Universities urged to build coalitions to address SDGs

Universities should take part in growing “multi-stakeholder coalitions” in society to strengthen education for sustainable development (ESD).

That was the key message of a two-hour webinar organised on 30 September by the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) of the United Nations and attended by over 150 participants from across the world, many of whom were not academics.

In presenting a HESI toolkit on how to grow the green and sustainable economy, the convenor, Debra Rowe, who has been the president of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development for twenty years, said that by bringing in a diversity of groups working on green development, including finance and development experts, “we've been talking about a multi-stakeholder coalition.”

Explaining who the multi-stakeholders are, she offered a diverse list of HESI’s own partners that included University World News. “In the toolkit, we show you how to grow these multi-stakeholder coalitions or support them if they already exist.”

Rowe said that she often gets phone calls asking to come to universities to train their faculty and staff in sustainability.

“I would say to them, fine, I’ll come, but I would need somebody from the mayor's office, from your major charities, from your K-12 system, from your chamber of commerce, from your nonprofits, from your environmental organisations in the room as well.”

She argued that by the time the workshop is over, “there were these multi-stakeholder coalitions identified and, if they didn’t exist, formed.”

While the panellists spoke, the parallel chat thread reflected the “multi-stakeholders” from across the world who were presenting their projects and giving email contacts and websites to visit. Many of them were from Africa, Mediterranean and Central Asia.

Seeking collaborative opportunities

One such offer came from Ashagrie Gibtan of Ethiopia’s Policy Research Institute (PRI), giving her email to contact for further information and collaboration.

According to its website, PRI, established in 2018, is Ethiopia’s leading think tank, mandated to undertake rigorous research, initiate or generate policy ideas, and prepare policy and strategy documents.

It has six policy studies and research centres in the country. Referring to the institute as a good example from Africa, Rowe said that they are “looking at (collaborative) opportunities to strengthen job creation and liveable wages, focusing on vulnerable youth and women”.

One posting on the chat thread that caught UWN’s attention was an innovative idea from Italy, using mathematics to teach young people about sustainable development.

Making use of the email contact given, UWN was able to conduct an online interview with the Italian maths teacher Elena Martelli. She told UWN that her project ‘Mathematics for Change’ is not based at a university.

“It actually grew directly out of my experience as a mathematics teacher in Italy,” explained Martelli. “After 16 years in the classroom, I have heard the same question from students countless times: ‘When will I ever use this mathematics?’ At the same time, I have become increasingly concerned about the global challenges they are growing up with. Mathematics for Change came from bringing those two things together”.

She gave a few examples of how mathematics is used to teach children about the sustainable development goals (SDGs). One example is about electric vehicles.

“Students use linear equations to compare electric and petrol cars and investigate the factors that affect their environmental impact,” she noted. “The mathematics allows them to examine the assumptions and determine under which conditions one option becomes preferable to the other”.

Another project, at a more advanced level, is in Tidal Power, where students build and analyse a mathematical model to investigate when tidal conditions will produce maximum energy.

In a mathematical model looking at food production and population growth, Martelli explains that “students investigate food security by working with exponential and linear models for population growth and food production. They then use those models to explore a very concrete question: can food production keep pace with population growth?” Another mathematical model addresses overfishing.

“I think there is a very natural connection between ‘Mathematics for Change’ and the role universities can play in mathematics education,” Martelli argues.

“Universities can bring research expertise, reliable data and rigorous evaluation, while practitioner-led projects such as Mathematics for Change bring the classroom perspective: an understanding of what teachers actually need and what can realistically be implemented within an existing mathematics curriculum”.

Importance of inclusive education

Elvana Shala, a goodwill ambassador for Kosova at the International Human Rights Commission explained during a presentation to the webinar, that she works on the importance of inclusiveness in education, especially at university level.

“I’m preparing an awareness campaign about the inclusiveness of education, equal education, and an equal future,” she said, calling for the formation of a coalition to promote this globally. I really would like to see the possibility of cooperating together with you since you are also involved in the higher education sector.

“How can we integrate education for sustainable development into existing educational systems without adding additional content to an already crowded curriculum?” asked Brendon Duprey, founding director, Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute, at Narxoz University, and one of the panellists at the webinar.

“Countries around the world are shifting to a skills-based approach to learning, developing new learning outcomes and objectives for different subjects, and ESD can be integrated into those ongoing reforms,” he argued.

“It’s very important for students to understand and to learn about climate change and biodiversity loss, equity and other issues, but what's more important is for them to be able to act on it and to actually conduct and perform tasks that allow for those issues to be addressed both in the classroom and outside.”

He sighted an example from Kazakhstan, where educational reforms included bringing into the curriculum the sustainable practices of traditional nomadic life.

“(It) explains how nomadic traditions reflect sustainable use of natural resources, adaptation to climate change and landscape, and the relevance to contemporary sustainability issues,” he noted. “So, a small change in a learning outcome can change what is taught, how students learn, and what is addressed.”

The attendees are part of a Community of Support – Integrating Sustainability into Higher Education and Society – which is an initiative involving two HESI action groups that Rowe chairs, Education for Green Jobs and the SDGs Publishers Compact Fellows, and is supported by University World News.

Resources shared

More than 800 people signed up for the webinar and will receive a video of the session. The community shares resources as well as good practice.

“We have spent years now compiling resources for you. There’s so much out there. Congratulations to a lot of the groups that are part of HESI that have been putting out great resources,” noted Rowe, inviting participants to check on the information.

“There’s a lot on workforce development, from working with the education system, business associations, governments from multiple departments, clean energy ministers”.

Rowe also added that the coalitions that are being formed under the HESI need to “grow the green and sustainable and equitable society and economies at the same time that we develop the workforce”.

Funding is also important. “Funders are part of the community of support, and they’re looking at redesigning the way that they support their grantees and who they pick as grantees so that they can get to more impactful changes.”

You can find out more about resources on education sustainable development here.

You can find numerous articles about education for sustainable development on our SDGs Hub here.

University World News runs a ‘Changemakers’ series on best practice examples of universities that are taking an institution wide approach to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. You can find it here.