen mit sich. Es wird gehofft, dass die gewonnen Erkenntnisse motivierend auf die Mitarbeitenden, Ehrenamtlichen, sowie auf die gesamte Organisation wirken und genutzt werden, urn das Beste aus der Partnerschaft herauszuholen.

Abstract

This master's thesis gives an overview of the international organization AFS and how its interaction with the objectives of the Agenda 2030 happens. The questions of how AFS can support the SDGs and whether it makes sense for AFS to intensify this partnership were more accurately looked at and analyzed. In addition to the literature resources, interviews were conducted with five employees of the organization in Brazil and Germany, as well as an online survey with 89 volunteers. The findings from these interviews and online survey allowed the development of new activities to strengthen this partnership. In the end, the realization that this thesis achieves is that this cooperation is possible and it enables the creation on new perspectives for the organization; it also brings with it a great challenge. It is hoped that the skills developed here will be used as a motivation for employees, volunteers and the organization itself, so that the benefits of this partnership can be enjoyed to the utmost.

In the beginning of the 21st century, 189¹ world nations developed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new program geared toward stimulating the progress in developing countries. The collaboration between state, politics, industry, non-governmental organizations and civil society reached a level never seen before. This cooperation needed to be extended, since none of the goals proposed in this process were fully achieved. After this initiative, it became clear that these goals were so big, that no one had the capacity to promote a complete change alone. In the year of 2015, the UN presented a report to the world showing the achievements from the program created back in the year 2000. The goals achieved in this period were good, but they were not enough and there is a long path until all targets can be accomplished.

Trying to reach those and other goals, the United Nations created the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an expansion of the Millennium Development Goals. Despite their similarities, these two programs have a huge difference. The SDGs understand that the participation and collaboration from developed countries must be intensified on the search to achieve a more sustainable development for the world, which will provide a stronger cooperation between countries, instead of the MDG principle where only the developing countries were affected. If during the MDGs one of the targets was to develop a global partnership for development², where partners were developed countries or institutions, supporting other institutions and governments in developing countries, with the SDGs this perspective was changed, and the importance of cooperation got stronger. The UN understood that not only developing countries have the need to evolve on the search to promote better conditions for a sustainable development, but also developed countries now have to strive to achieve and promote the goals nationally and globally to benefit the whole world. This collaboration between more players created a new scenario for the SDGs, with more partners involved and the idea of participation from different actors in this process. In that sense, target 17 from the SDGs, partnership for the goals³, shows how the questions developed from the previous idea, changing focus from local and developing countries to international and a more complex field with different players acting.

The creation ofthe SDGs program in the year of2015 turns this theme into a very relevant and contemporary one, where some of the first developments and programs can already been seen. At the same time, this program is relatively new and has a lot of challenges to be conquered; there still time to change and intensify partnerships, though, so that all the goals can be accomplished. This can be a great opportunity for AFS to assess how they are already using this strategy and what they can do to support the SDGs, taking advantage of this program by developing new partnerships or reaching a new public. The SDGs are in the first years of development and there is still a lot ofwork to be done for at least other 11 years for this cooperation to be as successful as possible.

To understand the relevance of this topic another important point is the wide spectrum of goals present in the SDGs. The 17 goals are so diverse and they are present in different aspects and different ways in our everyday life, especially because of the connection between the goals and the targets. Different decisions in our routine can influence the different aspects from the SDGs in a positive or negative way. For example, the way we consume products and the industries we support interacts with different SDG goals, like sustainability, responsible consumption and production, and sustainable cities and communities. As proposed by the UN, the SDGs need as much collaborations as possible, and every citizen can support these targets in different ways, leading to a common benefit.

The idea behind this thesis is to take a look inside the AFS structure and programs to understand how this organization can work to support the SDGs. The first question here is, does AFS have the capacity to support the accomplishment of the SDGs? As a starting question, this is a very important one for the organization, so it can be understood what this organization is already doing to make this possible. Since the mission from AFS is to achieve a more just and peaceful world with intercultural learning⁴, this thesis assumes that AFS, even when not intentionally, does help the SDGs. At least regarding the target 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions⁵. But is there any other way that AFS can support the SDGs? Does AFS want to support the SDGs? What are the benefits for AFS to support such program? Is there any way AFS can improve their actions in this sense? Which from the 17 goals can AFS support better?

From this perspective, the idea behind this thesis is to analyze how an international nonprofit organization (NPO) focused on exchange programs can support and make use of the SDGs. The main questions here are how the Sustainable Development Goals can be used within the AFS business model and how this organization can plan new activities to increase this support? Could it be assisting the world as a whole, to achieve the goals proposed by the United Nations? That is why this analysis is so relevant, showing how this organization should focus on better initiatives and intensify this partnership or spare energy and focus on other aspects. Understanding that the use of limited resources and effort in the right structures and program can significantly push AFS and the SDGs forward or it may suggest that this resources and energy should be saved for other programs and initiatives. It is important to evaluate the benefits and costs of such a partnership to sketch the best action plan.

This thesis is only the beginning of a much longer process should AFS decide to support the SDGs. As presented in the compass guide, every organization who wants to take part in this project should go through a five-step analysis process to put to use during this partnership. The first step is to understand the SDGs as a whole and take a look what can be done. After that, it is vital to define priorities, searching which aspects are going to be focused on. The third step is to set the goals, that is, to create an action plan to be incorporated. The next step is to put this plan into action. Finally, the last part is to perform a control of this process and report the efforts to the public and partners. This five-step process should work as a circle and, after the control stage, it should start again from the second point over, focusing on new priorities or keeping the old ones until an effort in this aspect is completed[[6]]. This thesis uses this process as a basis to analyze and structure the activities for AFS in the future. Knowing that, the only part in which this thesis can directly support AFS throughout this journey is the first one, explaining the SDGs to coworkers, volunteers and participants. At the same time, this thesis also assists in defining priorities, showing which aspects the employees and volunteers understand as important for AFS. Moreover, at the end of this thesis there are also suggestions on new goals that can be used in this process. Even when these two steps are here explained and showed, this thesis cannot implement them, which leaves that task for AFS, which, at the end can analyze this information and look for the best way to support them and put these plans into action.

Trying to understand that background and to answer all those questions, this thesis uses from different research methods. For the first chapters of this thesis, different literature sources were used to find the material needed. Looking into different libraries in Leipzig and Osnabruck for terms like the United Nations, Culture, Anthropology, exchange programs, Agenda 2030 and SDGs. These queries would not have been possible without the servers provided by the universities, where it was possible to access books and periodic about these themes without the need to be physically present. Another important source for information, especially about the structure from the UN, was the Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung (BPB) and the United Nations website, which made possible to access original documents made by the UN and different analyses provided by the BPB concerning how the UN is structured. Since this is a very current theme, it was needed to search for news in different newspapers, to that end newspapers specially from Brazil were consulted, seeking to get information from different sources and as many different perspectives as possible. Internet databanks where also very important to locate scientific articles specially about culture and anthropology, for that terms like Franz Boas and Malinowski were used to find articles about this topic. The AFS Brazil, AFS Germany and AFS International websites delivered basic information about AFS and its structure, helping to understand how AFS works and what are the activities that have already been made about the SDGs. The AFS volunteer databank was also used to get newer information and provided an inside perspective on this theme with a current perspective. Since some AFS activities and some information about the SDGs are in video format this method was also used to take a look behind the AFS activities and to understand how the UN and other partners use different approaches to introduce the program to a bigger public variety. This research was very important in understanding the current course of a contemporary process and providing a full understanding of different and important aspects for a better comprehension of this thesis.

The first aspect to be presented in this thesis is the AFS history and structure. On the search for understanding how this organization can work and support the accomplishment of the SDGs, it is very important to present AFS to the readers who are not familiar with this organization, explaining what the principles behind this organization are and how it is structured. It is very important that this aspect is described first, so that readers can have a background about the organization and can understand in a better way the connection between the points that follow. The structure from AFS International and the differences between AFS Germany and AFS Brazil are going to be described later on.

The concept and idea behind anthropology and culture is the second point to be described in this thesis. The understanding on how this development happened from the first studies to a more modern methodology used in anthropology is fundamental to understand the origins of the concept of culture to analyze different societies around the world. This debate is essential when looking to achieve the AFS mission and the SDGs, especially in a world where the connection with different cultures and societies can happen in different ways and is becoming more common every day. This thesis also takes into consideration that the theme of culture is also present in the goals and targets from the SDGs, meaning that this aspect is very relevant to this agenda.

The third point presented in this thesis was the SDGs background, in order to understand how the UN was created, taking a look into the structure of this organization. This makes it possible to comprehend some of the principles behind the SDGs better. The proposal here is to understand the path the UN traveled until they achieved the 17 targets suggested for the SDGs; some of those goals are a reflection of the mission and structure found in the UN. This understanding can only be achieved with an explanation on the history and how the structure behind this institution works. Without this background, this thesis could lead to a different understanding. The presentation ofthe MDGs permits a better understanding of some characteristics behind the SDGs, and why this program should be enhanced.

With that background, it is easier to understand the SDGs and observe the characteristics behind some ofthe goals and targets proposed by the UN. It is also possible to comprehend the development between the two main programs described in this thesis, and how the huge structure from the UN developed a system where more players are needed to develop new strategies and achieve targets. The presentation of some of the goals and some programs from the SDGs can demonstrate how AFS can improve their contribution to these targets.

Trying to understand how AFS works, this thesis introduces how AFS international is divided and how the exchange between partners and institutions works. Knowing that AFS is present in 60 countries, an analysis on every partnership and every national AFS would be impossible to achieve and would turn this thesis into a much more complex work. For that reason, a partnership with AFS Germany and AFS Brazil made it possible to study these two organizations more closely, understanding the differences and specifications from every country studied. These differences and peculiarities are described in the next chapter of this thesis.

After this theoretical analysis and basic explanation on the background of this thesis, for the study proposed in the next chapters a qualitative interview was held with employees from AFS Brazil and AFS Germany, which was used to understand what the perspective from the organization in these aspects is and which strategies AFS uses to develop and promote the SDGs. This section also delivers a better comprehension of the structure from AFS in these two countries. For these interviews some questions were posed to every employee; these questions were mostly about the SDGs and AFS and they were sent by email, so the interviewee had time to structure their answers. Other questions were made to specific persons, aiming for a specialist answer from that field. Searching to provide the best information as possible to the reader, and aiming for a completely understandable interview, the method used for the transcription was the literal transcription proposed by Mayring[[7]]. These translations can be found in the appendix of this thesis, for later consultation and better understanding. The interviews where done personally at the AFS Brazil main office in Rio de Janeiro, and in Hamburg at the AFS Germany main office. The interviews where done in Portuguese in Brazil and in German in Germany, with the objective to avoid misunderstandings and assuring the interviewee was comfortable to answer all the questions. During the writing process of this thesis, emails where used to keep contact with both AFS offices so that further questions could be answered, improving the information collected and analyzed.

After these interviews, it was understood that only hearing the AFS employees was not going to be enough to illustrate the motivation behind AFS, since AFS has a huge volunteer basis. Trying to gather more information and different perspectives on how the organization could cooperate with the SDGs and how different volunteers understands this effort from AFS, online questionnaires were answered by volunteers and participants. These questionnaires were made in two different languages, so the person who answered it did not misunderstand the questions. There was a total of ten questions and the idea was to get a better perception on how volunteers look at these aspects by AFS and to understand a little bit better how volunteers and participants understands the interaction between AFS and the SDGs. The last part tends to analyze this information, aiming to understand how

AFS is working, analyzing it and developing new ideas on how AFS can work as a single institution orwith partners around the globe to promote the SDGs.

As expected, this thesis also has some limitations. On the search for a better and direct cooperation with AFS Brazil and Germany, it would be impossible and very complex to analyze the whole AFS system. The organization is present in 60 countries, and has programs in 98 countries and one would need a huge effort to study the whole organization and partners. Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve that. The interviews were limited to five, three in AFS Germany and two in Brazil. The online questionnaires were available in the internet for two and a half months, achieving a total of 89 answers, 32 from Brazil and 57 from Germany. Every country had around one month to distribute and send it to different participants and volunteers.

This thesis uses the method developed by Mayring to structure the interviews and questionnaires. Starting with the question of why this research is relevant for AFS and the world. After that understanding the problem and dividing it into two different variables, whether it is important and possible for AFS to support the SDGs or if it is not possible or impractical for AFS to strengthen this partnership. After that the strategy for the interviews was outlined and the questions were structured, together with the indicators needed, such as how coworkers understand this partnership. The next step was to transcribe these interviews, analyze from the data and develop new methods, such as the online questionnaire to comprehend different aspects better that were not possible to achieve with the interviews. Leading to the analysis ofthese materials, and evaluation from the results[[8]].

These analyses it made possible to develop new strategies and present them here as suggestions for AFS to apply into their structure, searching for new forms to support SDGs in the best way possible. In addition to the interviews, questionnaires and the five steps presented before, this thesis used two other methods to develop these strategies, both from PHINEO. The development of SMART strategies and the use of the staircase method to evaluate the evolution from these activities after their application. These two methods are better described later on, introducing readers to these two theories.

The last chapter of this thesis tries to resume all the most important information present in this work, reflecting on this process and providing an opinion on whether AFS should keep this process or not.

2 The American Field Service - AFS

The American Field Service, also known as AFS, is an international organization which promotes exchange programs aiming to promote justice and a more peaceful world. The idea behind this objective is to enable, through intercultural learning and exchange programs, a better acceptance of different cultures, developing international understanding and peace. The now well-known AFS has a long past and it is important to understand the concept behind this organization in the search to understand the importance of this analysis and how an organization specialized in exchange programs can help the SDGs to be accomplished.

2.1 The first world war and the American Ambulance Field Service

The history of the American Field Service starts with A. Piatt Andrew boarding as a volunteer for the American Ambulance Hospital in France in the year of 1914. This hospital was used during the First World War to treat wounded soldiers returning from the battlefield. Andrew volunteered as an ambulance driver at the Hospital in January of 1915. He would drive an ambulance, going from train stations to different hospitals in the city, carrying the injured patients to receive treatment. After some months, he was nominated inspector general of the hospital’s transportation committee. At this position he negotiated with the France army and some ambulances got the permission to drive to the front lines to rescue some injured soldiers. This ambulance section was known as the “American Ambulance Field Service”. In July 1916, Andrew left the American Ambulance Hospital and created the independent American Ambulance Field Service (AAFS), being given two donations the AAFS had the opportunity to build its headquarters in Paris. In the year of 1917, the United States entered the war and AAFS joined the national units engaged in transporting supplies and the wounded in France; for that reason AAFS changed its name to American Field Service (AFS). By the end of 1917, the military had absorbed the AFS ambulances and trucks to their ranks and tents. Between the years of 1920 and 1952, the AFS created a program to develop peaceful ties between France and the United States, granting 222 fellowships to graduate students, so they could have an international experience. In the year of 1939, under the leadership of director general Stephen Galatti, AFS was reactivated as a volunteer program to rescue injured soldiers from the battlefield. The first unit of

Americans went on the 23th of March, 1940 to Europe. Even after the arrival from the Germans, AFS kept its work in France. AFS officially aligned with the English and French army. From 1941 to 1944 the volunteers and ambulances from AFS helped soldiers from the French, British, Polish, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, and South African troops in different regions: the Middle East, North Africa, Italy, Germany, India, and Burma. On April 15th, 1945, volunteers from AFS helped the rescue to the concentration camp in Bergen- Belsen, evacuating 11.000 persons to a secure camp nearby. Throughout the war years, 2.196 volunteers from AFS were responsible to carry 700.000 wounded⁶.

2.2 The AFS

In 1946, from AFS director Stephen Galatti and AFS volunteers and ambulance drivers in the first and second world war founded the exchange program known today as the AFS exchange student program for secondary school students. The idea of the program was to perpetuate international friendship in peacetime. In the following year, the first participants from different countries, France, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Norway, England, and Syria went to the United States to the scholarship program. After this first experience, the international participants went back to their home countries and they developed new programs in such countries to receive American students, so that in the year of 1950 the first US students had the opportunity to study abroad. During the first years of successfully having international students in North America, different presidents from the United States meeted with the exchange students every year, and, in one ofthe speeches given in these functions in 1963, John F. Kennedy talks about how AFS contributes to public democracy⁷.

In 1984, AFS affirmed its commitment to intercultural learning and developed its educational goals, creating an Intercultural Learning workshop with 16 target goals to achieve the educational approach in which the program supports itself. To achieve this objective, the participant should receive orientation in some different aspects such as: intercultural learning, background in the concept of culture and methods to adapt in a new culture. Leading the participant to reflection and giving the ability to learn and discuss with the group about different themes. Other goals proposed from these workshops can only be accomplish after a long-time reflection on the year and the program. With these programs AFS intended to achieve growth and change in terms of personal values and skills, interpersonal relationship building, intercultural knowledge and sensitivity, and global issues awareness⁸. In the year of 1990, AFS created the structure which is still being used by the AFS Partnerships nowadays, where every AFS in different countries works as an independent organization with different partnerships with AFS international.

2.3 AFS Nowadays

In 2015 volunteers from AFS met in Paris for the 100-year anniversary of the organization. From the American Ambulance Field Service foundation until that date more than 500.000 participants had participated in AFS programs around the world. The network created in these 103 years of activity created a huge infrastructure, present in 60 countries on five continents in the world. AFS is one of the biggest organizations that deals with exchange programs in the world and the first one to promote such experience. Partnerships with different organizations that share a similar mission to AFS, enables AFS to be present in 98 countries increasing the growth of programs and international presence. Only in the year of 2017, AFS had 12.151 participants in 10.000 different host families going to 5.000 different schools in all 98 countries within the network. The one-year high school program is the flagship of AFS, but there are other programs such as for older than 18 year old’s, short period exchange, among others⁹.

