Izdihar

Playfully teaching sustainable business development in Syria

Izdihar is a cooperative board game we developed for the renowned Czech NGO People in Need. In Izdihar, players represent local businesses – over the course of 8 rounds, they have to grow their business and implement policies while protecting natural resources and environment.

The game is based on a situated research: it models real-world situations and proposes cooperation and adaptation as ways to solve climate challenges without hindering business growth. Izdihar is easy to pick up and one session lasts under an hour.

Your turn consists of improving your business (e.g. buying cards, expanding) and then generating coins, which can use up environmental resources which are shared between players. After each round, there is an event, which can add or remove environmental resources. After 8 rounds, you will get a score, based on remaining environmental resources and the size of your businesses.

Izdihar is currently being used in Syria. It’s in English and Arabic.

Developed in cooperation with People in Need.

The game was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).