SDSN Malaysia Kicks Off SDG Academy Content Translation Project
The United Nations SDSN was established in 2012 and operates to mobilize global scientific and technological expertise to promote solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Following a call by SDG Academy in April 2021 to translate content in order to make existing content more accessible to learners, SDSN Malaysia mobilised resources to play a role in bringing Education for Sustainable Development to a wider audience in Malaysia. SDG Academy courses are available in 12 languages other than English.
This project will be the first to translate SDG Academy course content into Malay.
This project is part of the education mandate of the SDSN, which aims to empower all individuals with knowledge on sustainable development in order to take action on a local, regional and global scale to achieve the SDGs.
Further embedded in this project is the drive to build capacity for the increase educational material in the Malay language to localise the importance of taking action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
All translators have been tasked with the translation and peer review of one 10 – 16 minute video from the SDG Academy Course “How to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals?” to the Malay language.
41 translators from three SDSN Malaysia institutions, Univesiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Malaya (UM) and Sunway University responded to the call for volunteers. Translators comprised of academic faculty from multiple disciplines ranging from environmental sustainability to banking and finance.
A glossary of terms was developed to support translators. Translators populated the glossary further with SDG-related terms and participated in making improvements to the live document.
Prior to the translation period of 15 June 2021 to 15 July 2021, 3 briefing sessions were conducted to ensure all 41 volunteer translators understood the purpose, scope and target audience for the project. Throughout the project, translators were supported via a dedicated Telegram group. A guide was also created for translators featuring Frequently Asked Questions.
What is the SDG Academy?
The SDG Academy is the flagship educational project of the UN SDSN. Since 2012, SDG Academy has created and curated free, high-quality educational resources on sustainable development, developed with experts from around the world. To date, over 35 courses are available for free online. Learners from over 180 countries have signed up to courses with 236,000 enrollments comprising university students, academics, practitioners, policymakers, and interested members of the public.