In this period, AFS reached a big and complex structure that is important to comprehend, so that one can understand how a decision to support the SDGs can be applied. AFS works in different levels; the central part is the AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc., which is a non- for-profit organization located in New York City. This organ controls all the other AFS Partners and delivers new international strategy to every country, stipulating new goals for the year, and providing the network and databank infrastructure. Every AFS partner, that is, every AFS representation in each country, is sovereign and can make most decisions for programs and development on its own, but every AFS partner provides a fiscal audit every year to AFS International. Partners in each country have contact with one another and are able through this structure to develop new plans and exchange programs. Beside this, AFS partners are present in 60 countries, which are not inside the AFS structure. These partners are working with different organizations to provide the structure to develop exchange programs in countries where AFS has no national presence, for example, in Cameroon, or with other organizations to create programs in an action field where AFS does not have the know-how for that, such as programs in the environmental sector in Brazil¹⁰. Every national AFS has different organs and different structures, but every AFS has a national office where employees work and make sure that the programs are going as expected. However, this work would not be enough if it were not for the volunteers who, in most of cases, partnership with new schools, families and are the new candidates’ first contact. AFS also has subsidiaries such as Sentio and the InterCultur¹¹ in Germany; these organizations are autonomous and have a strong partnership with AFS, developing and acting in different areas, so that AFS can focus in the exchange programs.

Illustration 1: Structure AFS International

Quelle: Own Illustration

In the year of 2017, AFS established a new strategy focused in strengthening the organization and promoting a bigger impact worldwide. This strategy aims to influence three different areas: develop active global citizens, expand access to intercultural education and globalize schools and institutions. This strategy also states that, to achieve these results, AFS needs to develop different action plans in its international network, especially improving four different areas of action: exchange programs, education, volunteerism and advocacy¹². This new approach from AFS understands that this is the better way to go in order to improve their responsibility and activity in the world. Especially at this moment where nations are closing borders, communities are getting divided and basic education is still a problem in different countries[[16]]. This new strategy from AFS is similar in some aspects to some goals from the SDGs, but this comparison will be visited at a latter point in this thesis.

3 Understanding the concepts of anthropology and culture

On the search to understand the main question of this thesis, it is important to take other aspects in evidence, especially for readers that are not familiar with the concept of anthropology and culture. At the first point the organization in focus, AFS develops exchange programs, promoting the opportunity to an intercultural learning in a way to promote international peace. Therefore, it is important to explain some key ideas that are important in understanding the whole process. This briefly introduction to anthropology and culture does not presume to explain or discuss anthropology or culture. These debates are far too long and complex and it would be naive to expect that in such a short space. The idea here is to present some of the main aspects concerning anthropology and culture, so that the reader who has no contact with this field can understand why one organization that develops exchange programs can help the targets from the SDGs to be accomplished. Every paper that proposes to make a short introduction on those two aspects have done a very big and hard work on trying to summarize the most relevant aspects from that field. However, this is an almost impossible task since the two areas have different facets and all of them are very important on understanding the concepts as a whole and their development.

With that said, the target here is neither to show the best nor the only way to understand and describe anthropology and culture. At the same time, the following theories present some key information to understand these theories as a whole. In summary, the target here is to introduce and offer a first contact to the importance of anthropology and culture studies, hoping that our reader will keep in mind that those are not the only ways to understand and look at these theories.

3.1 Introduction to Anthropology

It is impossible to discuss and introduce the concept of culture without visiting some anthropology concepts. This introduction tries to illustrate how the AFS mission, “to build a more just and peaceful world through international education and exchange”¹³, can be achieved through exchange programs. The main idea here is to explain some basis of this concept and not to explain all the points that this study already achieved. Anthropology has many fields of resource and development, such as Social Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Feminist Anthropology and others more¹⁴. It would be naive to think that the complexity of those fields could be explained in such a short space. As mentioned before, the discussion surrounding anthropology is much more complex than proposed in this thesis. With that in mind, this thesis uses the beginning from the discussions from the anthropology field as a starting point to understand the concepts of today, without getting much deeper into it.

The concept of anthropology has its first annotations about the 17th century. One of the first theories that contributed to the discussion about Anthropology was Evolutionism. This theory came only in the 19th century and was greatly influenced by the ideas developed by Charles Darwin on the evolution of species in his book: On the Origins of Species from 1859. The idea behind this concept is that culture has a structure and a normal way to develop. That means that the cultures taken as not developed present a picture of the past state of the more developed cultures at that time¹⁵ ; assuming that every culture has the same processes and they all are going to achieve the same standards at some point. Every civilization would experience all processes, from savagery to barbarism until they reach civilization. In this case, studying less developed cultures was a way to understand the past of more developed societies. Some of the criticisms in the beginning of the study of anthropology was the way writers collected their data. All the information they got and wrote about came from travelers who collected them, and there was no real contact with the society they were describing.

Some authors wrote about different societies without leaving their offices, and so this period of anthropology is called armchair anthropology¹⁶. Franz Boas criticized evolutionists and armchair anthropology. Some of his criticism can be found in his paper The Limitations of the Comparative Method of Anthropology from 1896¹⁷. One such criticism was how the authors from this period collected their information, using material from merchants, travelers, priests and persons who contacted a specific group and tried to describe some rituals, or the way they were structured. Sometimes the anthropologist would collect information from different sources, so they could check if it was reliable, in order to be able to write about it. However, neither leaving the office nor getting in contact with the subject of study is one of the biggest criticisms over this kind of anthropology. It was only with Bronislaw Malinowski that the concept of participatory observation was described¹⁸.

Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski were the firsts to visit the societies they were studying and to establish direct contact with the group. They were trying to understand the differences between cultures in a better way. Boas lived one year with the Eskimos in the year of 1883, but he studied the Eskimos as an observer¹⁹. This was already a breakthrough in the anthropology area and a big criticism at armchair anthropology. Nevertheless, it was only with the book from Malinowski, Argonauts on the Western Pacific from 1922 that the concept of participatory anthropology was used for the first time, being a remarkable piece in this field. Malinowski also elucidated the importance of going abroad and studying the culture as a whole, not as separated in small parts of a society. After his studies, Boas criticized in different ways armchair anthropology and evolutionism as a total. He was the first person to use the term culture in the plural, avoiding the evolutionist concept that all societies share only one culture and that in the end they all have the same base²⁰. From this perspective, anthropology does not try to understand the path the culture took to reach determinate point, much more importantly; they try to comprehend the different and specific cultures in every singularity.

Boas also criticized the way that museums and evolutionism organized and classified activities and instruments from different cultures, which followed the structural ideas present at that time that a culture should be analyzed in small parts, where every part would be analyzed and categorized. At the end, different cultures and societies that share a similar aspect or tool would be categorized and organized as the same; not asking the background of that information and not looking at the culture as a whole, not considering that the instruments or activities could be similar but have a different meaning or use²¹. That means that museums would take an object that had the same principle but from different parts of the world and classify them together. For Boas this kind of organization fails to take in consideration that ideas do not exist in two different places in identical forms; they vary.

These variations can happen in different aspects, for example, external elements like the environment or because of internal elements like psychologic ones. These internal and external elements can change the way two societies understand one aspect or the way they use the same tool²².

In the middle of the 19th century, another school of thought was developed in the anthropology field, the diffusionism. This line of thought understands and explains development of culture in a different way and proposes a new manner for anthropology to collect and care for the information. Winthrop understands the idea behind diffusionism as some cultural traits that were transferred from one society to another after the contact between both communities. This contact may occur in different ways like war, migration, trade or other contact forms. Winthrop classifies diffusionism in 3 different versions. The first one, the heliocentric diffusion, understands that one culture center was divided throughout the whole world. The second variant says that the world had some culture centers and those centers spread to other societies in a region (culture circles). The last form says that every society was influenced by others; this process is both reliant and arbitrary²³. In that sense the biggest difference between evolutionism and diffusionism is the way they understand societies and evolution. While evolutionism tries to explain the path in which nations evolve, diffusionism searches to comprehend different cultures, their peculiarities and how one society interacts with other cultures and develops its own structures²⁴.

Trying to understand the crucial question, why do cultures change / evolve, Malinowski understands that the human being has 3 basic needs: food, sex and shelter. When individuals develop actions to fulfill these goals, they contact new persons, which is followed by interaction with others; this would lead to a network, resulting in new societies or in a confrontation between groups²⁵. This main idea is the origin of another theory in anthropology, functionalism. Functionalism has two major lines of thought. On the first line Malinowski uses the idea that society structures are derived by the biological needs from individuals, and these needs would develop institutions to preserve the needs of the population, developing new societies and cultures²⁶. On the other hand, he defended that the importance about functionalism is the study of society as a whole. The principle used by Radcliffe-Brown stems from the same base as sociology, understanding that a group of people should be understood as social and not biological²⁷. This means that the group would develop new structures, developing new ways to provide the needs of everyone, not only for the person as an individual.

This basic introduction to anthropology should help explain some principles behind culture as well. This introduction is very important in understanding the work AFS does. Mentioning the importance of exchange during this process of development of new theories in the anthropology. Without the field of work from Boas and Malinowski other theories would not have been created. This contact with “new” and different cultures was important for a more comprehensive view from different civilizations. These theories collaborate to create a better understanding on the AFS work and its mission, and this close interaction with a new culture enables a better interaction between cultures and different societies.

3.2 Introduction to culture

Now that anthropology was introduced, the next topic to be presented is the concept of culture, which is also complex and has different sub-topics. The idea here is to build a bridge between the concepts of culture / anthropology, connecting them with the concept behind an exchange program and how it can assist the SDGs to be accomplished. This means that the theories here shown are not the only way to interpret this term and this should not be seen as the right way to understands it.

The terminology culture has been used by the study of anthropology for a long time. When looking for the etymology of this word, the Oxford dictionary describes its as: “Middle English (denoting a cultivated piece of land): the noun from French culture or directly from Latin cultura ‘growing, cultivation’; the verb from obsolete French culturer or medieval Latin culturare, both based on Latin colere ‘tend, cultivate’ (see cultivate). In late Middle English the sense was ‘cultivation of the soil’ and from this (early 16th century), arose ‘cultivation (of the mind, faculties, ormanners’); culture (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the early 19th century.” ²⁸

This definition shows that the word culture has a common meaning describing the concept of growing, development and change. This word has a variety of meanings, and is used to describe different concepts like tradition, climate, civilization, etc.

As different theories about anthropology described culture, this terminology changed its meaning, depending on the anthropological perspective. Authors like Tylor and the evolutionism understand the concept from culture as one. This understanding believes that culture was developed from every society and there was only one culture for the whole world. The term culture, according to this conception, could have more and less developed characteristics; these structures also described some societies as uncultured or uncivilized²⁹.

A big difference came with the concept presented by Franz Boas. The change from culture into cultures brought a new perspective into debate. Not only that the concept of culture is evolutionary, but that every society sharing the same culture in different development stages was exceeded. However, he also defended three forms to classify societies and humankind. The first one transforms the use of culture into a way to describe humankind, and not only as a physical characteristic; in other words, the term culture was used as an alternative to the term race. Secondly, he also understands that the different cultures developed themselves from a diversity of elements that fused together to build a new form of culture. The last form to classify societies was the way one society would interact with a different aspect of other cultures and integrate this one to its own culture. This new perspective brought an important and relativistic way to comprehend culture³⁰. This idea is closer to the concept of diffusionism presented before in the introduction of anthropology.

Another important change in the perspective on how academics understood the development of culture was the shift in perspective on how a culture should be studied; that is, as the individuals and not only the group as a whole. This means that culture is not defined by the gens that someone receives when he/she is born, but something that everyone acquires over time in contact with the society³¹. One important scholar in this field was Edward Sapir. In his paper culture and personality³², Sapir explains how every person can have a different way to understand the same subject. Per this principle, the contact with society will form the way persons think and interact with it. This explains how two persons in the same culture can comprehend the same aspect in a different way. The person’s background and the groups he/she belongs to will also transform one’s point of view, just like the time when this analysis was made. This change of perspective can change the meaning of the same aspect being watched. For example: “A businessman and an actress might both know the plot of Hamlet, but for one of them it is irrelevant to daily affairs, while to another it is central. Neither of them cares about how they both intuitively produce grammatical sentence.” ³³

For other academics, culture is something that is going to be passed over time to the next generation. The contact with the culture surrounding a person will bring in some aspects from the society. Some of these aspects will be incorporated into his/her personality; others will have only an unconscious significance, while some would be accepted by the majority of this society³⁴. Humanity’s ability to learn plays an important role in the development of culture.

These theories help in the process of understanding what culture is and how this can affect the development of the SDG objectives. In an attempt to better describe what culture is, the UNESCO definition of culture is an important source to explain this concept. For UNESCO, culture is:

"[Culture] is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a memberof society." ³⁵

The brief definition of culture and the presentation of different theses should bring a better understanding of this thematic, and, even with all its complexity, at this point the terminology and the central idea should be clearer.

After the September 11th attack, the members of UNESCO developed the universal declaration on cultural diversity. This declaration shows how important the dialogue and the exchange between cultures is important to develop a more peaceful world. The intercultural dialogue provides a better understanding of the differences between cultures and, as proposed in this conference, once cultures respect each other and follow some basic rules, we could reach a more peaceful world. This document describes the necessity of changing the perspective to replace cultural diversity to pluralism. This means that different cultures can be respected and everyone has the right and place to practice their beliefs. This pluralism will bring about an intensive exchange between cultures and at the same time create some basis to respect the human rights in multiple ways³⁶.

The UNESCO declaration also explains how the governments and society need to cooperate to achieve these goals. Where the traditions and new cultures can live together. The document also makes it clear, though, the dynamism that culture has and understands culture as a heritage for a global society³⁷.

Another important characteristic in understanding the concept of culture is that cultures have different forms and it can change over a period of time. The idea that there is not only one culture for the world should be understood, be it for one society or for the individual. The term culture is very dynamic, and some external factors and perspectives can change the development and understanding of this concept. From this perspective, the diversity and the dynamism regarding the idea of culture is important for the exchange, innovation and creativity between cultures. This process is as important for the progress of societies as is biodiversity for nature³⁸.

This argument with the conviction from UNESCO that the dialogue between cultures can be the best, or one of the ways to promote peace and intervene in clash of cultures can be seen in the AFS mission, which states that justice and a more peaceful world is the principal aspect behind AFS programs, or at least it should be. This means that on a search for a better understanding of different cultures and a more plural world, humankind is actually giving a better understanding a chance. Therefore, the mission that AFS³⁹ follows is already a way to support the SDGs, at least SDG: 16 - Peace, Justice and strong institutions⁴⁰.

After this short introduction about anthropology and culture, it may be clearer for the reader why an organization that develops exchange programs can support the SDGs and promote peace. The understanding in these two fields should display the importance of this area. Bearing in mind that the program behind the SDGs and the AFS structure and its programs are much bigger than described here, the next chapters of this thesis are going to explore these two aspects further, so that at the end a specific analysis of AFS and the SDGs can be done.

4 HistorybehindtheSDGs

After this introduction to anthropology and culture, another important aspect for this thesis that need to be comprehended is the structure behind the UN. The Sustainable Development Goals is a program created by this organization, with which almost all countries in the World are committed. This agenda tries to accomplish some objectives that are important for sustainable development around the world. The idea behind the SDGs has a long history of development and cooperation between countries, especially since the foundation from the UN. That being said, it is important to understand a little bit of the structure behind the organization that developed this agenda and concept.

4.1 The United Nations

As presented before, the United Nations developed the targets to be followed by the SDGs. Taking into consideration that some of the readers of this thesis do not know exactly how the structure behind the UN works, it is important to explain the principles behind this organization, so that its development until the present days can be easily understood. Before the UN was created and developed a program searching for a peaceful world, other organizations had already had this target as mission. The 1920 League of Nations was the first organization with this intent, acting as a global institution aiming to establish and maintain global peace. The ideas behind the League of Nations were strongly influenced by the 14 Points developed by US-President Woodrow Wilson. This institution failed as soon countries like Germany, Japan and Italy left the organization, right before the World War II⁴¹.

After the beginning of the Second World War, different countries understood that the world needed an international organization to watch over all nations and ensure a peaceful world⁴². In the year of 1941, the cooperation between England and the United States created the Atlantic-Charta. This document has the structures needed to develop an international organization to control world peace⁴³. In January first, 1942, representatives from 26 countries signed a document against the Tokyo-Rome-Berlin alliance, creating the declaration of the United Nations⁴⁴. The international organization foundation came only a few years later; in October 20th, 1945, representatives from 50 countries signed the Charta of the United Nations⁴⁵. The purpose of the United Nations is to provide and maintain the international peace and security. Maintaining the idea of freedom and cooperation between countries to achieve that goal. An important aspect on the UN Charta is the principle of sovereign equality⁴⁶. This means that every country has the same rights and duties as the others.

4.2 The UN Structure

To understand better how the United Nations works, it is important to take a look at the structure behind it and understand a little about the different organs in this institution.

4.2.1 GeneralAssembly(GA)

The General Assembly is the biggest and only Organ in the UN where all 193⁴⁷ countries are represented. Every year in September, the representatives from all countries meet in New York at the general assembly. Every member from the UN has the right to one vote and can take 5 representatives to the general assembly⁴⁸. Important questions, like the necessary aspects to maintain the international peace and security, the election of non­permanent members of the security council, the election of members for the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the election of members to the trusteeship council, the admission of new members to the United Nations, suspension of the rights or suspension of a membership, the expulsion of members, as well as questions surrounding the operation from the trusteeship system, and questions surrounding the budget for next year, must be agreed by a two-thirds majority to be accepted⁴⁹. Decisions on other questions like including additional categories to be decided by a two-third majority, are decided as a single majority of the present members that have the right to vote. Members that have gone more than two years without paying the financial contribution to the Organization shall have no right on vote in the GA. The general assembly can grant the right to vote back, if the member proves he has no power over the reason he did not pay⁵⁰. The GA discusses international questions, especially about international security, or every other topic that members or non­members from the UN brings into debate. The General Assembly can make recommendations to the countries concerning the topics on debate. In any matter where the GA considers it a further risk for the peace and international security, the GA will pass the theme forward onto the security council. The principle of co-operation, sovereignty and human rights are three main characteristics present in the UN and the general assembly⁵¹.

