Education for Sustainable Development: From a Practitioner and Public Service Perspective

By Dr. Rajiv Ranjan

Public Service is about the practice of Development. In this regard, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) proposed by the United Nations (UN) serve as the umbrella framework.

India chose to train its public servants as generalists and not specialists. Whether it was a conscious choice or not we don't know, but it happens to be the right choice. This is according to the report of International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice.

The report of International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice recommends that Development professionals and public servants need training which should have a generalist orientation. This is to ensure that they can understand the different facets of the developmental problems and design interventions which considers technology choices, human anatomy and health, behavioral aspects, economic considerations, etc.

Public Service is about the practice of Development. In this regard, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) proposed by the United Nations (UN) serve as the umbrella framework. A close look at these goals reveal the varied and intertwined nature of the goals. In that vein, it becomes necessary that these multifaceted problems be addressed from multiple lenses. This calls for inter-disciplinarity in the approach to design interventions to tackle these challenges to development. This requires training of development practitioners and public servants with a generalist orientation.

The question that begs an answer is who is a Generalist Public Servant or Generalist Development Practitioner? For the answer we again turn to the report of International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice. He is the one who is trained and possesses knowledge of fields as diverse as Health Sciences (Nutrition, Epidemiology, Population Sciences etc.), Physical Sciences (Water Resource Engineering, Blockchain, Solid and Liquid Waste Management etc.), Social Sciences (Economics, Sociology, Politics etc.) and Management (Negotiation, Behavioral Change Communication, Public Finance etc.). The job profile and career trajectories in this domain are such that it is facilitated by such a kind of interdisciplinary learning.

What it entails for education systems at various levels? A few interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and cross-cutting bachelor’s degree programs have come up. The pioneers being the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Researches (IISERs) followed by few new age private universities like Ashoka University, Azim Premji University, etc. These kind of programs at bachelor’s level need to be part of every University’s agenda and more so of institutions of national importance like IITs, IIMs, IISc, NITs etc. At the master’s level integrative cross-disciplinary programs aiming to churn out Development Practitioners and Public Servants can further the cause of education for Sustainable Development. In this regard, MBA programs in Rural Management at IRMA, TISS, XISS, IIHMR, etc. can contribute with slight tweaking. Institutions like IITs working across the disciplinary spectrum have an advantage in this regard.

An alternative model at institutional level that can be thought of is organizing an interdisciplinary Generalist orientation program. Health and well-being being one of the key themes in many of the SDG goals, one can think of hosting the other disciplines in a health institute. In India, IIHMR University, Jaipur has a distinct advantage in this regard. It already works at the confluence of Health Sciences, Management and Social Sciences. Only Physical Science knowledge needs to be intertwined to make it an institution catering to the needs of Development Practice from a generalist orientation.

Another model that can be developed is regional partnerships between technology institute, health institute, management institute and social science institute to offer a multi-institution hosted program in Development Practice.

Apart from running full-time graduate programs in development practice and public service with a generalist orientation, hosting of training programs on development practice for incumbent and aspiring public servants is a potential opportunity and contribution. These steps will further the goal of education for sustainable development. Churning out of public servants and development practitioners with a generalist orientation seems to be the way forward. May the goals of sustainable development be achieved.

About the Author

Dr. Rajiv Ranjan is an Assistant Professor at School of Development Studies at IIHMR University, Jaipur and an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus.