TO BE PUBLISHED AT END OF DESD UNU ... Supporting Smarter Development through Knowledge-based Collaboration Stephanie Hodge (Chair DESD 2009 AND 2013) As Chair of the Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) in 2009 and 2013 –check years that i was chair and throughout six years’ work with the Inter-agency Committee (a highly motivated and committed group of UN partners) on implementing the DESD, I had the pleasure of close association with the UNU-led global network of Regional Centers for Excellence (RCEs). This network was initiated at the beginning of the DESD to implement what is embodied by education for sustainable development. Growing and investing in this network is supporting transformation towards sustainable development at scale. I participated in two RCE network annual conferences – Kerkrade, Netherlands, 2011, and Barcelona, Spain, 2010; and in a regional meeting of the RCE network of the Americas in Peru in 2013. I also had the privilege to be invited to present at a special RCE seminar session during TICAD-5 at UNU in Japan in 2013. Through association with the RCE network for over six years (2008-2014), I have become an avid supporter of the network. I believe in its vision, its knowledge and learning mandate, and its multi-stakeholder membership in the context of doing development better. We all know that business-as-usual has not been a sustainable pathway for development. The traditional economic planning framework (land, labour and capital) has been shortsighted. A progressive sustainable economic development framework from which to monitor or evaluate sustainable development is the Inclusive wealth (IW) framework. IW’s expanded vision rests on the premise that development is sustainable if the value of its capital assets does not decline (Clark, 2014). The IW framework includes five capitals which hold risks inherent to overall global progress, productivity and livelihoods: 1) natural capital, 2) human capital, 3) manufactured capital, 4) knowledge capital and 5) social capital. The framework factors in the major development concerns, which include environmental externalities, knowledge, human and social equity, capacities and capital. I view the work of RCE networks through this progressive sustainable development framework.. The RCE network is more than a network for development. It has a membership that includes like-minded persons and a constituency that puts a premium on knowledge capital in development. Knowledge in development as a concept was born in the mid-twentieth century. In the 1950s, UNESCO coined the phrase ‘information famine” in reference to the gap between the information rich (developed countries) and the information poor (developing and third world countries); during the 1970s-80s, the same problem was leveraged as the “global digital divide” (Hamelink, 2002). These concepts are linked to the ability of economies or countries to invest in research and learning opportunities, including applied work, with Universities for development planning – an ability which requires access to resources, an infrastructure to create new knowledge or research, and the understanding of this evidence base to effectively apply and utilize it. A related concept is knowledge management which, simply expressed, means ”managing (and learning) through the effective application of knowledge”. Systems for managing knowledge effectively for development are called ”learning systems”. Based on more than 20 years of work experience on sustainable development with the UN and its partners, I believe the key to sustainable development for all is access to knowledge and the ability to use it effectively. It is about knowledge management and knowledge facilitation to build human and social capital. The consideration of knowledge inputs, needs and gaps is inherent in all sustainable development, but this consideration alone is not enough. The work of sustainable development must also be inclusive, with a representative mix of people who represent and provide knowledge inputs from all of society: civil society, private sector, science, policy , different cultures and groups, youth, women and children. There must be a quality assurance system in place for inclusive and sustainable development planning. There must be a science and evidence base, and also the right mix for ascertaining the important baselines for measuring local results, namely, participation, environment, social and political inputs for better design, monitoring and development management and adaptive livelihoods initiatives. When evidence-based knowledge and systemic learning for change are considered from this perspective (as inputs or capitals in terms of our productive base), it adds an instrumental value of including”knowledge (traditional and science based) and learning and a learning systems approach” in all development planning and interventions. This is by instituting a knowledge management and learning component that promotes learning and action research to sustainable development planning processes. RCEs are fulfilling a missing piece of the SD puzzle for sustainability--local ownership and knowledge facilitation- learning. It is the essential component for dynamic environmental and ecosystems management and towards a longer term sustainable development objective. The RCE network puts a premium on local knowledge, knowledge capture, knowledge sharing and local learning, which in turn promote local empowerment, stronger evidence-based development decisions and positive collaborative actions. The evolution of the RCE network is a timely global movement with a multi-stakeholder membership uniquely led, in most cases, by education institutions. With education and knowledge at the core of its learning and capacity building, sustainable development approach, the network’s orientation is the right mix needed for transformative change! At the forefront of RCE’s unique mandate is its work on capacity strengthening at three levels – individual, organizational and systemic. It is also about promoting local leadership for empowering action through knowledge and learning. The RCEs include a non-hierarchical multi-stakeholder membership with local, regional and global nodes equally supported by institutions of learning and local governments. While all nodes are important for information dissemination and building new knowledge and collaboration, the local level nodes are most powerful for leveraging bottom-up change in development practices as they promote collaboration and are knowledge brokers. They seek out the local knowledge owners – civil society and youth in particular. For youth the network plays a special role -- filling a huge global void. Universities, which form a sizable portion of RCE membership, are the places where youth live, convene and organize RCE networks globally are providing a platform for youth to organize around sustainability issues through a multi-stakeholder engagement. RCEs bring in the right mix for local planning and actions around sustainable development. The key is engaging the leadership from the institutions of learning that in turn empowers government departments and other local stakeholders to work collaboratively on sustainability issues. Whether the problems are related to governance, environment, emergency, economy or equity, tapping the knowledge power of the capacity strengthening network that facilitates partnership is what is needed to support sustainable development and is at the core of the RCE network’s mandate. This network is promoting the still necessary triangular and south -south cooperation. It also promotes regional and global technology transfer, facilitates and bridges unconventional partnerships, and includes universities and youth in development planning. It highlights the importance of the inclusion of local and traditional knowledge, supports diversity and youth empowerment and organization, and promotes smarter development choices. RCEs are at the core of what is Sustainable development SD. RCEs are the local centers for knowledge, teaching, ideas and action on sustainable development; building local capacities for long term sustainable development management; and creating a unique multi-stakeholders partnership that enables people to get involved in solving problems and developing systems for what promises to be a dynamic and more sustainable future.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 16:01:26 +0000
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