Struggles and Successes in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development

Tay Keong Tan, Milenko Gudic, Patricia Flynn, Patricia M. Flynn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780815351757
• eBook ISBN: 9781351140546
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Ethics
• Index: Business

The challenges associated with the struggles for attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and objectives are as diverse and complex as the variety of human societies, national conditions and natural ecosystems worldwide. Despite decades of economic growth and technological advances, our world is plagued by poverty, hunger, disease, conflicts and inequality, and many societies are under the strain of environmental changes and governance failure.

Such global-scale challenges call for the SDGs to be translated beyond bold concepts and aspirational targets into concrete programs and feasible plans that are substantively valuable, locally acceptable, pragmatic and operationally implementable. In the pursuit of the SDGs, positive results are far from guaranteed. Success is uncertain. Instead, the path forward requires difficult learning, experimentation and adaptation by multiple stakeholders. Loss and sacrifice are foreseeable and often inevitable.

This important book captures the lessons from ongoing struggles and the early successes. Productive failures and emerging practices are identified, analyzed and promulgated for interdisciplinary learning by, and for the inspiration of, like-minded individuals, organizations, communities and nations worldwide. They can also inform and enrich the curricula in universities, training institutions and schools to prepare future generations of citizens, leaders and activists with the ethos and values of sustainability and social responsibility. The book offers a platform for academics, practitioners and concerned global citizens to identify pathways forward on the immense challenges of sustainability.

PART I
The big picture

1
STRUGGLES AND SUCCESSES OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING FOR THE SDGS

A case study

Dario Cottafava, Laura Corazza and Gabriela Cavagliá

Abstract

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have shed light on the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) expressed through the knowledge of targets and indicators. Consequently, UNESCO has invoked the adoption of new pedagogical approaches for SDGs – that is, transdisciplinary and transformative learning, to overcome mere knowledge teaching and to teach, new generations of young leaders, ESD skills such as envisioning, critical thinking and partnership building. This paper discusses the struggles and successes of a pilot project in transformative learning in an institution of higher learning for the advancement of the SDGs. This project has been carried out at the University of Torino (UniTo) and focuses on merging sustainable development with open innovation. Recognized as one of the best practices regarding sustainable development by the Italian Association of Universities for Sustainability (RUS) in 2017, the case involves students in a transdisciplinary, creative and open learning environment. With this approach, students learn about SDGs, the complexities of sustainability and the use of valuable tools to contribute to their local communities and organizations.

Introduction

This chapter refers to the Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDGs) as a specific subset of the traditional and vast Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Due to their intrinsic nature, a theoretical training on SDGs might be ineffective (Spangenberg, 2017), as the scope of the ESDGs goes beyond the formal knowledge and should stimulate leadership skills in learners (Efthimiou, 2017). By 2030, SDG #4 seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Its Target 4.7 explicitly explains the importance of cognitive and noncognitive aspects of learning, to boost such a leadership approach (UNESCO, 2017).

The ESDGs are defined as a “holistic and transformational education that addresses learning content and outcomes, pedagogy and the learning environment” (UNESCO, 2015, 2017). At its core, it has an interdisciplinary nature (Annan-Diab and Molinari, 2017) and a transdisciplinary approach (Sipos et al., 2008). Consequently, innovative pedagogies connecting the learners to the external environment are needed. Of particular relevance, transformative learning (Mezirow, 2000) seems to demonstrate its effectiveness in considering the importance of the physical place (Bergvall-Kareborn and Stahlbrost, 2009; Romero Herrera, 2017) where the training happens as well as the relevance of the training provider. The coherence between what is practiced and what is preached becomes relevant in transformative learning (Lozano et al., 2017; Molderez and Fonseca, 2018; Scheyvens et al., 2016).

Besides, UNESCO calls universities to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to understand and address the challenges of the SDGs. According to a recent report of Sustainable Development Solution Network Australia, universities can provide training especially aimed at improving cross-cutting skills and “key competencies.” These would include systems thinking, critical thinking, self-awareness and integrated problem-solving as well as anticipatory, normative, strategic and collaboration competencies. They could also address creativity, entrepreneurship, curiosity and learning skills, design thinking, social responsibility, partnership competencies and the ability to be comfortable in interdisciplinary settings (Sustainable Development Solutions Network Australia/Pacific, 2017).

This chapter addresses the range of managerial soft skills for sustainable development. Managerial skills are needed to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity (Parente et al., 2012). They can be identified as soft skills useful to strategize, plan, organize and control (Robbins and Hunsaker, 2000). A pilot project carried out at the University of Turin (UniTo) tested the role of managerial soft skills on transformative learning for the SDGs, highlighting the struggles and successes experienced. Students from different courses and disciplines were involved. The project was recognized as one of the best practices regarding sustainable development by the Italian Association of Universities for Sustainability (RUS) and selected as best practice by the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) for the World Economic Forum 2018.

The chapter is structured as follows: The ESD Training Program section introduces the case study and provides an overview of the design of the ESD Leadership Training. It brings valuable insights to those interested in approaching the concept of ESDGs, to facilitate replication of the described methodology. A detailed description of each module comprising the overall input-output transformative learning experience is provided. The Assessment Methodology section describes the adopted assessment approach based on two participants’ surveys and experts’ evaluation. The Struggles and Successes section presents a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. The SWOT analysis is a managerial framework that helps managers identify their organization’s competitive position. It has also been applied to evaluate the learning project’s outcome by Cho and Brown (2013). Moreover, a review of some general criticisms of the ESDGs is presented as well as some tips and suggestions on how to overcome these struggles. Finally, in the Conclusion section, further studies and investigation are recommended to enhance the strengths and opportunities for universities and to reduce the threats and weaknesses of the proposed case study.

The ESD training program

Within the Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development of UNESCO (UNESCO Education, 2005), the University of Torino organized a program titled Education for Sustainable Development: Leadership Training. The workshop was designed to teach the basic knowledge of the 17 SDGs and to highlight their interlinkages, two essential features of ESDGs (Weitz et al., 2014). The empowerment of the learners through the development of leadership skills is one of the main planned outcomes of such a workshop (Cottafava et al., 2019).

The training was based on an input-output transformative learning approach – that is, a two-day workshop designed by modular blocks of topics in which each block represents a module. A module output provides the input of the next module. Each block consisted of one to two hours of active learning to acquire a specific managerial skill, facilitated by an expert with a background relevant to the topic for promoting inter- and transdisciplinary learning (Sunley and Leigh, 2017). The workshop was aimed at undergraduate and graduate students of all courses and disciplines with an interest in sustainable development. This workshop was held by experts in active learning and engagement. They took an active part during the whole project, from the conceptualization of the modules to the evaluation phase. They acted as facilitators during the training, offering support to guarantee an effective co-designed process.

Experts were selected from among the available researchers of the Green Office (UniToGo) and the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Development and Territory Management of the University of Torino. External organizations like the World Water Assessment Programme of UNESCO and the Italian Accenture Foundation were also engaged through one of their representatives. The workshop had the support of Cinedumedia (a multidisciplinary center on Cinema, Education and New Media) and the university’s business incubator, namely, 2i3t.

Training overview

This section provides a discussion of the modules of the case study, while the theoretical underpinning of this new transformative learning approach has been described in detail in Cottafava et al. (2019). The ESD Leadership Training methodology included two main components, each based on a different teaching approach. Thus, the basic structure, critical to this methodology, depends on two main parts, shown in Figure 1.1. The first one focuses on teaching the basic knowledge of the SDGs, their targets’ and indicators’ interconnectivity. The second part is centered on the plan and the design process for business ideas starting from the SDG challenges. In this way, a design for viable solutions and their implementation is established. Besides, students may imagine and conceive innovative solutions with a preliminary analysis of certain SDGs and a general sight on the complexity of all SDG interactions.

