Digital media like video games are not limited solely to entertainment, but can be a means for addressing important social issues. The US State Department, through its sponsorship of the Stevens Initiative, will be joining with Games for Change to create a video game diplomacy program called Game Exchange, a “virtual student exchange program” for students in the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
The Game Exchange program will focus on teaching the participants to develop video games with a social impact. It will involve 2,700 students, aged 6-12, bringing them together through a medium in which they share a common interest no matter their home country: video games.
The student participants of the new program will be put into teams tasked with working on at least two projects of their choice, which must be based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 and are considered an urgent call to action. They include topics such as ending poverty, improving health and education, reducing inequality, and combating climate change by working to conserve oceans and forests.
Teachers trained through Games for Change will provide guidance for the students as they work on their projects, and participants will also receive feedback from games industry insiders, former participants of the Game Exchange program, and “mentors from academia.”
Marie Royce, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, helped develop the program. “I felt it was important to be where people are at,” she said in an interview with the Washington Post. “Young people have something in common and it’s that they play video games. I think it’s important to have initiatives around gaming.”
Games for Change is a nonprofit founded in 2004 with the goal of inspiring young people to learn about civic issues and the ways in which video games can have a social impact. An emphasis is placed on the importance of learning STEM skills—science, technology, engineering, and math—while also training educators to teach game design. A few titles that have recently been featured by Games for Change are GRIS, Sky: Children of the Light, and Dreams, all of which are believed to explore contemporary social issues in a meaningful way.
The Stevens Initiative, in a similar manner, hopes to bring young people together in the United States, Middle East, and North Africa to increase their career readiness and encourage sharing knowledge among different cultures and countries. Founded in 2015, the Initiative receives grants from the US State Department and is also sponsored by the governments of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: PC Gamer, Games for Change, Stevens Initiative