4.2.2 Security Council

To achieve the main objective of world peace and security, the armed conflicts should be avoided, and only in situations where the UN Security Council deems it necessary should there be an armed intervention⁵². The UN Security Council consists of fifteen members, but China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America are permanent members in the Security Council. All other countries are nominated by the General Assembly and shall have a mandate of two years in the Security Council. Every member in this council has the right to one vote. There must be nine votes for a decision to be reached, but in most of the cases all five permanent members must also agree with the resolution; this means that those countries have the power of veto⁵³. This council has regular meetings and the presidency changes every month. This also means that the conferences can change locations to make it easier for the members to assemble and discuss. The Security Council has the authority and duty to ensure world peace and security, to reach this aspect, the dialogue and negotiation between parties should be always the first form of negotiation. The last intervention method available in the United Nations is the intervention through the blue helmets, or the UN army⁵⁴. This council shall also deliver a report every year to the general assembly, in addition to special reports in between, if needed.

4.2.3 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

The Economic and Social Council shall be represented by fifty-four members of the UN; they all must be elected by the general assembly. Every year eighteen members will be elected and they all have a three-year mandate in the ECOSOC. The economic and social council has as their function making and initiating studies/reports so at the end they promote a dialogue between countries, making some recommendations for those countries about the economic, social and environmental issues. The associates from this council should take economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and other aspects into consideration before presenting any proposal. Matters like the human rights have a big relevance into debate on this council. Another function of this organ is to monitory the development from previous questions and recommendations⁵⁵.

4.2.4 TrusteeshipCouncil

The Trusteeship Council was created in 1945 to provide and support the countries that, at that time, were without government or could not rule on their own. The change of the structure of these eleven countries came after the end of the Second World War. For this reason, other seven member states from the UN supported these countries to reach independence⁵⁶. In the year of 1994 all those countries reached independence or self­government status, so that on 1th of November 1994 this council changed its structure of meeting every year and stablished the need for such organ only when needed or by request from the majority from the general assembly⁵⁷.

4.2.5 International Court of Justice

As the United Nations quotes, the international court of justice is the biggest and principal judicial organ within the organization. This court has his own jurisdiction. All members from the UN are responsible for their actions and can be judge by the international court. States that do not belong to the United Nations can also ask for support from the international court, in this case, the general assembly will determine the conditions for each circumstance. The decisions taken by this court must be accepted by the countries. If those countries fail to accomplish the established by this court, the Security Council can take part in this case⁵⁸. The International Court of Justice is the only organ from the UN that does not have its site in New York, but in the Netherlands⁵⁹.

4.2.6 Secretariat

The last UN organ to be described is the Secretariat. This organ is composed of the Secretary-General and other persons on the staff as the organization requires. The Secretary shall act in all meetings in the different organs in the UN, its function can vary as the different organs suggest. Members from the Secretariat should work following the interests from the UN and not cooperate with other countries or any other authority. The countries comprehend the authority from these persons and shall not influence them⁶⁰.

Other programs and funds also under the spectrum of the UN are the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), such as the specialized agencies like: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Trade Organization (WTO) and Word Health Organization (WHO) work together in supporting the organization achieve its main objectives. However, these organisms will not be described in this thesis because they would turn it into a much more complex debate and they are not so relevant in understanding the Sustainable Development Goals.

After this brief introduction on the UN structure, the six different organs were explained in order to display in a better way how the cooperation between these organs happens. The following diagram should illustrate this process in the United Nations, so that it can be better understood.

Quelle: Own Illustration

The history of the UN and some principles of this institution are relevant to understand the process that lead to the creation of the SDGs. The main ideas behind the cooperation with UN, of peace, development and sustainability, must be followed and strengthened by the organization and partnerships between different countries. The exchange between all organs in the UN and the concerns of the world brought about the action plan for the future. Different conferences have shown how the idea and complexity behind the concept of peace has changed throughout the years. An important example is the Rio Summit in the year of 1992. It was one of the first conferences to put environmental development in the international scenario, showing that peace and human rights, two of the basic objectives from the UN, must be integrated with other questions like sustainable development; otherwise is impossible to reach international peace without acting in different aspects⁶¹.

4.3 Millennium Development Goals - MDGs

There were different conferences in which Governments were looking into improving cooperation to achieve peace and development. It would be a very extensive work to describe all of them here in this thesis. With that said, the only program that is going to be described is the predecessor from the SDGs, the MDGs. From the 6th to 8th September, 2000, heads of States and Governments from 189 member states met at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, demonstrating their faith in the organization, and the importance of the objectives followed by the UN. They signed the United Nations Millennium

Declaration; this declaration has 8 objectives that should be achieved in the next fifteen years⁶².

Illustration 3: Millennium Development Goals

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Quelle: United Nations, 2009, n.p. Online publication

With the understanding that developing countries had a longer path to go before they reached development and were able to promote better conditions to the population. The MDGs focused on these countries. The idea behind this was that when the developing countries reached these goals, it would promote a significant change in the international system. For that, it is important that the world population share the same rights, especially the basic ones. It is impossible to talk about peace without talking about human rights, and therefore it is fundamental to provide basic needs such as clean water, food, education and medical assistance. At the beginning of the millennium, 47% of the population from developing countries was in extreme poverty. This means that these people lived with less than US$1.25⁶³ per day⁶⁴. The idea behind the MDGs was to support development in these societies, for that they shared fundamental values such as freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility. Some of these values were also developed in the beginning of the UN⁶⁵, which shows how the main idea from the United Nations developed into something bigger and much more complex.

Ban Ki-Moon, secretary-general of the UN from 2007 to 2016, described the MDGs as the most successful anti-poverty movement in history. He also recognizes that the MDGs were very important in creating a better cooperation between countries and was responsible for a huge development in some aspects. On the other hand, this development was unequal, in which the poorest and weakest populations were still left behind⁶⁶.

The Millennium Development Goals had 8 goals, 21 targets and 60 indicators to measure their progress⁶⁷. Some of these goals already had data collected from 1990 so that the development could be compared between the years of 1990 and 2015. In the year of 2010, the UN General Assembly made a report maintaining the importance of this initiative, the progress made until that moment, lessons learned in this process and recommendations for the future. This report was important to reaffirm the commitment from different players to reach the 8 international goals⁶⁸.

As it can be seen in this report from 2010 and a later report from 2015, the progress in some countries and some areas was very impressive, but in other cases, there was a decrease in the process. The MDG No. 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, had a huge development, especially in regions like Asia, where China alone reached the mark of a 94% decrease in extreme poverty and hunger. The first ten years of development showed a huge development and big investments. However, specialists understand the global economic crises from 2008/2009⁶⁹ as one of the strongest reasons why countries invested less in achieving the MDGs. In this report, it is possible to see some decrease after this period⁷⁰.

Another aspect that presented positive progress children’s access to primary school despite gender. In this aspect, the Sub-Saharan Africa achieved a development of 28% between 1990 and 2015, going from 52% to 80% of their children in school⁷¹. This means that, even countries with a lower income were able to provide primary education for a bigger part of society. There was also improvement in the number of girls going to school, and this growth was worldwide.

Nevertheless, the studies showed near parity between genders only at the primary school level. In other levels, girls and women would still have a bigger difficulty to participate. If at primary school 64% of the countries reached the target of inclusion by the year of 2012, only 36% of the countries reached the target for gender equality on secondary education and this target gets even worst at a university level, with the percentage reaching only 3% in the year of 2012⁷². Even with better qualifications, women struggle more to find paid work and when they find it, they get lower earnings than men do; with a difference on payment around 24% globally⁷³.

The idea here is not to criticize or evaluate how the MDGs could be better implemented or if the MDGs were effective. Although none of the 8 targets were 100% accomplished, it is important to understand that this background and cooperation between countries showed the need for a stronger collaboration in the search for a better world. As Ban Ki-Moon presents:

“Experiences and evidence from the efforts to achieve the MDGs demonstrate that we know what to do. But further progress will require an unswerving political will, and collective, long-term effort. We need to tackle root causes and do more to integrate the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The emerging post-2015 development agenda, including the set ofSustainable Development Goals, strives to reflect these lessons, build on our successes and put all countries, together, firmly on track towards a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable world.” ⁷⁴

The Millennium Development Goals were the predecessor to the SDGs. By the end of 2015 the governments have reached the conclusion that huge progress was made, but the path is much longer than they first thought. This understanding brought the ideas of the Sustainable Development Goals to life.

5 Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs

In order to achieve a better world for everyone, Institutions, governments and specially the UN understood that the MDGs were a good starting point; however, it was only the beginning of this process. To achieve real change, more collaboration would be necessary and, this time, not only from developing countries and governments, but also from different stakeholders. Once again, the UN General Assembly took place in New York, in September 2015. Leaders from 193⁷⁵ countries decided for a new global program, the Sustainable Development Goals. As described in the resolution from September 25, the chiefs of States decided for a program to put an end to extreme poverty. This agenda seeks sustainable development in three different dimensions: economic, social and environmental. The 17 goals and the 169 targets from the SDGs are the new approach to accomplish what it was not possible to achieve during the MDGs. These goals are interconnected and achieving these objectives, a better world for this and further generations will be possible⁷⁶. The 17 goals presented at this declaration are:

Illustration 4: The Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs

Quelle: United Nations Global Compact, 2016, n.p. Online publication

Looking towards achieving these goals, this declaration understands the necessity of cooperation between countries and different stakeholders as the only option to succeed in this task. There are some differences between the previous program and the new one. Firstly, the number of goals changed from 8 to 17, making the new proposal ampler and more specific. A second difference to the MDGs is the number of players and stakeholders involved; the newer activity comprehends the need of developed countries to evolve as well, changing the way governments and collaborators interact with those targets and goals⁷⁷. The old program proposed that the developing countries were the only ones that needed to evolve. The SDGs turns collaboration into a deeper focus; the world should work as a team to achieve, together, all the 17 goals. With special attention towards supporting the poorest and most vulnerable populations⁷⁸.

These aspects changed how the world and institutions interact with the SDGs. The way the UN and other organizations use and promote the SDGs has also changed. There are advertisements being used to reach more persons around the world, turning them into players and sharing responsibility⁷⁹. Not only the document from 2015 is important to analyze the change withstood by this process, but also the forms the United Nations uses to communicate with as many persons as possible. There are videos on YouTube with different personalities endorsing the UN and talking about the SDGs and how everyone can and needs to collaborate to be the first generation to end extreme poverty⁸⁰. There is also an APP (mobile application for Android and iOS) called SDGs in Action, where everyone with a smartphone can follow the progress on the SDGs and post private initiatives and share commentary and questions about different topics. This shows how the approach from the UN to the public has changed, looking towards more partnerships and different ways to disseminate information. Considering people as a focal point on this search for a world with economic growth, sustainability, equality and social development is in the benefit of all societies.

As presented before, the SDGs share some principles from the beginning of the UN. Such as the equality of rights presented in the 1945 UN Charter, the Human Rights declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, as well as other declarations, like the Declaration of Rio from 1992 developed by the UN⁸¹. Other declarations or reports from different Organs in the UN also reveal important background on the development of the SDGs, showing how the structure behind the UN and its development connects every aspect together. The creation of these 17 goals is a result of years of work and collaboration between governments, civil society, the private sector, organizations and different organs present in the UN⁸². This also means that the structure from the UN sets some limitations to this agreement. Even with the agreement from 193 countries, there is no way to demand the countries to fulfill the promises. The form in which UN was created gives the institution no power to act as an independent organ and sanction the States that do not take actions regarding the goals presented in the SDGs. The only organs who could try to sanction or take some direct action in the UN have strong limitations and the most representative organ, the General Assembly, cannot take real measures into action⁸³.

It is important to recognize that the 17 goals proposed by the UN have a background in the history of this organization and other global meetings around the world. With that and the understanding of the UN structure in mind, it is important to take a deeper look inside the 17 goals to understand what they really propose, and which targets they want to achieve. The complete description of these 17 goals would take a lot of work and some unnecessary information for the analysis on how AFS supports the SDGs. For that reason, the goals described in this thesis are only the ones which AFS may support directly, such as indicated by the results of interviews made with employees from AFS; the online survey and an analysis of AFS documents showed on which goals this thesis should focus. On the other side, it is important to keep in mind that all the 17 goals are correlated and interconnected, so that, depending on how one aspect is approached, another point can be affected in a positive or a negative way⁸⁴.

The resolution developed by the UN in 2015 also understands the importance of culture diversity with a mutual respect, tolerance and intercultural understanding, recognizing that all cultures and civilizations need to contribute and are essential in the search for the Sustainable Development Goals⁸⁵. Even without a specific goal to promote the importance of culture to this agenda, there are three other targets presented in this document in which culture has an important role. These three targets are related to the targets: 4 - education, 8 - sustainable economic growth and 12 - sustainable consumption. Especially target 4.7, which speaks about the promotion of peace through a better understanding of different cultures, such as the importance of diversity⁸⁶. This means that the mission from AFS and the way in which the organization promotes peace is also understood by the UN and the SDGs as an important manner to achieve the goals until 2030. Exchange programs, especially with the reflection and knowledge promoted during the camps and throughout the experience can help in a very intensive way to promote these targets.

5.1 Analyzing the SDGs

Before explaining the relevant goals on which AFS should focus, it is important to comprehend how AFS can cooperate with this program, searching for goals that better fit the structure of the organization. This thesis uses different reports and guides developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI); these documents explain how the private sector and other institutions should use the SDGs as an opportunity to grow, displaying the SDGs as a market opportunity. Such as the UN, the GRI also understands that everyone has the chance and should help the world to achieve these goals, in the most varied forms, from minimizing negative impacts to maximizing positive influences on people and the planet⁸⁷. In an example of how the SDGs can be achieved by everyone and that the whole society can cooperate to reach the goals, the United Nations created an internet page called the lazy person’s guide to saving the world. This website shows what normal citizens can do to support the SDGs, starting from simple tasks such as using less paper when you want to print materials from internet, ranging to more complex tasks, such as organizing a no impact week in the office. This shows how the UN changed its global approach and how it tries to embrace as many persons as possible in this program⁸⁸.

The GRI comprehends five benefits to institutions who directly support the SDGs in their compass guide, such as: identifying future business opportunities, enhancing the value of corporate sustainability, strengthening stakeholder relations and keeping the peace with policy developments, stabilizing societies and markets, and using a common language and shared purpose⁸⁹. These aspects are very important when it comes to understanding which benefits can be achieved in the implementation of efforts to support the SDGs. This is also very important to evaluate if these benefits are the ones which are relevant to AFS at the moment.

Now that the system from the UN and the SDGs were explained, it is important to comprehend how different institutions realize this partnership. The United Nations Global Compact is an agreement between companies and the UN geared toward intensifying the partnership between the United Nations and corporations. There are already 9.413 concerned participating in this agreement. The last report from 2017 shows different cases of success where the concerned used the goals from the SDGs as an opportunity to grow.

This report also deliberates that 75% of the CEOs, when asked if they have plans to support the SDGs, answer that they are already taking action to support the SDGs[[94]].

The next step in this method for a better support of the SDGs is to define the work priorities. In order to achieve that, interviews with employees from AFS Brazil and AFS Germany were held to better understand what their perspective about this approach are. Volunteers and others members of the AFS structure also answered an online questionnaire to complement these interviews. One of the questions was ‘Which of the 17 goals from the SDGs do you think AFS has a better chance to support?’, Showing how volunteers and participants comprehend how the organization can help. The result from this question can be better visualized in the following diagram.

Illustration 5: Result Online Questionnaire

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Quelle: Own Illustration

This information combined with the interviews and data collected from documents and internet pages from AFS delivered the information regarding which goals AFS and this thesis should focus on. The five goals from SDGs here presented reflect this analysis, going from the most frequently ones, to the less regularly cited. This thesis perceives that the information collected in official documents and web pages and the interviews with employees are more relevant to the result and which the focus AFS should have in this partnership, assuming that this information came from specialists. For this reason, the goals 16 - peace and justice strong institutions and 04 - quality education, are the first two goals to be described, even though goal 04 was not the second most voted aspect in the online questionnaire in Germany. The first two goals are the only ones that are displayed directly both on the AFS international⁹⁰ and AFS Brazil web pages⁹¹. The other two goals here described were cited in some interviews with employees, and the last goal here described was only mentioned in the online questionnaires and achieved more then 60% from the votes. The other 12 goals from the SDGs did not achieve a significant quote in the online formularies and are not going to be described here, given the understanding that they should not be an AFS priority at this point.

5.2 Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

The most cited target as a way in which AFS can support the SDGs is goal 16, which is also present on the AFS international⁹² and AFS Brazil home pages⁹³. Every employee quoted this goal when asked in the interviews which target AFS should focus on. This was also the most chosen option in both online questionnaires, where 83 persons out of 89⁹⁴ indicated this goal as the most important. This thesis also understands this goal from the SDGs as a key point for AFS; since a more just and peaceful world is the mission from AFS⁹⁵. A target that also aims for peace, justice and strong institutions should be one of the aspects where AFS can help. For that reason, this is the first goal described.

This is also one of the SDGs key goals. According to the resolution developed by the General Assembly, this is an ordinary goal, interacting with all the three dimensions for sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) at once. It is important to provide those three spheres when searching for international peace. There is no way to achieve peace and justice without providing the population those three basic needs⁹⁶. This goal is also a development from other goals present on the MDGs and the 1992 conference in Rio de Janeiro. The goal itself has a big diversity in targets to be accomplished but the key aspect is the promotion of peace and strong institutions. Fighting against all forms of violence, from child abuse, to illegal finance behavior, gun commerce, and corruption, and forming strong institutions, democracy, a stronger politic power to developing countries and making sure that human rights are being provided to everyone⁹⁷. These targets are very specific and AFS does not have the know how to act and influence those fields. On the other hand, the AFS mission is to provide peace. For that reason, this topic was so frequently mentioned on interviews and is present on the AFS webpages. As an international organization with strong partners, AFS can also provide the capacity for other institutions to get stronger. The AFS mission is to promote peace and develop a better understanding between cultures. Another important aspect are the AFS orientation camps and the activities done during these events. In these meetings, different topics are open to discussion, and some of these topics include an understanding about peace⁹⁸ and some are actually thematic, such as the explanation about politics, sustainability and human rights⁹⁹. From that perspective, AFS can support this goal in different forms; however, but the good internal workings of AFS, acting as a good example on the fight against corruption and being a strong institution that supports peace is the only way in which AFS can directly support this goal. The 12 targets proposed in this goal¹⁰⁰ are too specific in different fields where AFS has little action and power to deal directly with them.