FIGURE 1.1 The ESD leadership training of the University of Torino

First, a non-formal teaching approach, the Learning of the SDGs, based on the ESD principles, was adopted to support the creation of a uniform learning path for students. Facilitators guided them from the basic understanding of the SDGs (“What Are the SDGs?” module) to the complexity of the stakeholder engagement behind a practical application of the SDGs in the university’s context (Negotiation Game module). Other modules were the analysis of SDGs through their targets, indicators and their respective interlinkages (Project Cycle Management and Visual Thinking modules) and the design of workable solutions (Leadership and Public Speaking module) and their evaluation.

The second part of the transformative learning process, the Open Innovation Learning, aimed to encourage participants to conceive, design and plan innovative projects linking as many SDGs as possible. Two modules were provided: a Brainstorming Ideas module, in which participants, working in transdisciplinary teams, define their projects through a “business model canvas” (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010), and a Pitch and Presentation module, where the teams deliver five-minute presentations.

The learning of the SDGs

During the first part of the training, students discovered the complexity of sustainability and acquired basic knowledge about sustainable development by exploring goals, targets and indicators of the SDGs, thanks to an experiential learning approach and the adoption of managerial tools.

• What are the SDGs?
  This first module is organized as a “serious game” where a simulation emphasizes the added pedagogical value to fun and competition. Each participant represents one of the 17 goals and must discover information related to all the other SDGs by interacting with the other participants. The participants’ interaction is facilitated by stimulating a debate around three thought-provoking questions: i) Goal name?, ii) Why? (list some data) and iii) What can I do?
• Negotiation and conflict management
  This second module is designed to show how to manage a multi-stakeholders’ problem related to the SDGs. The case study focuses on access to education. Each group of participants interprets a stakeholder – for example, the Ministry of Education, students and their families, academic staff and the University Board of Directors. The four groups interact in a public debate according to the needs, aims and constraints of the game.
• Project cycle management (PCM)
  The third module introduces SDG targets and indicators. Students have to analyze the SDGs by using a root-cause tree graph (Wilson, 1993) and by identifying common causes among the SDGs. Root-cause analysis refers to any problem-solving method, and it is used to trace an issue from its origin to its present state. The complexity of the interactions among different targets and indicators are at the core of such modules.
• Visual thinking
  This module aims to develop a graphical synthesis using the Ishikawa diagram (Ishikawa and Loftus, 1990) – that is, a cause-effect visualization tool used by students to explore more in-depth the specific causes of each SDG.
• Leadership and public speaking
  Simulated interviews are at the core of this module. Participants split into three-person groups (one interviewer, with two interviewed experts), simulated to enact the situation of an interview in front of a camera. Students’ interviews are played back and discussed in real time with all other participants with the help of the facilitators. The interviews, subsequently, are publicly shared on social media networks (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), on the YouTube channel of the Green Office of the University of Torino and the related website.

The open innovation learning

During the second part of the training, students are encouraged to conceive, design and plan innovative projects linking as many SDGs as possible.

• Brainstorming ideas
  Within this activity, participant solutions related to real-world challenges, focused on the local territory and community, are presented and explained. Then, the five most promising ideas are selected, and transdisciplinary groups are created. Finally, all groups work on a business model canvas starting from the selected ideas. The entire process is facilitated and guided by business practitioners of the business incubator and SDG experts.
• Pitch and presentation
  This block aims to wrap up the group ideas into five-minute presentations according to five questions i) What? – idea description, ii) How? – innovation and necessary technology, iii) Scalability and modularity, iv) Environmental and social sustainability and interdependence with the SDGs and v) Economic feasibility.

The assessment methodology

The assessment methodology was conducted through two surveys, one ex ante and one ex post, the transformative training case study, the expert evaluation of the students’ outputs, and a final SWOT analysis. The ex ante survey was a questionnaire focused on the students’ motivations and interest in the topic, on their attitudes to develop projects and business ideas, and finally on their previous experiences in sustainable development. The ex post survey was conducted to understan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• List of contributors
• Introduction
• PART I The big picture
• PART II Addressing SDGs at industry levels
• PART III Gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion
• PART IV Programs and partnerships in developing countries
• Conclusion
• Index