5.3 Goal 4: Quality Education

Education is without a doubt a key topic in achieving development. Education was already a topic during the MDGs. The idea in 2000 was to achieve a goal where all children would have access to school. Despite all the effort and positive development in some areas of the globe, this objective wasn’t achieved. Changing the perspective from the MDGs to a perspective of sustainable development, the question is not only the access to school, but to a quality education, where children have the opportunity to progress to secondary school and university in the future. Another aspect here is what the children learn; the ability to read is essential, but it is important to assure that one does not turn into a functional analphabet. After the MDGs it was possible to understand that only schools weren’t enough to provide education. There are other aspects that need attention to support learning, such as financial support, which could give children the capacity for to go to school every day or to buy food, or to provide teachers good qualifications; or there being too many children in the classes¹⁰¹.

This aspect is also very important for AFS to achieve its mission, promoting exchange programs for different ages, AFS deals directly with learning, especially intercultural learning which also provides a better understanding of different aspects. The SDGs number 4 is already found on the AFS international webpage and it was the second most frequently said aspect by employees and volunteers when asked which goal from the SDGs AFS can support the most. This SDG tries a new approach in which every step in the education system can be evaluated and the aspects and areas that must be developed are thus located. Already in November 2015 a UNESCO meeting in Paris developed a document with the structure on how to achieve this goal from 2016 to 2030. Some of the key points are quality education, the focus on secondary schools and a program against Illiteracy¹⁰².

Not all the targets proposed for the 4th goal is realistic for AFS to directly support, like the first one where all girls and boys should have access to a free and quality primary and secondary school. This is a target that AFS is less able to influence, but since there is interconnectivity between all goals and targets it may be possible for AFS to support other ones; it is unrealistic for AFS to measure them, though. For that reason, the targets here described are going to be the ones on which AFS can have a directly influence. In this sense, target 4.7 is very important for AFS:

“By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development ¹⁰³

Two aspects in this target can be emphasized. First the appreciation for global citizenship and cultural diversity. These matters are very important to AFS. The exchange programs proposed by the organization understand the need to provide an awareness of other cultures and how different cultures can live together; enabling peace, exchange and development to happen at the same time. This means that every participant from AFS programs would learn that though the seminars or during the exchange program. For that, the understanding about culture provided in the AFS seminars is important, which is available to the reader of this thesis in the third chapter.

Two other targets where AFS can have a direct influence are targets 4.B and the 4.C. The first one promotes the exchange through scholarships between less develop to more developed countries in a search for enrollment in higher and better education; for that matter, participants from less developed countries going to developed countries to study is already in the scope of AFS programs. Moreover, there are opportunities for students who do not have the financial capacity to take part in such programs; when parents are not able to pay there are scholarships, which provide some students the opportunity to study abroad. Target 4.C promotes the idea of growth in the quantity of qualified teachers through the international exchange of qualified teachers around the world, especially the training from teachers from the developing countries¹⁰⁴. These two targets are correlated to intercultural learning and exchange programs, so that AFS with its more than 100 years of experience can collaborate in these aspects.

Here it is also important to remember that the programs with which AFS deals the most are at a high school age. This means that the most of the international participants go abroad to visit a new school in a different country, promoting the exchange proposed by target 4.B. Besides that, AFS Germany also provides the opportunity for a voluntary year in a different country where volunteers can teach English or help at schools and universities, which means AFS already promotes these two targets from the SDGs. This thesis is not going to debate whether these volunteers provide a good experience for the students in other countries. This discussion is already taking place in different places and this is not the focus here¹⁰⁵.

5.4 Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals

The last goal presented by the United Nations in its resolution from 2015 proposes the strengthening and revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development. This is the goal in the SDGs with the higher number of targets¹⁰⁶. With votes from more than the half of the volunteers in Brazil and Germany who responded to the questionnaire, this goal is also, in their understanding, important to AFS.

During the SDGs creation process, governments and the UN knew already that these objectives would need a huge support to be achieved. For that reason, this goal was conceived to provide the way in which the SDGs should be accomplished and how much support is going to be needed. Therefore, this is the only goal with five different target organization categories, describing all the five aspects (finance, technology, capacity­building, trade and systemic issues) where partnership is important to achieve all the goals¹⁰⁷.

This goal explains the new approach from the UN and its partners on how advertisement is made, trying to reach more and more people and institutions. Without partnership and cooperation, it will be impossible to reach all the goals. Showing how the strategy between the MDGs and the SDGs have changed, the new approach is much more extensive. The SDGs try to bring everyone into action, the public being access is much bigger and so are the efforts to achieve these persons. There are different forms to achieve the most different kinds of persons and institutions such as the SDG app (SDGs in action), videos on YouTube, a list on how a lazy person¹⁰⁸ can help the SDGs, among other. There are also different documents to explain the SDGs and reports searching for new partnerships. According to this, the more persons and institutions participate and follow the goals behind the SDGs, the better. Therefore, AFS can be an important partner specially when considered in how many countries AFS is present and how many participants, coworkers and volunteers AFS has.

5.5 Goal 5: Gender Equality

Another important aspect for volunteers and present in some interviews is gender equality. This goal tries to achieve the empowerment of all girls and women on the search for gender equality. The question on gender equality was already present in the MDGs, with the goal 3: “promote gender equality and empower woman”¹⁰⁹, but there are some differences between the goal from the early 2000s and the one from 2015. While MDG 3 focuses on education, career, and political participation, SDG 5 has a bigger action field and searches to end with all forms of discrimination against girls and women. The new proposal also searches for a better number of qualifications and better jobs for women. As said before, the targets in this resolution are interconnected. For example, the targets from goal 4 also stand for a better insertion of girls and women in school, university and career path¹¹⁰.

In this aspect, there is the Gender Equality Indicator (GEI). This index suggests three properties to be followed to analyze if there are evolutions in this area. The first one is empowerment, education and implementation of women as workers; the second aspect is the number of women and girls who suffered sexual violation; and the last one is women’s participation in economy. Gender equality is an aspect that every country in the world needs to develop¹¹¹. Nevertheless, at a first glance, this one aspect that presents bigger difficulties for AFS to support.

5.6 Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

The first goal to be explained here that was not directly on the AFS website or directly mentioned on the interviews with employees from AFS is goal 10 from the SDGs: Reduced inequalities within and among countries. When the volunteers and participants answered which goals they considered the most important for AFS, 61 persons from 89 chose the goal 10asa relevant one where AFS can take some action to support.

It is commonly known that the inequality between developed and developing countries regarding economics are bigger than before, the same way that the difference between the rich and poor is also growing. Unfortunately, 08 persons in the world possess the same amount of money as the half of poorest population of the Earth¹¹². As a study by the UN presented, if this problem persists othergoals proposed on the SDGs will not be achieved. For example, how can we achieve no poverty if there are so many people living with so little and so little people living with so much? This big inequality can have negative consequences in a society and in the world. Aspects such as education and public health can change the structure of a government, with the necessity to intensify its structure and capacity for all population. This shows, once again, how different goals from the SDGs are interconnected and how there must be actions from different parts for them to be successful.

This fight against inequality also changed the migratory flow from various groups of people. If a civilization has no capacity to grow in their country, or if there are other problems such as climate change or war, this population might migrate to other countries or continents. That would present some challenges, especially regarding how these persons can be integrated in the new country¹¹³.

5.7 Criticisms to the UN system and the SDGs

As shown before, the idea behind the United Nations - of an international system to promote peace and of an international organ to promote the equal right between countries -- is vital, especially with such an interconnected world. Nonetheless, this big structure from the UN leads to another problem, which is the search for more participation in the international system and other countries to join the organization. The UN Charta assures countries that they will not lose their sovereignty and power in the international system, ensuring the sovereignty. This means that any coercion from the UN is not always effective and in some cases the Security Council is blocked because the permanent members have different views and do not give a positive vote to a question¹¹⁴. At the same time, governments do not always pay what they promised to the United Nations, and other countries do not provide as much money as they first planed. This means that whereas the Organization grows, it does not have enough resources to keep such big structure. The United Nations created more organs and institutions over the years, but it does not entail the revenue has grown. Trying to resolve this problem, Kofi Annan, the UN general secretary between 1997 and 2006, approached private institutions and private persons, raising more money to the United Nations. Nowadays this initiative is still in use, and since than the UN was able to collect more investments to the international organization, which, meanwhile, caused some negative aspects as well¹¹⁵.

As described in the book Fit for Whose Purpose?, this opening to for-profit institutions brought some safety to the UN finances , but at the same time allowed more participation

for institutions looking to profit with this new articulation. This practice was not new to the UN, but the only donation the UN had taken before this period was the US$8.5 Billion from John D. Rockefeller Jr.; with that money the UN bought the land for their headquarters in New York at the end of the 1940s¹¹⁶. Since the opening proposed from Kofi Annan the UN is collecting money from different institutions, making the expansion of their projects possible. One example of this opening is the first collected donation thereafter. In 1997, Ted Turner announced a donation of US$1 billion to the institution. However, since the UN was not a tax-exempt institution they needed to create a new form to collect donations, thus the United Nations Fund for International Partnership (UNFIP) was created. Turner did not donate US$1 billion in cash, but in market shares for Time Warner Stock. After the dot-com bubble in the 2000s the price of this market share dove so much that UN looked for new partnerships and new donations to assure the amount promised before¹¹⁷.

The question here is not the fact that UN is accepting donations from private institutions, but the problem is with whom these partnerships have been made and why these institutions are making these donations. The corporations with a partnership with the UN are big ones and there are partnerships with companies like Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Shell and others more¹¹⁸. Some ofthe benefitsforthe industry of such partnership are reported in the UNESCO document to promote this kind of cooperation, where list quotes the following incentives:

“Benefit from a strong image transfer by associating yourself with a reputable international brand and a prestigious UN agency

Win greatervisibility on the international scene

Gain access to UNESCO’s wide and diverse public and private scene

Benefit from UNESCO’s role ofa neutral and multi-stakeholderbroker

Turn yourSocial Responsibility into reality

Strengthen yourbrand loyalty through good corporate citizenship Boost your employees’motivation though hand-on experience in UNESCO’s activities” ¹¹⁹ .

As shown in the book Fit for Whose Purpose?, the reasons why private industry supports the UN system goes far beyond that. The private sector that supports the UN system has the capacity to decide which initiatives are important and which problems should be focused on¹²⁰. One example of that is the contribution from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to WHO; with a donation of US$ 1,980,868,00 in 2012 and 2013, the Foundation dictates which way the resource should go and what programs should receive more support. Another aspect from this partnership is that the BMGF specially supports the solutions with a quick return and easy measurement, for example the distribution of mosquito nets on fight against malaria. This investment takes funding away from other studies or initiatives that are also effective, but they are a long-term measure¹²¹. This is only one example of many on how the interaction with the private sector interferes on the policy making ofthe UN.

Some of the investment made by industries go back to investors. The industry uses the ability to donate money to the UN as a form to pay less tax, to be better seen in the society; also, with this partnership the industry can establish an agreement where they develop a solution and sell the product to governments, and the civil society. Making it possible for this company to receive even more money as the investment in return. Selling one product as a solution to that problem with the confirmation from the UN. Sometimes this products or methods are not very beneficial for consumer or for the environment. One example is the use of pesticides or genetically modified organisms from BASF as a form to combat hunger and promote better agriculture¹²².

In the last years, the donations received by the UN changed from a big part of core donations to non-core. The great difference being the utilization ofthe money donated; the core donation is free, so the UN can decide where this money should go and be applied, whereas non-core donations mean that the UN should apply that money to a specific cause and develop a specific agency. In 1997, the core donations represented 48% of operational activities from the UN and in 2013 only 25% were core donations¹²³. This search for more investment comes especially from three different reasons. First is that the investment made by the countries have not had a significant change since the first years. Secondly, some of the promised payment from the governments are not accomplished. The last reason is the growing institutions within the UN; as explained before, the structure from the United Nations got bigger since its conception and the bigger structure in this organization needs more money to keep the system working. Those are the most relevant reasons why Kofi

Annan started an opening of the UN to the international market in 1997. This change brought the adjustments previously explained here and those lead to one of the criticisms over the SDGs goals. The idea that the private sector is having too much power in the international institution and influencing the focus ofthe programs¹²⁴.

The participation ofthe business sector in the UN decision-making processes is one ofthe center criticisms on the SDGs. One of the SDGs targets, finance, shows that a much bigger financial funding is going to be necessary to develop all these goals. Especially when dealing with funds to promote the development in developing countries. Since the governments have not achieved the payment of the amount they first planed, the UN saw the opportunity to promote partnerships with the industry to have access to private investment. The increase of refugees around the world changed the amount of money proportionated from developed nations supporting sustainable development. However, these changes happened in a differently from what was proposed during the MDGs at a previous time¹²⁵. The other four phases described in this goal are also very important for providing sustainable development, especially in developing countries. Nonetheless, there has not been so much development over the last years as the financial sector and the debate with refugees. Here, the UN provided some guidelines which governments should follow. Moreover, as stated on the UN Charta, the respect to every country’s policy and leadership should be guaranteed reaffirming the sovereignty of every government¹²⁶.

Given the way the new secretary-general Antonio Guterres speaks, this partnership and cooperation between the United Nations and the private sector will only get stronger. As he said in a reportfrom United Nations Global Compact in 2017:

“In 2015, world leaders united in an unprecedented expression of collective good will to adopt the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Our shared challenge is to translate this universal and holistic framework into ambitious action and innovative solutions. Public-private collaboration can play an invaluable role in this effort. The United Nations Global Compact provides a platform for business leaders to join in this work and to accelerate the changes we need. The world has the knowledge wealth and capacity to transform our prospects and build a peaceful, prosperous future for all on a healthy planet. I look forward to the contributions the private sector will make in contributing to UN objectives and serving the common good. ” ¹²⁷

Another criticism on the SDGs is the form in which the goals were developed. Although the goals from the SDGs are more specific than the goals present in the early program, the MDGs, bringing more aspects into debate and getting more extensive, the new goals still fail to take some important questions of our world into consideration. There is also the problem that the goals and targets from the SDGs do not really adress sustainable development, since there is no agreement of a clear definition of what sustainability means, over which there can be different expectations with different analyses¹²⁸. Better explained, the term sustainability permeates three different spheres: economic, social and environmental. Since the 17 targets deal with all three spheres but in a different way, the accomplishment of one target in one sphere can make the achievement from another goal harder, due to the correlation of the targets. This program makes use of this complexity and lack of a common definition by using the term sustainability mainly in an economic way. Even within the goals that deal with other aspects, like affordable and clean energy, the report made by the United Nations Global Compact testimonies the success of the private sector in developing this field and profiting from it¹²⁹. Searching for a bigger development on the market makes harder to achieve and promote the simultaneous sustainability and protection of our resources, forests and seas, which shows how the interests from the industry may have influenced the conception of this agenda. This criticism to the UN and its initiatives became stronger after the opening to the business market in the year of 1997. In the document about the SDGs, the goals are still very extensively formulated, turning these objectives into something harder to achieve and extremely complicated to control and measure.

6 AFS and the SDGs

After this background covering different and important aspects for this thesis, the next point here presented is an analysis of how AFS understands the SDGs and what AFS international, Germany and Brazil are doing to strengthen this partnership. As explained before, the exchange between cultures are more relevant than ever, and the challenges present in the world to promote peace and equality are also bigger than before. An example of this is the complexity and how the United Nations have grown. The understanding of peace has also changed and it is wider than it was after the World War II; if the understanding before was that peace meant only to live in a world without war, today this concept has changed and the UN also understands that. Because of that, it is impossible to achieve peace without providing equal rights to everyone¹³⁰.

The change from 08 MDGs goals to 17 SDGs goals shows how this theme is much more complex than it was thought some years ago. At the same time, it was understood that peace must be a sustainable goal, so the promotion of peace must be a continuous process; even after achieving it, the idea is not only to reach peace, but to maintain it for a longer time. Going from only concerning developing countries in the MDGs to all countries in the world in the SDGs was an important change to show this new commitment and corroborating this new understanding. Peace must be a global priority, if a country or a region in the world has achieved peace but others have not it is not enough. Peace is a global question and needs to be set as an international target.

All this explanation and characteristics explained and shown here are important to understand this movement as a whole, providing the knowledge needed to analyze this process in one organization. For that, it is also important to look inside the structure and future plans of AFS International in order to understand if this plan is already in motion or not. This chapter searches to understand and analyze which activities are already being done and the difference between AFS Brazil and AFS Germany.

6.1 The AFS International and the SDGs

As explained before, the AFS International is responsible for developing main strategies, to provide the network structure and to evaluate the development from last year of every AFS partner to create new objectives. Two actual reports show these new strategies for the next years; these documents explain what the plans are for the future, which focus on three different impacts. Firstly, developing active global citizens, this impact searches to stimulate persons to be active in their communities around the world, providing a positive change. Secondly, globalizing schools and institutions, offering an effective intercultural learning aiming to improve the global competence. Finally, expanding access to intercultural education, for that AFS wants to grant more scholarships for students who, without these scholarships, would not have the chance to participate in such a program. Also presented in these reports is the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the goals 4 - Quality Education, and Goal 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions¹³¹.

These documents also show how AFS is already implementing these goals. Some activities were already implemented, like in India where volunteers got together and, with a support from sponsors, repaired schools and gave English and technology classes to the students¹³². The AFS expertise in the field of intercultural learning turns it into an important player in teaching about this topic. An example of that is the partnership with the European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL); together they created the Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange (FILE), and this initiative has already given lectures in schools and developed an online tool, giving students and teachers the opportunity to learn more about intercultural learning¹³³. Since the beginning, AFS has been granting students scholarships to go abroad; AFS gave $25.8 million to more than 4,500 students in 2017¹³⁴, and this strategy has the objective to increase the fundraising strengths and raise the number of scholarships. Through advocacy work, AFS also expands the access to intercultural education with forums and events for different communities. Only in 2017, more than 1.200 persons attended these forums¹³⁵. This year, AFS is promoting a conference in Budapest with the title Global Competence: Our Future, Our Responsibility, focusing on these three impact areas ofAFS and the SDGs¹³⁶.

Trying to be more active and achieve a bigger impact, AFS understands five areas of action. The first one is to expand their portfolio of exchange programs; AFS was the first organization to promote exchange years and the AFS market share from in the last years has been decreasing in a growing market¹³⁷. A bigger portfolio and more programs, not only in the high school age, but also for people over 18, may cause a growth in the number of participants and provoke more persons to support these goals and the SDGs. The action plan from AFS also understands the need to expand to more countries, and to provide scholarships forfamilies as well¹³⁸.

The second area of action is education. AFS also plans to use the materials they created about intercultural learning in different forms, so that more persons can be achieved. Such as creating new forms to intensify and reach more persons with online tools to explain intercultural learning. There is also a plan to create a teacher training program, intensifying the partnerships with schools and reaching even more persons. To that end, new alliances with different global organizations are also important¹³⁹.

The volunteers are a key aspect in Looking toward implementing these and other activities. Because of that, the third point in this action plan is to focus on the volunteers. This action plan searches for better and different forms to put volunteers into action, such as to evaluate their work to find for better ways to motivate them. The fourth action plan described in these AFS reports searches for new ways to improve their advocacy work with new fundraising concepts applied to the whole structure, connecting to all AFS 500,000 alumni and making the next AFS congresses open to the public in general. The last action plan possesses actions such as the creation of new international processes concerning the whole structure and looking for new ways to keep employees in the organization for a longer time; creating a stronger network and a better image for the company as a whole¹⁴⁰.

These documents are very important for this thesis. Since AFS International is the leader of the whole organization, when AFS International develops a program looking toward promoting the SDGs, these targets are internationalized and every AFS partner must to implement this action and has the tools to do so. At the same time, some of the plans described in these two reports are not structured in such a way that they can be put into action. The complexity behind AFS’s international structure having the main offices in different countries and cultures makes the creation of one single strategy a difficult activity, the plans created internationally can be better applied in some countries than in others. For that reason, the activities proposed within this thesis will focus on AFS Brazil and AFS Germany. At the same time, the activities can be expanded to other partners who have the capacity and think these actions are good and plausible in their cultural context. With that information on how AFS International is structured and now that their plans to support the SDGs were described, the next chapters in this thesis can be presented, given that the readers have the same starting point to better understand the structure and what are the plans AFS Germany and AFS Brazil have already put into motion.

6.2 The AFS Germany

Out of the two AFS national offices and structures described here, AFS Germany is the first one to be presented. The organization structure is a bit different from others AFS’s. As presented before, AFS is an international organization, normally with one national office which develops and controls all the programs and volunteers. The flagship program from AFS is the high school program, for participants between 15 and 19 years old. However, the structure from AFS Germany is a little different. The main office in Germany is located in the city of Hamburg, with 140 workers¹⁴¹, and these employees are divided into different areas and programs. The biggest difference from AFS Germany in comparison to other partners, for this thesis especially to AFS Brazil, is the volunteer program, for participants between 18 and 27 years old¹⁴². This program is also structured nationally, but different to the high school program, this one does not have the collaboration from committees as a direct AFS representation in some cities and regions. The volunteer program is completely controlled and organized in Hamburg. That means the volunteers are only present in national meetings, seminaries and in fairs. The high school program in Germany has the same structure as in the rest of the world, but the volunteer program gives AFS Germany another structure, turning AFS Germany into one of the biggest among the partners. AFS Germany has four other regional offices (Cologne, Berlin, Stuttgart and Wiesbaden), which work directly with AFS Hamburg to control and cooperate with around 100 committees in promotion of the high school programs. This structure is completed with the volunteers, which in Germany alone are around 2.500¹⁴³.

AFS Germany has three different national meetings that give the volunteers the opportunity to discuss about new objectives and strategies for the organization. One of these meetings is the Constanze; being the biggest one, Constanze is developed for all volunteers in the national structure. The main objective of this meeting is offering volunteers the opportunity to visit different workshops to debate different themes, meet other volunteers and to promote exchange between the volunteers and the office. The other two seminars are the OTTO and the TOM. They are very similar, dealing more with the operating structure for the future; the difference between them is that OTTO is the national meeting for the volunteer program and the TOM is for the high school program. Both of them happen two times every year.

Trying to better comprehend how the employees and volunteers understand this approach to the SDGs two different methods were used to collect information. The first one were the interviews with three different employees and the second, were the online questionnaires with volunteers and different persons from the AFS network. This online tool collected 57 answers in one month. These data were collected and are relevant to the following analyses. The analyses from these data showed the most relevant aspects, which are here, described.

The most important report collected from these interviews was that this question on how AFS can support the SDGs is very relevant to the job AFS is doing and to create new strategies. One out of the three employees from AFS Germany, all understood the importance and the benefits AFS can have supporting the goals developed by the UN. They also said that it is very important for AFS to evaluate exactly what can be done and to build a good strategy where AFS does not lose focus on their mission and does not assume new strategies for which AFS does not have the expertise or the resources¹⁴⁴.

When asked what AFS is already doing to support the SDGs, every person interviewed quoted different activities such as generating an open discussion space inside the organization, especially during the national meetings like the TOM, the OTTO and the Constanze. Bogatzki also talked about the importance of the SDGs in the OTTO opening session in Berlin in the beginning of 2018¹⁴⁵. Herking also said that during the Constanze this year there were two different workshops by volunteers about this theme¹⁴⁶. Willuhn explained the activities developed during the Global Prep, program, where students between 12 and 17 years old go to a two to four week seminar with two different focuses, one about culture and the second one about another theme approached by the SDGs, like sustainability, no poverty, equal rights and so on. During the seminars every student should focus in one topic and develop a project about that, and some of these projects turn into reality when the students go back home. Even if the participants from these programs are mostly from families with a good financial structure, these programs enable them to reflect about different aspects, creating what is called the global citizen. These citizens are normally more sensitive to different problems in the world and they are more aware of different actions they could take to promote change. This shows a connection with the UN understanding that every person can and should help these goals be achieved, and that only with a wider participation the targets proposed in this program can be successful completed¹⁴⁷.

These open spaces for discussion provided in the national meetings are very important; so much so that some debates in this aspect have already took place¹⁴⁸. Bogatzki emphasizes that these discussions are essential to debate about the SDGs, elucidating not only positive aspects but also criticisms on the SDGs like the search for economic growth, which is not compatible with some targets present in other SDGs aspects such as sustainability¹⁴⁹. Or criticisms on the AFS structure and goals and their programs, such as the aspect that AFS works internationally and makes strong use of international flights, creating more pollution¹⁵⁰. Taking in consideration all programs and participants from AFS Germany, there would be around 2.500 flights annually because of the programs promoted by AFS Germany, not taking into consideration the others 59 national partners¹⁵¹. This corroborates the understanding on how the SDGs are interconnected. With their work, AFS supports some targets present in the goals from the UN, even if this support comes indirectly such as promoting better education programs for thousands of people. At the same time, the structure from AFS creates more carbon dioxide, making targets in the question of sustainability more difficult to be reached.

There are also different activities promoted by AFS Germany to promote the SDGs described in the international report. For example, the new exchange program focusing especially on the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) public, promoting awareness on this theme and assuring equality to everyone, no matter their gender or sexual orientation¹⁵². These reports also mention the Global Prep, as a good and innovative way to support and talk about the SDGs¹⁵³. There are also activities in the AFS Germany seminars, which discuss this topic, such as the train activity where returnees should describe how their volunteer work in another country connected to the SDGs¹⁵⁴. At the same time, when the interviewee was asked if they knew some activity from AFS Germany directly meant to deal with the SDGs, they all answered that they knew no activity to cooperate with the SDGs. This means that the activities here described are not understood as activities to directly support the SDGs, even if they do so. They are all comprehended as action plans to achieve the AFS mission itself and not as a specific strategy to support the SDGs. A similar interpretation can be observed on the online questionnaire. When asked if they knew what the SDGs are, 69.6% of the volunteers in Germany answered positively, but when asked if they knew if AFS have any strategy to support these objectives, 68,4% of them did not know any direct strategy from AFS to support the SDGs. This is one aspects that Herking understands as a problem and difficulty for AFS, the challenge to turn this will to support the SDGs into action, turning the abstract into real. Therefore, it is important not only to say that it is vital to help the SDGs, but to develop real strategies that can be applied to the development of these changes¹⁵⁵.

When asked which SDGs goals AFS can have a bigger impact on, all of them said that the targets 04 and 16 are very important. At the same time, Willuhn and Bogatzki understand the capacity of the volunteer program to help on a bigger spectrum then only these two goals. As Bogatzki explains, the volunteer program has different partnerships and those volunteers can act in different areas, like working in primary schools, university, national parks, with refugees in Germany and many others¹⁵⁶. In that sense, AFS can help in different spectrums. However, this support promoted by the volunteers cannot be understood as a direct strategy from AFS, since the program and this cooperation are not the focus from AFS. When asked if AFS should support the SDGs, one volunteer answered online that it is important for AFS to support these goals, but AFS should focus their activities on aspects forwhich they have the expertise, leaving other aspects for other institutions or organizations, such as Greenpeace and the question of sustainability. Bogatzki also says that it is important for AFS to focus on some aspects of the SDGs and not forget the criticisms this UN program has received. In that sense, when saying that AFS is going to support the SDGs, it does not mean every target from the SDGs is going to be implemented and followed. AFS should structure the ones where AFS can do a better work, and, for that, an open space for discussion between volunteers, employers and institution is very important, showing the strength and on which areas should AFS focus¹⁵⁷. This ensures an important aspect mentioned by Herking; she praises that the work that AFS does is already internationally recognized and the institution should focus on the area where there is already recognition¹⁵⁸.

One example of how the volunteer program from AFS Germany can directly support other aspects from the SDGs, beyond the goals 4 and 16, is the new program for refugees. Different from the other program for volunteer work in Germany, this program is especially for refugees is only present in Hamburg and in the last year it was able to receive 20 refugees¹⁵⁹. This program from AFS ensures a better opportunity and insertion in the society for a minority, clearly showing the ideas present in target 10.7 from the 2015 resolution of the United Nations: “10.7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies. ¹⁶⁰ ”

Even if AFS does not collaborate directly creating new policies to support the refugees in Germany, this program gives the refugees the opportunity to introduce themselves in the society and in the job market. This is also very important to promote the discussion between society and this theme, making persons more open to support and to understand the refugee situation in Europe. Leaving the preconception behind, providing an intercultural exchange.

When asked what AFS could gain with such partnership, Willuhn and Herking answered that participating in such program AFS could build new partnerships with different organizations and institutions that already cooperate with the UN. Taking part in a big network, working together to achieve different goals in a relevant and actual working plan would improve the AFS image. Moreover, most importantly, it would corroborate to AFS mission from as well, especially regarding goal 16. In supporting the SDGs, AFS is also following their mission to create a more just and peaceful world¹⁶¹. Herking also understands that this strategy is important forAFS to achieve a better image and gain new partnerships in trying to achieve new students, families and volunteers for their programs, particularly because AFS is losing market share in a growing market. So this new approach with their positive aspects can support a positive development in the number of participants in AFS programs¹⁶².

When asked if they knew about any activity being developed by any AFS partners about this question, especially if they knew about any action from AFS Brazil to support the SDGs, none of the three interviewees knew about the programs developed in Brazil or globally. Herking said she heard about one action plan from Brazil, but she was not sure and could not provide any further information¹⁶³. Willuhn also said that he did not know any strategy present in any AFS partner, but he said that AFS Germany has been discussing these themes since of the beginning of the SDGs, and after the change in direction in AFS Germany, this discussion is back in debate. He comprehends that new strategies should be implemented as soon as possible, for that reason, he understands the need to implement new strategies even if these strategies don’t come from AFS International (top - down) but they can be implemented nationally and be exported to others AFS partners (bottom - up)¹⁶⁴.

Bogatzki talked about new strategies for the future that AFS Germany is planning to apply, but they are not completely done yet. There are two new strategies concerning the SDGs, the first one is the creation of new activities, seminars and material to train the volunteers, providing more knowledge on this aspect and generating more discussion inside AFS. The second action is to change the AFS Germany internet page to show the two SDGs which AFS supports the most¹⁶⁵. This strategy can already be observed on the AFS International and AFS Brazil internet pages. Herking comprehends the strategy of putting the SDGs image on the AFS webpage as very important, connecting this movement directly with the institution, which is a very good way to contact the persons who access the AFS page directly¹⁶⁶. At the same time, they ask what is the purpose AFS of putting these images on internet? These images can attract new members and new partners for AFS, but this strategy should not be used as a window dressing activity just to attract new participants and cooperation partners, AFS should really support the SDGs¹⁶⁷.

Another aspect that was mentioned in all three interviews and in some online questionnaires is that this can be also as the strongest ability from AFS to support the SDGs. Because of the big structure and the number of members, participants and partners, AFS should use this network as a multiplier of topics regarding the SDGs¹⁶⁸. Making use of this network, AFS could achieve thousands of people every year; people that normally are more connected to other cultures and are, in some aspects, global citizens who would be good representatives of the SDGs goals. These persons could promote and take action to make this strategy true. Another characteristic, normally AFS volunteers are also volunteers in other organizations, this means that these persons share an understanding of what needs to be developed in different areas and, at the same time, have contacts in different networks to discuss and promote the SDGs¹⁶⁹.

This leads to the next question, how is AFS going to quantify those actions and how these achievements are going to be exposed? The programs which AFS develops are focused in experiences their participants live in an exchange program. This means that AFS has a huge difficulty in measuring what every participant achieved in one year. Since the workshops and reflections provided from this international experience do not end in this year, it makes this measurement even harder¹⁷⁰. At this time, a long-time study would be the best way to comprehend how this development affected participants and the society, but AFS has neither the time nor the resources to promote such studies, especially because the SDGs should be accomplished by 2030¹⁷¹. Another important aspect to take into consideration is if AFS wants to turn this information public, or if there would be enough so that AFS could assess themselves whether the strategies developed were successful or not¹⁷².

6.3 TheAFSBrazil

Giving continuity to the analyses on AFS and the SDGs, the next topic to be addressed here is how AFS Brazil is structured and how employees and volunteers perceive this partnership with the goals from the United Nations. The actual structure present on AFS Brazil is much smaller than the one existing in Germany. The national office is located in Rio de Janeiro and has 18 employees¹⁷³ ; like in Germany, the main office is responsible for coordinating all the programs, maintaining contact with other partners, developing national meetings and structuring new strategies for AFS Brazil. Just like every AFS partner, the committees in Brazil are very important in supporting the job done at the national office. At the moment, there are 100 committees spread in every region of the country; these committees directly support the families, participants, volunteers and schools. For this structure to work, there are around 1.100 volunteers in Brazil. But different from the AFS Germany structure, there is only one national meeting encompassing every volunteer and committee in the country. The CN (National Convention) happens once a year and, for a weekend, the volunteers and employees have the opportunity to discuss new strategies and attend some workshops on different themes that are relevant to the organization. There are other meetings with specific focus on national trainers, developing new capacities and spreading new methods for the AFS seminars¹⁷⁴.

Trying to understand in a better way how AFS can support the SDGs, two interviews with AFS employees in Brazil were held and there was an online questionnaire for volunteers. In one month, this questionnaire achieved 32 answers. Such as in Germany, the five most mentioned aspects from the SDGs that AFS can support were the same. During the interviews, aspects like goal 16 - peace and justice and strong institutions and the 4th goal - quality education, were quoted in both interviews, but gender equality was understood as a very important aspect in one of the interviews¹⁷⁵. This pattern repeats itself in the online questionnaire, where the most frequently goals were: 16, 4 and 5. Which shows that volunteers and employees share a similar understanding on which goal AFS should focus on. As described in the interview with AFS Germany employees, one of the activities AFS is plaining to do is to aggregate the SDGs 04 and 16 to its internet page, so that everyone can see directly which SDGs AFS is focusing on. This activity has already been implemented to the webpage and to signatures of emails from some employees at the office ofAFS Brazil¹⁷⁶.

When asked if AFS should support the SDGs, Martins and Mello were very positive about this partnership. They understand this as a good opportunity to support an international and important movement, reaffirming the commitment from AFS to global aspects and loyalty to the AFS mission, a more just and peaceful world. Mello also understands this as a key aspect in reaching new participants, using the SDGs as an argument why participants should embark on an exchange year with AFS and not with another institution¹⁷⁷. This aspect is also present in the new strategies proposed by AFS International to grow the number of participants in their programs¹⁷⁸, described previously in this thesis. That AFS is having trouble in keeping up with the competition in this growing market is also exposed by Martins. She understands that the international structure from AFS, where AFS partners cooperate between themselves and do not open to new institutions guarantee the quality standards, but at the same time, if one partner has less participants or families, these interfere negatively with the whole AFS structure¹⁷⁹.

During this interview, Martins also explained how the new strategies from AFS international take place in the strategies from AFS Brazil. For that, AFS Brazil is implementing new programs into the national portfolio, such as Global prep., already present in Germany, although in Brazil this program will focus on themes such as sustainability and education. Another important change promoted by the government in Brazil last year was the creation of a national council of volunteers. This council revisited some regulations about the visas for volunteers allowing visas for volunteers in Brazil. Some years ago, to be a volunteer in Brazil one needed a qualification to perform this activity, but since the creation of this council and the cooperation with other organizations such as AIESEC, this law was changed and now it is much easier to get a volunteer visa in Brazil. Meaning that previously, AFS Brazil could not provide the program for over 18-year-olds, since the participants could not receive a visa. After this opening in the regulation this program is coming back, and the first volunteers are going to be placed in national parks and in primary schools. Martins sees in this volunteer program a huge potential to cooperate with the SDGs, since the volunteers cooperate directly with programs that also strive to achieve some of the goals from the SDGs, such as sustainability or education¹⁸⁰.

Despite the benefits for AFS to support the SDGs, it is also understood that this program from the UN has different challenges. Such as when Donald Trump decides to leave UNESCO or affirms that global warming does not exist, taking away important support and representation from one of the biggest nations in the world. This only makes the process of achieving the SDGs harder. Mello also understands the change from 08 MDGs goals to 17 goals present in the SDGs as a strategy to create new areas of action and focus, avoiding

what she calls parallel challenges. This variety of focus areas is also important to achieve all the goals. You cannot promote peace without equal rights, and one example she uses is the case of the refugees in Europe. Wars and lack of opportunities in different countries make big populations search for new places to live, because of that, it is important to have such a big spectrum of goals and that every country and everyone contribute to the achievement of these targets and goals¹⁸¹. Martins comprehends this growth in the number of goals as an opportunity and an indication of the necessity of cooperation between the different organs of the United Nations. The variety of areas where the targets are present turns the action of different specialists into a necessity, and for that, the different UN organs must act as specialists on their field, giving back more importance to different organs. All of this corroborates the understanding of the term peace as a dynamic process, where peace should be understood as momentaneous and specific to one area, showing the need to pursue peace not only at one moment but in the long term, not only locally, but internationally¹⁸². When asked if AFS should develop some activities to support the SDGs, some volunteers comprehend that the mission from AFS is also present in the SDGs, for that reason AFS is already taking place in this movement. In that sense, the development of the SDGs corroborates the AFS mission, and using the seal from the United Nations is very important to show how relevant is the work AFS does¹⁸³.

Focusing on how to promote the strategy developed by AFS international, Martins also mentioned a new approach, in which every month AFS will propose one of the SDGs and motivate committees to develop some local activity to support directly this special goal. The committees that contribute to this action should collect data about every participant in this event and describe their actions. This information is important so that AFS can directly relate every goal they can support and which target group they are achieving; this can also be used as a financial support strategy, looking for other institutions to support a specific project. Martins also understands the AFS network and its capacity as multiplier as the strongest and most effective way in which AFS can support the SDGs. The national and international contacts developed during one’s exchange program, or the contacts people have established during the camps and training activities provides the opportunity to assimilate new perspectives from the world. This alongside the number of participants, volunteers and ex-participants provides a huge pool of persons who can support this 189

program .

Different from in Germany, AFS Brazil has already developed and is practicing an activity to support the SDGs directly. This activity was developed in 2016 at the AFS international congress that happened in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate the 60th anniversary of AFS Brazil. Even though this initiative is new, a big part of the volunteers already understands that AFS is actively supporting these goals. In comparison to the volunteers in Germany, where 68% of the persons answered that they did not know any specific AFS program about this topic, in Brazil only 51% of the answers to this question were negative. The training program effect+ was created with the idea to promote cultural exchange and to explain the SDGs to a bigger community, without the need to go abroad to do so, meaning that a wider community can be reached^{184 185}. Since this strategy is already structured, the next section of this thesis will explain it more precisely.

6.3.1 The Effect+ Global Citizenship Education Workshop

After the development of the Effect+ program, the first workshop was also held in the city of Rio de Janeiro; a partnership between AFS Brazil, AFS International and CISV made this first program run possible¹⁸⁶. After this first experience and the initial feedback, AFS International developed a Handbook explaining all the process to promote this workshop, making it available for the whole partnership, with the intention that other partners get the expertise to promote this activity as well. This handbook was presented in the international meeting in Ghana in 2017. Alongside this handbook, AFS international also created a reward for the AFS institutions that support this idea nationally, reaching new participants. The national AFS that achieves 1.000 participants with these activities by August / Septemberwill receive one place in the international meeting in Budapest this year¹⁸⁷.

AFS Brazil has already promoted this workshop five times since 2016, achieving a total of 350 participants in different cities and in four different states in Brazil¹⁸⁸. As explained before, the first objective of this initiative proposed by AFS is to promote a better understanding of the world problems, together with intercultural learning, empowering participants to act and to promote local actions in different areas, disseminating the idea of global citizens. For that, the primary object from effect+ is to introduce participants to the concept of intercultural learning and to the SDGs. The first two effect+ realized discovered that most of the students did not have any knowledge about the SDGs, and in some schools that were contacted, not even the teachers and administration knew about this global strategy. For example, when the participants ofthe third effect+ in Duque de Caxias, a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, were asked if they had already heard about the SDGs, 98% of the participants answered that they did not know that the SDGs existed. For that reason, the principal objective of AFS at this moment is to construct this knowledge, introducing the students to this question and encouraging them to act¹⁸⁹.

This activity allows AFS to achieve a wider range of participants, since there are no high participation costs like for the exchange programs. With that said, the target here is to promote effect+ in regions and schools where participants do not have the ability to pay for an exchange program. However, for a better understanding of different perspectives from the goals and a better exchange, if possible, it is important to foster involvement from participants in different parts of the city and the society, creating a better understanding of the problems in their city and region¹⁹⁰. This cooperation enables the participants to create new approaches to these problems, looking for solutions. This also promotes empathy between participants and their daily challenges¹⁹¹. This workshop invites students from public and private schools between 13 and 18 years old to a discussion concerning different aspects over a half or full day program¹⁹².

The international handbook about effect+ understands this program as a good opportunity to improve new partnerships, like the exchange with different organizations and institutions that share a similar perspective. This is also a great strategy to achieve new fundraising methods for this and other activities¹⁹³. It is also important to contact another important group of people, the AFS Alumni. If, before this project, the only form to reach this group were the newsletter or the normal program activity from AFS, the strategy to contact these persons could be very important, as elucidated by Martins¹⁹⁴. Normally, after an AFS exchange program, the participants create a strong bond with the organization; this experience can also influence their future carrier choices¹⁹⁵. After some time, they do not have the capacity to support the organization actively doing volunteer work, especially after entering the job market. This new AFS program provides an opportunity to contact those people, explaining the project and showing them different forms to offer support, maybe financially or helping with the workshop itself. Martins understands effect+ as an important form to intensify the contact with old participants, improving the AFS network and achieving a new group of people that AFS was not reaching in the last years. Effect+ tries to connect with Alumni that are working in different areas present in the SDGs and invite them to these workshops as speakers. These persons have a better understanding of AFS and its mission and, when the invitation is accepted, can better explain to the participants how the exchange program changed their lives, affecting their job choice¹⁹⁶.

After the first effect+, where AFS international and CISV worked together, this partnership is playing an important role in providing more workshops, as well as providing the financial resources for this project. It is important to find new partners to finance new workshops. For that, AFS contacted UNESCO but they could not offer support. Therefore, AFS asked previous participants if they could donate in order to make more effect+ possible; after reaching out AFS got 90% of their new effect+ financial sum from the alumni network. There is also cooperation between alumni that raise money and together provide a scholarship for a student to participate in an AFS exchange program¹⁹⁷. This corroborates another aspect present in the strategy from AFS international, sponsoring more students with scholarships, getting more active about the SDGs¹⁹⁸.

During effect+, there is an opportunity to discuss about some of the main aspects of the SDGs with different persons. Before the start of the workshop, all participants receive an email from the organizers explaining how this workshop happens, which also provides some key information about the SDGs. The participants should then search for more information, after that they should research one aspect of the goals and describe it within their reality with one photo. This exercise explains the principle from this workshop; the activities should bring the participants closer to this theme, focusing more on the experience and on tangible examples than keeping it only theoretical. This approach aims to create a better communication with a young audience. The photographs also enter into an internal award for best picture¹⁹⁹.

There are different topics tackled in each effect+, but AFS Brazil has prioritized topics about which alumni can present for the participants, or focused on the two topics that AFS understands it can help the most: quality education and peace and strong institutions²⁰⁰. At the end of every effect+, the participants reflect on every goal and, in different groups, work together to develop an action plan to combat those problems in their society²⁰¹. This activity generates a higher interaction between participants and produces the desire to act locally, supporting their community²⁰².

The development of this handout explaining how this program can be applied and how other AFS’s can make use of this initiative in their countries was a direct partnership between AFS Brazil and AFS International. AFS Brazil also provided the opportunity to discuss it directly with the trainers present in those workshops at forums on the World Cafe (WOCA), an online platform created by AFS International to promote discussions and exchange between AFS partners and volunteers. However, there was also a conference call for every volunteer interested in knowing more about this approach from AFS Brazil²⁰³.

After the first progress this activity had, the next step described during the interviews was first to strengthen this networking and connection pool, so that in the future even more effect+ can take place, achieving more participants and different areas in Brazil. Also, to create a national qualification for trainers until the end of 2018/ beginning of 2019, so that they could also multiply these strategies during otherAFS seminars and camps²⁰⁴.

6.4 Volunteers and the SDGs

Going further in the understanding of how AFS Brazil and AFS Germany contribute to the SDGs, it is very important to understand what the volunteers think about this question and what their perceptions are. Also important is the comprehension that every country has their
own background and that the structure inside the AFS can vary. The idea here is to present the most relevant information gathered with the online questionnaire on how volunteers understand this topic and which group of volunteers were achieved in these questionnaires. Since the questions are the same in both questionnaires and the idea of this thesis is to understand how AFS as a global organization can support the SDGs, most of the result of both surveys are going to be presented together; other questions, however, are going to be shown separately, promoting a better understanding on each reality. Not every question is going to be recounted here, questions regarding respondent’s agreement with the terms and conditions to the survey and emails are not relevant to this analysis.

The first relevant question to this thesis was the age group. This aspect is important to understand how old our participants are, so that it can be understood which audience we are dealing with. For that end, an age range between 15 and 100 years old was used. Assuming that AFS exchange program participants must be at least 15 years old, this was the youngest option possible; in both countries, most participants were between 21 and 30 years old. This was an already expected result, since most of the volunteers from AFS programs become active volunteers after the exchange or voluntary year program.

Illustration 6: How old are you?

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Quelle: Own Illustration

The second question was about the gender with which every person identifies. Here three options were possible: Female, Male and Other in case a person does not identify as one of the two most common genders. This question is very important in understanding the reason why the goal 5-gender equality is considered such an important goal for AFS, even though this topic is not a specific action field for AFS.

Illustration 7; Which ofthe following best

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Quelle: Own Illustration

Here it is also important to emphasize that even with a neutral option, 09 persons who took part in this online survey did not answer to this question. This graphic also shows that the number of participants that identify as female is much bigger than the ones who identify as male, which can be one of the reasons why gender equality is such a relevant theme for volunteers. Even looking through the structure from both national offices analyzed in this work, most of the employees are female. In Brazil, from all 18 workers, only two of them are men²⁰⁵ and from the 140 workers in Germany, 110 are woman²⁰⁶. This fact alone does not show that AFS is fighting for better equal rights by employing more women. One example of that is that in Germany 76% of employees in the nonprofit sector are woman²⁰⁷. This thesis is not going to discuss the reason this happens and the structure of the job market in Germany or in Brazil, but this shows that AFS is not employing more women than man into their structure to support the fight against gender inequality. At the same time, both AFS national directors are women, and this may produce some change into the discussion of this topic. Other activities promote discussions and show the importance of this topic in the context of AFS and for volunteers. The already quoted program for LGBTQ in Germany and discussions about the inclusion of other gender identifications in texts and documents from AFS by volunteers corroborate this understanding, which why this topic is important in the volunteer’s view and ofthe organization as a whole²⁰⁸.

When asked if they have already taken part in one of the programs from AFS, the biggest part of the persons answered that yes. The options in this question needed to be different since AFS Germany provides the option of an exchange volunteer program, and AFS Brazil does not. In that sense, it was necessary to add the option of volunteer work and both experiences as answers to this question in the questionnaire in Germany. Most of the participants in this question answered that they had already been in a AFS program.

Illustration 8: Did you participate in one exchange program from AFS Brazil?

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Illustration 9: Did you participate in one exchange program from AFS Germany?

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Yes Yes Yes both No highschool volunteer programs program program

Quelle: Own Illustration

The next question, whether the people who answered to this questionnaire were volunteers or had been volunteers on AFS before, tries to understand the creation of contacts and networks on AFS. People normally get to know about AFS because of word-of-mouth marketing present in the organization²⁰⁹. This supports the strongest capacity of AFS to support the SDGs, the networks built. AFS does not only have many ex and current participants, but also a very committed volunteer pool. Clearly, this representation of 89 persons in the national structures of AFS organizations are not very representative, but looking at the answers in which only two persons state they do not want to cooperate as a volunteer shows the capacity from AFS to structure stronger partnerships. It must be taken into consideration that this questionnaire was only published on AFS newsletters and internet forums where the volunteers are most active, but it would not have been representative if non-AFS members and community were to answer those questions. It would be interesting for AFS to pose this question to participants when they first contact the organization and after the experience, trying to understand better how many participants became volunteers and for how long. It is also important to emphasize that 12 persons answered that they are not volunteers, but they want to become volunteers in the future; these persons have already established another type of contact with AFS, maybe as employees, host families, or teacher at schools who receive AFS participants. The willingness to work as a volunteer in this organization latter on shows how others comprehend how important is the work AFS does.

Illustration 10: Are you an AFS volunteer?

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Quelle: Own Illustration

In considering that this thesis has a focus on the SDGs, it is relevant to know if the participants of this survey know what the SDGs are; 74% of the participants answered they knew what the program from the UN proposes. It would be impossible to consider AFS as an organization that supports the SDGs whose volunteers do not know what this means. At the same time, 26% of the volunteers do not know what this project is and if AFS wants to use their network as a multiplier it is important that every volunteer learns what this project is.

Illustration 11: Do you know what the SDGs are?

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The last question posed here was if the participants already knew whether AFS in their country had a direct action plan to support the SDGs. Once again, the answers were divided, since AFS Brazil already has a structure plan due to effect+. Out of the participants in Brazil, around 50% of them do not know what AFS is doing to support the SDGs, but 20% of the persons to answer this questionnaire did not know what the SDGs are and about 30% who answered the survey considered their self as not having contact with the organization anymore. This means they sympathize with the work AFS does, but are no longer volunteers, and if this person does not follow the new activities from the organization, it is normal that they do not know what the plans from AFS in this sense are.

Illustration 12: Do you know any activity from AFS Brazil to support the SDGs?

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Quelle: Own Illustration

On the other hand, almost 70% from the participants in Germany answered that they do not know any activity from AFS Germany to support the SDGs and this goes along with the ideas transmitted during the interviews with the employees from the main office in Hamburg. As cited before, the strategy and programs AFS Germany is doing, such as the program focused on LGBTQ and global prep, may be known by everyone, but they don’t see these programs as created specifically to address the goals from the UN. Once again, only 70% of the participants answered that they knew what the SDGs are, and it is easy to assume that the other 30% answered that they did not know what AFS is doing to promote the SDGs, since they are not aware of this program.

Illustration 13: Do you know any acitivity from AFS Germany to support the SDGs?

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The next question was already described in the point 5.1 of this thesis, (image five), represents which goals from the SDGs AFS should focus on in the perspective of the volunteers. Since this analysis has already been made, it would make no sense to describe this point once again. It is important, though, to point out that all 89 persons answered this question, even the ones who denied knowing what the SDGs are answered which aspects

AFS should focus on. Every goal was described in the questionnaires, meaning that even the persons who had never heard about the SDGs before now had a first contact with the 17 goals and what each goal proposes. The goal names are clear enough for everyone to have an idea what these goals are proposing, in that sense, even people who did not know what the SDGs were could answer which aspect they would like to see AFS focusing on.

The last relevant question for this thesis posed in this survey was to ask the participants to describe why AFS should cooperate with the SDGs, explaining why this can be important for AFS and the world. Most people that answered to this question said that this partnership is important and wrote about the importance of AFS chasing their objectives and how these objectives are connected to the SDGs, as well as how important it is for AFS to partake and cooperate with the United Nations as a strategy to grow. Others said that this partnership is important, but AFS should analyze which goals should receive their focus so that AFS does not lose focus when it comes to organizing exchange programs and developing a better understanding between cultures. Additionally, a minority understood this partnership as not beneficial for AFS, since AFS would need to invest resources in activities that AFS does not have the expertise for, this person also criticized the SDGs as a whole, seeing more flaws than positive development. So that these answers can be read, they are attached to this thesis.

7 SuggestionsforAFS

As demonstrated in this thesis and affirmed by the interviews and survey, it seems like a common interest for volunteers, coworkers and AFS as an institution to promote new activities directly supporting the SDGs. With that in mind, it is crucial to develop activities that match the AFS principles, and, at the same time it cannot be forgotten the diversity of contexts surrounding each AFS in the world. It is important to create global actions, alongside specific activities for every country and every background, making it possible for every AFS partner to adapt these activities to their reality. As already explained and observed, some of the activities AFS is doing to support the SDGs have already been implemented, and there are other activities that support the SDGs indirectly, but those are not understood as actions to support the international program created by the UN. This creates a new question, how will AFS quantify this support? As mentioned by Herking during the interview, are there enough benefits to directly control these activities and to divulge this to the public²¹⁰ ?

This question is very complex to answer, and this evaluation can only be done by AFS and every representation from AFS itself. Considering their resources, environment and what AFS wants to achieve when they promote these actions, it would be very risky to provide only one answer for each circumstance. In this case, one answer does not fit every reality, making it impossible to create only one strategy and only one understanding of this question. Nonetheless, the advice here is to evaluate the results and afterwards to report and communicate it to as many stakeholders as possible. This is also a strategy explained on the SDG compass developed by GRI. The five-step process should help implement and align new strategies to the SDGs, and the last step towards this objective is to analyze and communicate the results²¹¹. This can be extremely relevant for AFS as a form to motivate volunteers to do the job they are doing and also to be transparent with every stakeholder. Even if the goals stipulated are not reached, it is important to show that the plan was structured and develop new plans to accomplish it next time.

Looking towards forming this new strategy and successfully achieve as many people as possible, it is important to use different communication channels, for example, AFS websites, social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, twitter, etc.), events, newsletters, seminars, emails and national meetings. This strategy makes it possible to directly inform the persons who already have contact with AFS, but it also reaches a new public and maybe even achieves new participants, partners orvolunteers²¹².

This strategy of exposing the progress of these activities brings other challenges to the process. As pointed out in diverse interviews, such as with Bogatzki, Mello, and Herking, AFS does have a difficulty in quantifying their activities. Different from other sectors, the programs and goals developed by AFS are not easy to measure. The biggest changes during an exchange year go far beyond the number of participants. This aspect is much more related to their feelings and is mostly subjective when compared to the number of sales or other quantify measurement. This makes the comprehension of the development an AFS participant achieved in and exchange year difficult to assess and a quantitative study hard to apply. For that reason, a long-time research such as the present in the book Students for four decades²¹³, would bring the best results. However, as explained before, a long-term study like this one would be too expensive and difficult to achieve, particularly for a program that ends in 2030. In this case, the numbers AFS already has is the numbers of participants in every program, but this numbers alone are not representative enough to show how effective this organization is when supporting the SDGs. For that reason, it is important for AFS to create new forms to measure this progress, especially in different activities and areas. The following activities and changes here proposed relies on different forms to develop and measure this process, making it possible to inform different stakeholders throughout this course.

To achieve success in this new partnership, it is very important that AFS does not forget the reason for their existence. As explained in different interviews, it’s primordial that AFS keep their mission in focus and only cooperate with the SDGs on the goals where it fits their propose. In his book start with Why, Simon Sinek comprehends this question as primordial in business. He also writes that all new actions from one institution should be convincing about their beliefs and mission. Knowing exactly why this organization exists makes it easier to understand the new processes and strategies, making people trust this institution more, correlating these new actions to its business model and mission²¹⁴. In such case the goals should be compatible with the mission and the reason why AFS exists, inserting the SDGs into the AFS system and not the other way around. If there is some activity from the SDGs for which AFS does not possess the expertise, or if AFS as an institution does not agree with such initiative, it is important for AFS to disregard that target or goal and not develop any form to support it. It is important that the motivation why AFS is supporting the SDGs is clear for every stakeholder in this process, turning this partnership into a new strategy to achieve their mission, this means, to develop a morejust and peaceful world.

The strategies here proposed focus on all five goals from the SDGs described before in this thesis, focusing on all five aspects that volunteers, coworkers and AFS itself understands as the most relevant. As explained before, some goals should not be the focus from AFS, given the difficulty to develop an effective program for which AFS does have the expertise and for which there are already other institutions focusing their efforts. Such as Mello explained, the different agencies from the UN work as experts in some aspects, and this is important for the development from the SDGs²¹⁵. In this same perspective AFS should work as an expert in the aspects they can do better and is already reputable, providing the best support possible[[221]].

These development strategies focus also on all four action areas presented by AFS on the 2017 strategy papers, which are demonstrated here on figure 14. These action areas are programs, education, volunteerism and advocacy. Such as it happens with the SDGs, these four different areas here are interconnected and one can influence the other directly. Every action here proposed could influence different goals from the SDGs, depending on the focus given to this activity.

Illustration 14: AFS International Strategie

Quelle: Franzoi, A., 2018, p.5.

For a better understanding of the action areas from every activity, they are going to be presented separately, but since the activities can influence other areas at the same time, it is necessary to comprehend the interaction between these activities. For example, when promoting different programs, AFS may need more active volunteers carrying out those plans to support the organization, but at the same time, more programs will achieve a bigger public, making it possible to acquire more volunteers.

7.1 Volunteerism

As described before, the way AFS can support the SDGs to its best abilities is their network and the capacity to work as multiplier. For that reason, the volunteers should be the first structure to receive an action plan focusing on the SDGs. The volunteers are already very relevant to the organization and they have the capacity to achieve a huge number of persons, not only at AFS, but also in other fields, since some of them act as volunteers in other institutions²¹⁶. Most of them have already developed a bigger understanding of the complexity in the world and already fit the description of a global citizen. Another important aspect, they are already active on AFS and agree with the AFS mission. When they invest their time towards achieving this mission, for some of them they are not only supporting the mission from AFS, but also their private mission too, inspiring them to keep doing this work²¹⁷. To support this area of action, two activities are going to be presented.

- Activity: Workshop for Volunteers
- Recommendation: Develop and host new workshop for volunteers, explaining this new approach concerning AFS and the SDGs. This workshop should start in 2019 and end by 2022 or as soon as 40% of all volunteers are achieved

The first strategy to support this area of action is to foment the discussion and provide more information for volunteers about this topic. It is important that volunteers understand and comprehend what this partnership means so that they are able to pass this information forward during seminars and AFS camps. Employees and volunteers should work together to develop a workshop explaining this strategy to the volunteers and focusing on the most relevant goals for AFS. This activity should explain what the SDGs are and how the activities from AFS, the new ones and the old ones, are supporting these goals. It is important to have volunteers and employees to work together so that both understand how this engagement is organized. As demonstrated with the surveys, 52% of the volunteers in Brazil and 69% in Germany are not aware of direct strategies from AFS to support the SDGs.

The idea here is to create and promote discussions about the SDGs inside the organization, creating a pool of volunteers that can act as multipliers of those actions to other volunteers and participants. As a strategy to achieve 40% of their volunteers, this workshop can be done during the national meetings, in Germany, the OTTO, the TOM and the Constanze, and in Brazil at the CN and other regional and national workshops developed specifically to support this strategy.

- Activity: Acquiring newVolunteers
- Recommendation: Motivate more persons to be volunteer for AFS. Increase the number ofvolunteerisms on AFS by 5% until 2022.

Volunteers are essential for every NPO, supporting them to achieve their objectives and developing their programs²¹⁸. Within AFS this isn’t different, and the volunteers are an important part of their strategies. For that reason, reaching new volunteers is very important in the development of these new strategies and to ensure the strength of their work. Trying to achieve a growth of 5% until 2022, AFS should focus on three different aspects. The first one is to motivate participants on their programs to get involved as volunteers after the experience. AFS can use the data they already have on the number of their participants who become volunteers and why, adapting this into a new strategy to ensure more ex­participants as volunteers. The second way is to motivate the participants from new programs, such as effect+ and global prep., to engage in their society and keep in touch with AFS. It is important to maintain contact with these new participants, inviting them to be present in other meetings from AFS. This activity would also improve their capacity of understanding the problems ofthe world, especially ifthese participants get in contact with international members. This new invitation can also occur on the other way around; volunteers should be available to support new strategies in different communities to further develop the strategies created during the workshops / camps. This approach would make it possible to support different goals from the SDGs at the same time. The last important aspect in engaging more volunteers is to target the Alumni AFS has. As quoted by Mello and Martins, the Alumni are in another situation and can support AFS in different forms that they could not before; maybe with participating during a specific event to talk about the SDGs²¹⁹, or introducing AFS to new participants and families, to introduce AFS to new partner schools for example or maybe supporting AFS financially. This contact should happen in the most diverse forms possible, via email, postcard, invitation to AFS meetings, invitation to AFS anniversaries and others more.

7.2 Programs

AFS is dealing with high competition levels in the exchange programs market. In order to achieve more participants in this market it is important for AFS to focus on different types of programs. AFS has become a standard when it comes to the high school program, having been the first one to create this kind of experience, but the growing competition decreased the AFS market share in this sector. The programs offered by AFS are too restrict; there are not enough options for participants to adapt the programs to their needs[[226]]. For instance, for the high school program there are only two periods of the year when students can travel, they cannot choose their host families and in most of the cases, they cannot choose directly the country they want to travel to. Understanding how necessary it is for AFS to obtain more participants, this thesis sees a possible benefit from this partnership as the possibility to reach a bigger public. Using the SDGs as a marketing strategy or adapting the volunteer program to a new public will intensify their activity and support the SDGs. This is only one perspective, but AFS is the specialist in this field and has the ability and knowledge to adapt their strategy in this new scenario with other institutions as competition.

- Activity: Inform new participants
- Recommendation: Change materials and participant selection forms. Show and explain about the SDGs. Include this new information in about six months.

Looking towards promoting this partnership with the SDGs, AFS should make visible the goals they are focusing on, not only as an organization but with each program and partnership specifically. Using the volunteer program to exemplify, AFS should present the work from these volunteers over one year as the ability to develop a specific goal. Participants who go abroad to work at a school or university teaching or working as a tutor in a specific area should comprehend that this action contributes to the targets from the fourth SDGs goal. The same happens when volunteers work at preservation areas, which is the case of some volunteers in Brazil; these participants should know that with their activities they are also supporting the SDGs goal 15. This should be explicitly addressed during the candidate selection process, on the online materials and other forms used in this process. This clear approach should work as well with goals four and 16, since AFS comprehends that these two goals are part of their activities, every person should know that this program and all involved people are supporting these goals. This activity should be implemented as soon as possible, with a six-month deadline, providing time for the documents and strategies to be changed. This approach to the SDGs can work as a differential when comparing AFS to other organizations that do not support the SDGs.

- Activity: New program
- Recommendation: New program for university students or persons who already have an academic title, to work as volunteer in a NPO in another country. This program should be offered in different countries, starting in 2023.

The volunteer program from AFS is very strong, especially in Germany, with around 600 participants every year²²⁰. However, this program is available only for applicants as old as 28, and in most cases, these participants do not have the qualification needed to develop a real change²²¹. For that reason, it is important that AFS promote exchanges between people who already have an academic degree, especially to work in their field. Understanding the difficulty to reach this public, it may be interesting to provide this opportunity for English teachers from different schools to go abroad and teach for a while, who will contact a new culture and new methods of teaching, but understanding that in this case the language would not be a barrier during the classes. This exchange could be organized directly with different schools, where there could be a one for one exchange of teachers but in different countries. It is important in this process that AFS provide the intercultural learning support. The choice of 2023 as a starting point is important, that way AFS would also focus on other activities quoted here and have time to organize this new kind of program.

7.3 Education

As explained before, education is an important aspect for the SDGs²²² and for AFS. All the programs already developed by AFS focus on education, especially intercultural learning. For that reason, other activities, such as new workshops or exchange programs between teachers would also support this action field. Nevertheless, the activities here described try to focus on the capacity ofAFS to further the education of as many persons as possible.

- Activity: Scholarship
- Recommendation: Improve the number of scholarships to participants from underprivileged families by 3% by 2022.

Since the beginning from AFS there have been scholarships for participants whose families do not have the financial structure to pay for such an experience. For that reason, it is important for AFS to develop this capacity to support these participants even more. To achieve this 3% increase in scholarships, it is important for AFS to look for new alternatives to finance these programs. Although raising the costs for other participants would pay for the program providing more financial support, it would not be the best option, since AFS is also seeking for more participants in other programs. The idea here is, therefore, to search for new partnerships, maybe outreach to the private sector or government to achieve financial support in providing more scholarships. An alternative would be asking the AFS network, such as alumni, to donate to support this increase. This action can also focus on providing scholarships for women, increasing the capacity from AFS to support specifically the SDG goal five.

- Activity: Workshop for the private sector
- Recommendation: Provide workshops for organizations from the private sector, especially in the area of intercultural learning. The first workshops should occur by 2020.

As an exchange program organization, AFS has developed a huge knowledge about culture and intercultural learning. This experience is very relevant today, for it is an important subject in different areas. Since they are present in different countries and work with different nationalities, companies who work internationally may benefit hugely from learning to deal with different cultures[[230]]. This means that the workshops and knowledge AFS already has can be adapted and offered to international companies that need this kind of training. These workshops and training processes would be done by AFS professionals from these fields and the money collected with this activity should be placed into new programs, strategies and specially into scholarships. This action could also stablish new partnerships with the private sector, and this would be an area to look for new volunteers and participants.

7.4 Advocacy

Implementing the activities planned in this thesis, AFS would at the same time promote advocacy, building a bigger presence in different areas, such as schools and industries, and promote scholarships, therefore, AFS is already advancing discussion in society about these topics. Having a bigger presence is also very important to achieve a bigger market share. For this reason, the strategy here explained focuses on different partnerships, increasing the advocacy work.

- Activity: Partnership with different organizations
- Recommendation: Search for partnerships with different organizations, trying to promote the SDGs and focus on strategies to develop the goals proposed by AFS. Strive for at least five new partnerships by 2021.

The idea here is to promote new cooperation with different organizations. It is important for AFS to promote new partnerships with different organizations, promoting the SDGs and, at the same time, acting as influencer in this aspect. Here, it is important to find a partner with similar interests. Promoting a partnership with UNESCO, for example, AFS can promote intercultural learning workshop alongside UNESCO, demonstrating how engaged they are in this field. AFS can also focus on different local organizations that promote peace or empowerment of women and girls, pushing for a better way of living for that target group. These partnerships can also reach new volunteer programs in different areas and make AFS more active in different action fields. The focus here can be the most different forms of organizations, going from big and international organizations like UNESCO to small and local organizations that develop an important work in a field were AFS does not have the expertise but can support in different ways.

The activities outlined using the information collected during this thesis are alternatives that AFS can follow to support the SDGs. Nonetheless, it is also important for AFS to keep developing new ideas and forms to support the SDGs and to increase the capacity of programs they are already doing, such as effect+ and global prep. Since these activities are already implemented these were not understood as new activities and are not quoted here as new strategies. The structuring of the activities described here attempt to allow their application in different countries, but is important for every AFS to adapt these activities into their realities. These ideas have different action fields and can influence different aspects inside the AFS strategy. The table 1 tries to resume these activities and how these would interact with the AFS objectives, showing the possibilities and capacities from each action.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Table 1: Possible achievements from every proposed activity

s Direct support to this area ! Potential support in this area X Unlikely support to this area

7.5 Method used for these strategies

The suggestions of activities here described follow two different bases. The first one is that these activities use the SMART strategy to follow the objectives and develop new strategies if needed. This abbreviation stands for Specific, the strategy must be clear enough so that people should understand what the plan is. Measurable, it is important to compute how this action happened and how effective it was. Accepted, meaning that this strategy must be accepted by the stakeholders. Realistic, it does not mean that the strategies here are going to be achieved for sure but that it is important to trace activities that are possible within the capabilities of AFS. And finally: Time-framed, meaning that this strategy must have a deadline; this deadline can stipulate the moment to end one activity, or to analyze this strategy and maybe extend it, adapting it if necessary²²³.

Searching for a new form to measure this development, especially the more complex ones, this thesis uses the result staircase developed by the German organization PHINEO. Especially when it comes to measuring development, this model can be an important approach to new forms to quantify the achievements from AFS. This staircase is divided into seven different steps to observe the development of results from an organization, and these are also divided into three different categories: output, outcome and impact. Output is understood as the direct interaction with these activities, occupying the three first steps in this staircase. After this direct response to applied activities is the outcome, or the midterm effect developed after the implementation of an action, which is represented by the next three steps in this process. The last part would be the impact, or the long-term goals, this is the expectation concerning what this organization is looking for, characterized as the last part in this process. For a better understanding, the PHINEO staircase of is here represented with the figure 15²²⁴.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Quelle: Kurz, B., 2013, p. 5.

As shown before on figure 14, AFS has already drawn a strategy to support the SDGs. the strategy created by AFS international needs to be adapted to try to develop specific plans that connect the AFS International strategy from and the staircase development. This would provide a better understanding of this new approach and show new methods to measure this development, not only for the SDGs, but also for the whole institution.

Starting with the AFS mission, create a more just and peaceful world, and the goals from the SDGs, especially the ones on which this thesis focuses, these two areas are now understandable as the impact on which AFS is aiming with all these activities, strategies and programs. To achieve these impacts a long-term measurement is going to be necessary, and this would be explained as a change in the society like it is represented in the PHINEO staircase from as the seventh step. This connection with the SDGs and the common objective of peace fortifies this partnership. As discussed during the interview with Herking, this does not mean that if this mission is achieved AFS would lose their reason to exist²²⁵. As explained by Mello, the understanding of justice and peace defended by AFS is a current aspect. Since peace must always be supported, even after being achieved, it is important for AFS to keep doing their work assuring peace for a longer time, and in the whole world²²⁶.

The three points AFS understands as impacts, developing active global citizens, globalizing schools and institutions and expanding access to intercultural education, are explained as the outcome in this new approach. These three parts would be the midterm achievements to measure these strategies. To demonstrate this in a better way, the outcome to develop active global citizens will be used as an example. Considering the activities AFS already promotes like global prep, and effect+, AFS is stimulating participants to change their perspectives of the problems in the world and their societies, this new perception present in this new “global citizen” promotes a change in the attitudes from the students also gives them new skills, represented as step four in the staircase model. If successful, these participants will create new ideas to promote change in their society or take the role of multiplier and encourage others to reflect on how to promote change, representing the fifth step in this process. Supporting the sixth step, the change in living conditions of the target groups, if these participants put their new skills and plans into action. For that, it is important that AFS create a form to maintain contact with these participants, motivating them to promote change and engaging as a form to know their new activities and measure how these activities changed their lives, community and perspective. This can be used as a measurement method for AFS to show how these activities are effective. If successful, bigger parts of society will understand the importance of the work AFS does in supporting the SDGs.

In this new approach, the output from these actions is understood by how the different target group from these new activities proposed by AFS responded to them. Using the PHINEO staircase and the development from specific workshop for the volunteers, the first step would be to create and implement this seminar effectively. The second step would be to promote these seminars in specific places where volunteers could participate, and the third step to check how many volunteers participated in these seminars. These would make it possible to analyze if the first objective of achieving 40% of all volunteers until 2022 is realistic or not.

The last two points developed in the strategy from AFS International are also described differently here, in an attempt to make these aspects easier to understand. At this point, the four areas of action in which the activities are developed and organized are programs, education, volunteerism and advocacy. This does not mean that one activity should focus only in one area, but that for the structure of distribution of these activities into one of the four areas made it possible to give these strategies a direct emphasis in one area.

What AFS understands as operational excellence can also be comprehended as input, which are the resources and capacities AFS has to develop and control these activities. This analysis does not try to estipulate the resources needed for every activity, understanding that each AFS partner is able to understand their reality and which resources they need or have for every activity.

8 Outlook

In a globalized world, where different actors are interconnected, the search for development and peace demands a new approach and cooperation between players. The SDGs emerged as a form to implement these strategies, promoting a more sustainable, developed and equal world. Once these objectives cannot be achieved by one player alone, it is important that different spheres, such as civil society, industry, organizations and governments work together, making the achievement ofthese goals something possible.

These objectives are extremely important, bringing some faith to society, promoting a better world and cooperating with different actors to achieve these goals. Even with the arguably negative participation from industry and big companies in some aspects, leading this movement in some parts, it cannot be affirmed that this initiative is bad or non-sense. Since most of the targets proposed by the MDGs were not achieved only with the participation from different governments, the importance of increasing the number and variety of players acting and cooperating in the search to achieve these new goals was understood. It is hard to imagine how the world would be without the UN, the MDGs, the SDGs and other international organizations that promote a better world, which makes it impossible to picture which path the world would have taken if these movements did not exist. However, it may be realistic to say that such programs are very important to give the world a direction and belief in a betterfuture, showing that there still time and capacity to change.

This thesis concluded that this partnership could be very important and beneficial for AFS, even when AFS does not have the capacity to support all the SDGs goals. For that reason, it is important for AFS to focus on areas for which they have a bigger competence, and where they are already renowned due to their knowledge and capacities. Comprehending the multiplier factor as the most efficient way for AFS to promote the SDGs, especially at this first moment. Nevertheless, it may be difficult to develop only one activity for all AFS partners in the world, which shows how important it is to adapt it to different realities and cultures. Understanding the goals 16th and 4th as the two goals with more correlations to their mission and structure, AFS is already focusing on these goals and divulging it on the internet and the organization already has some activities to support these areas. Other goals like the 17th, 5th and 10th present different action fields to which AFS can also promote a direct support, since its employees and volunteers already comprehend how to do so due to their experience with AFS. This thesis also understands some targets as special for this partnership, for example the target 4.7²²⁷.

At the same time, though, this thesis reached the conclusion that the capacity from AFS to support some of these goals is very limited. Goal 16th, for example, besides the direct relation to the AFS mission, searching and promoting peace. There are not many action fields where AFS could directly support the twelve targets in this goal. One could consider the targets correlated with transparency and international cooperation the only two aspects that AFS can support the most. The other targets present in this goal are much more precise and AFS does not have the capacity to support them. Aspects like “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children²²⁸ ”, or to combat organized crime, like described on target 16.7, are not areas where AFS could support this goal²²⁹. This means that, in most cases, AFS can support the SDGs but indirectly or in more specifics aspects than as thought before.

As understood during the interviews and with the online surveys, it is possible to understand that volunteers and coworkers recognize this approach as very important for AFS and its mission. One can notice the connectivity between the SDGs goals and the AFS mission, especially when AFS uses it to affirm their involvement with their mission and has the understanding that this partnership is another strategy to achieve a new market share. These two aspects turn this partnership into an important strategy for AFS to support. This thesis also realized that the AFS international presence and their big network is a very positive support. Being able to make every coworker, volunteer, and participant aware of these goals and they can support it is an effective and real form to support the SDGs. For that reason, it is very important that the mission from the SDGs is represented in the mission from AFS, becoming a part of the reason AFS is doing this. It is important for AFS that they do not change their structure and mission in order to start focusing only on the SDGs. The attention here should be to a way AFS can include the SDGs into their structure and mission focusing only on the goals and targets that are possible and plausible to support. This thesis also comprehends that in some goals it would be especially hard for AFS to develop new supporting actions, such as the environmental goals. In this case, AFS can develop specific programs to work at national parks or to reduce the number of printed documents for their participants, but it would be impossible for AFS to cancel all the flights they need to promote their programs. This shows, once again, that every goal and target is interconnected, and supporting one aspect may affect other targets negatively.

For that reason, it is of the utmost importance for AFS to be honest with their stakeholders. Their plans need to be clear to everyone and need to be measured, knowing what the AFS’s capacity to support such program is and adapting their action plan to intensify their results. In this sense, AFS has to make it very clear why they want to support these goals, and make this information accessible to everyone. Giving importance not only for to possible marketing benefits, but also pinpointing it as a strategy to reach its mission.

With that in mind, it is very important for AFS to develop new methods to support the SDGs more directly or make its current supporting activities clearer in that sense. As comprehended before, some AFS activities already support some goals and can be already very effective, but there is not a common understanding inside the organization about these strategies; it is important to make their effectiveness clearer in this sense. At the same time, none of the activities proposed in this thesis should be understood as the best or the only way for AFS to achieve their objectives. Nonetheless, it is important for AFS to keep in mind that if they really want to support these goals, it is important to develop and to put these new strategies into action. Also important is to analyze the best form to integrate these goals into the organization and the best form to measure and divulge it.

With that said this is a good opportunity for AFS to use this approach as a business model, plaining new activities and promoting AFS in different areas. In order to do that, however, it is important to act, bringing it into existence and searching to achieve as many benefits as possible. This thesis showed that some activities have already been implemented, but there is potential to grow and different aspects that need to be given attention. It is hoped that this thesis can be used as a motivation to everyone who in some form comprehends the importance of the SDGs for AFS and how AFS can support this initiative, making it will be possible to support even more these goals, especially with the help of every coworker, volunteer, participant and partner as possible.

The different areas tackled in this thesis shows how complex this theme is. Exploring all the different facets of this partnership and this new approach for AFS, it attempted to explain different key aspects for different publics, trying to reach as many persons as possible, understanding that the range of people that AFS achieves is very different with diverse backgrounds and different ages. This attempt at explaining different aspects such as anthropology, the UN and suggesting the best ways which AFS should support the SDGs made this thesis very wide, turning this thesis into something bigger than first thought. However, at the same time, these themes are essential to explain in the best way possible the SDGs and how the United Nations got to these 17 goals. Explaining how AFS works is also fundamental to understand how the strategies here proposed were created, making it possible to imagine how these strategies can be applied.

The use of different research methods, such as literature research, interviews and questionnaires, was another challenge during this thesis. Having the need to use three different approaches made this process more complex, but it would not be possible to deliver a realistic and direct approach to the SDGs and AFS without these methods. The literature research made it possible to understand the background of AFS, the UN, the SDGs and anthropology, comprehending how these themes interact with the central question of this thesis: how can AFS use the SDGs as a business strategy? The interviews with employees made easier the comprehension of how every partner from AFS and also how the international organization is structured. It was also very important to have contact with specialists when talking about AFS and what this organization is already doing to support the SDGs and other initiatives. The last method used, the online survey, was also essential. Even with only 89 answered questionnaires, this method was very important in understanding how the volunteers comprehends this topic; this data is very relevant to understand how AFS can use their volunteers to develop the best approach to the SDGs possible, at the same time that the volunteers recognize their role in the activities and efforts in this process. This thesis comprehends the volunteers as a key part in this process, understanding that without the participation from the volunteers these new activities cannot be implemented.

One can understand this partnership as a key point for AFS as a new strategy to achieve its mission, which means that AFS should intensify their actions looking for better ways to support the goals developed by the UN for the SDGs in the best way possible. The data provided here can be used as a starting point, hoping that in a short time different representations from AFS already know about these plans, and are able to develop new forms to intensify this partnership. Knowing that, there is a long path with different challenges in front of AFS and the SDGs, but making use of everyone’s best capacity, perhaps this common objective can be achieved by 2030.

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[...]

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¹ Cf. United Nations, 2000, n.p. Online publication.

² Cf. United Nations, 2000, n.p. Online publication.

³ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 26f.

⁴ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2018, n.p. Online publication.

⁵ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 25f.

⁶ Cf. AFS USA, n.d., n.p. Online publucation

⁷ Cf. AFS USA, n.d., n.p. Online publucation

⁸ Cf. Cassiano, A. C., 2015, p. 9ff.

⁹ Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p. 4.

¹⁰ Cf. AFS FWD, n.d., n.p. Online publication.

¹¹ Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p. 18.

¹² Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p. 5.

¹³ Cf. AFS USA, n.d., n.p. Online publication.

¹⁴ Cf. Bernard, A., 2003, p. 272-279.

¹⁵ Cf. Bernard, A., 2003, p. 213-217

¹⁶ Cf. Castro, C., 2005, p. 18.

¹⁷ Cf. Boas, F., 1896, n.p.

¹⁸ Cf. Castro, C., 2009, p. 27ff.

¹⁹ Cf. Castro, C., 2005, p. 9.

²⁰ Cf. Castro, C., 2009, p. 27f.

²¹ Cf. Castro, C., 2009, p. 29.

²² Cf. Boas, F., 1986, n.p.

²³ Cf. Winthrop, R. H., 1991, p. 82ff.

²⁴ Cf. Castro, C., 2009, p. 28.

²⁵ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p.217.

²⁶ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p. 250; 345.

²⁷ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p. 247; 250.

²⁸ Oxford, n.d., n. p. Online publication.

²⁹ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p. 138.

³⁰ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p. 138.

³¹ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p.139.

³² Cf. Sapir, E.,2014,n.p.

³³ Sapir, E., 2014, p. 4

³⁴ Cf. Barnard, A., 2003, p. 145.

³⁵ UNESCO, 2017a, n.p. Online publication.

³⁶ Cf. UNESCO, 2001, n.p. Online publication.

³⁷ Cf. UNESCO, 2001, n.p. Online publication.

³⁸ Cf. UNESCO, 2001, p. 13.

³⁹ Cf. AFS intercultural Programs, 2018, n.p. Online publication.

⁴⁰ Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 25f.

⁴¹ Cf. Jansche, V.,2016, p. 59.

⁴² Cf. Jansche, V.,2016, p. 59.

⁴³ Cf. United Nations, 2015b, n.p. Online publication.

⁴⁴ Cf. United Nations, 2015c, n.p. Online publication.

⁴⁵ Cf. United Nations, 2015d, n.p. Online publication.

⁴⁶ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 2, para. 1.

⁴⁷ Cf. United Nations, n.d-a., n.p. Online publication.

⁴⁸ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 9-22.

⁴⁹ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 18, para. 2.

⁵⁰ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 19.

⁵¹ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 9-22.

⁵² Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 39.

⁵³ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 27.

⁵⁴ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 23-32.

⁵⁵ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 61-72.

⁵⁶ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 75-85.

⁵⁷ Cf. United Nations, 2014b, n.p. Online publication.

⁵⁸ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 92-96.

⁵⁹ Cf. United Nations, 2014a, n.p. Online publication.

⁶⁰ Cf. United Nations, 1945, art. 97-101.

⁶¹ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p. 152.

⁶² Cf. United Nations, 2000, n.p. Online publication.

⁶³ This Value has changed from 1US$ to 1,25 US$ in 2005 prices.

⁶⁴ Cf. United Nations, 2010, p. 4.

⁶⁵ Cf. United Nations, 2000, n.p. Online publication.

⁶⁶ Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 3.

⁶⁷ Cf. UN-NGLS, n.d., n.p. Online publication.

⁶⁸ Cf. United Nations, 2010, n.p.

⁶⁹ Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 17.

⁷⁰ Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 14.

⁷¹ Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 24.

⁷² Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 29.

⁷³ Cf. United Nations, 2015a, p. 30.

⁷⁴ United Nations, 2015a, p. 3.

⁷⁵ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p.7.

⁷⁶ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 12.

⁷⁷ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 1.

⁷⁸ Cf. United Nations, 2015e. p. 2.

⁷⁹ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 2.

⁸⁰ Cf. The Global Goals, 2015, n.p. Oline in the internet.

⁸¹ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p. 10.

⁸² Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 4f.

⁸³ Cf. Jansche, V.,2016, p. 70.

⁸⁴ Cf. Fogelberg, T., 2017, p. 14.

⁸⁵ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 10.

⁸⁶ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 17.

⁸⁷ Cf. Bertazzi, P., 2015, p. 4.

⁸⁸ Cf. United Nations, n.d-c., n.p. Online publication.

⁸⁹ Cf. Bertazzi, P., 2015, p.4.

⁹⁰ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, n.d-a., n.p., Online publication.

⁹¹ Cf. AFS Brazil, n.d-a., n.p., Online publication.

⁹² Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, n.d-a., n.p., Online publication.

⁹³ Cf. AFS Brazil, n.d-a., n.p., Online publication.

⁹⁴ These 89 persons to answer the online questionnaire, are the sum from the answers collected in Brazil (32) and Germany (57).

⁹⁵ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2018, n.p. Online publication.

⁹⁶ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p. 152.

⁹⁷ Cf. United Nations, 2015d, p. 25f.

⁹⁸ Cf. Cassiano, A. C., 2015, p. 13.

⁹⁹ Cf. AFS FWD, 2017, p. 108.

¹⁰⁰ Cf. Fogelberg, T., 2017, p. 181.

¹⁰¹ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p. 55-62.

¹⁰² Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p. 55-62.

¹⁰³ United Nations, 2015e, p. 17.

¹⁰⁴ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 17.

¹⁰⁵ Cf. Wolff, B., 2017, n.p.

¹⁰⁶ Cf. United Nations, 2015e. p. 26f.

¹⁰⁷ Cf. Martens, J., 2017.

¹⁰⁸ Cf. United Nations, n.d-c. n.p. Online publication.

¹⁰⁹ Cf. United Nations, 2010, p. 6.

¹¹⁰ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 55 - 68.

¹¹¹ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p.62-68.

¹¹² Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p.100.

¹¹³ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p. 104-108.

¹¹⁴ Cf. Jansche, V.,2016, p. 70.

¹¹⁵ Cf. Adams, B., 2015.

¹¹⁶ Cf. Adams, B., 2015, p. 13.

¹¹⁷ Cf. Adams, B., 2015, p. 22-25.

¹¹⁸ Cf. United Nations, n.d.-d., n.p. Online publication.

¹¹⁹ UNESCO, 2014, p. 9.

¹²⁰ Cf. Adams, B., 2015, n.p.

¹²¹ Cf. Adams, B., 2015, p. 66.

¹²² Cf. Adams, B., 2015, p. 105.

¹²³ Cf. Adams, B., 2015, p. 109.

¹²⁴ Cf. Adams, B., 2015, n.p.

¹²⁵ Cf. Martens, J., 2017, p.161-166.

¹²⁶ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 27.

¹²⁷ Unted Nations Global Compact, 2017, p. 2.

¹²⁸ Cf. Holden, E., 2014, p.1.

¹²⁹ Cf. United Nations Global Compact, 2017, p. 20f.

¹³⁰ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p.1.

¹³¹ Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p. 3.

¹³² Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p.8f.

¹³³ Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p.10f.

¹³⁴ Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p. 12.

¹³⁵ Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p.13.

¹³⁶ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, n.d-b., n.p. Online publication.

¹³⁷ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹³⁸ Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p. 12.

¹³⁹ Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p. 13.

¹⁴⁰ Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p. 14ff.

¹⁴¹ Cf. AFS FWD, n.d., n.p. Online publication.

¹⁴² Cf. AFS FWD, n.d., n.p., Online publication.

¹⁴³ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁴⁴ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁴⁵ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁴⁶ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁴⁷ Cf.Willuhn, O., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁴⁸ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁴⁹ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵⁰ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵¹ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵² Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p.12f.

¹⁵³ Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p. 9.

¹⁵⁴ Cf, AFS FWD, 2017, p. 171.

¹⁵⁵ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵⁶ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵⁷ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵⁸ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁵⁹ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁰ United Nations, 2015e, p. 21.

¹⁶¹ Cf. Willuhn, O., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶² Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶³ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁴ Cf. Willuhn, O., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁵ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁶ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁷ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁸ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁶⁹ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷⁰ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷¹ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷² Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷³ Cf. AFS Brazil, n.d.-c., n.p., Online publication.

¹⁷⁴ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷⁵ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷⁶ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷⁷ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁷⁸ Cf. Desai,V.,2017, p. 3.

¹⁷⁹ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸⁰ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸¹ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸² Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸³ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸⁴ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸⁵ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2017, p. 4.

¹⁸⁶ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2017, p. 8.

¹⁸⁷ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸⁸ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁸⁹ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁹⁰ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁹¹ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2017, p. 21.

¹⁹² Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2017, p. 33.

¹⁹³ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2017, p. 8.

¹⁹⁴ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁹⁵ Cf. Bachner, D. J., 2009, p. 21.

¹⁹⁶ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁹⁷ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

¹⁹⁸ Cf. Franzoi, A., 2018, p.5.

¹⁹⁹ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

²⁰⁰ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

²⁰¹ Cf. AFS Intercultural Programs, 2017, p. 26f.

²⁰² Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

²⁰³ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

²⁰⁴ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

²⁰⁵ Cf. AFS Brazil, n.d.-c., n.p. Online publication.

²⁰⁶ Cf. AFS FWD, n.d., n.p. Online publication.

²⁰⁷ Cf. Zimmer, A., 2013, p. 15-36.

²⁰⁸ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

²⁰⁹ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

²¹⁰ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Converation.

²¹¹ Cf. Bertazzi, P., 2015, p.5.

²¹² Cf. Bertazzi, P., 2015, p. 26.

²¹³ Cf. Bachner, D. J., 2009.

²¹⁴ Cf. Sinek. S., 2011, p.41.

²¹⁵ Cf. Martins, A., 2018, Conversation.

²¹⁶ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

²¹⁷ Cf.Sinek,S.,2011,p. 90ff.

²¹⁸ Cf. More-Hollerwerger, E. Rameder, P., 2013. P. 381-399.

²¹⁹ Cf. Mello, B., 2018, Conversation.

²²⁰ Cf. Bogatzki, M., 2018, Conversation.

²²¹ Cf. Wolff, B., 2017, n.p.

²²² Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 17.

²²³ Cf. Kurz, B., 2013, p. 30.

²²⁴ Cf. Kurz, B., 2013, p.5.

²²⁵ Cf. Herking, K. S., 2018, Conversation.

²²⁶ Cf. Mello, A., 2018, Conversation.

²²⁷ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 17.

²²⁸ United Nations, 2015e, p. 25.

²²⁹ Cf. United Nations, 2015e, p. 25.