EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – THE ROLE OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPP): CAPTURING OPPORTUNITIES FOR LONG-TERM BUSINESS GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT – A CONCEPT NOTE

1. Introduction

This proposal seeks institutional and financial support to launch a national initiative on the role of public and private partnerships for long-term business growth and sustainable development in the education sector. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 promotes the need to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Therefore, it is seminal to support Quality Education, as promoting education for sustainable development is rated as a critical enabler of all other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With a common background for promoting accessible education and learning opportunities, International Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (IN-CSR) will, on 15^th March 2022, host the Honourable Minister of State for Education, Dr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba. The venue for the workshop shall be the Radisson Blu Hotel Victoria Island, Lagos. The workshop is scheduled to start at 11 am for 5 hours with an in-depth discussion on education for sustainable development and the role of public-private partnerships in ensuring long-term business growth and sustainable national development.

2. The Rationale and Objective

Vide resolution 57/254 of 20^th December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly announced ten years commencing on 1^st January 2005 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and designated the UNESCO as the lead agency for promoting the Decade. The Decade’s goal was “to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learn to create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations.” The overarching objective of this workshop is to foster and coordinate deep knowledge through partnerships.

According to the UNESCO’s Director-General’s Report titled “Review of the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014”, the responsibility for implementing the target of education for sustainable development lay with a wide range of stakeholders at global, regional, national and sub-national levels, including governments, intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector, educational institutions, educators and individuals.” Therefore, it is not surprising that in its resolution 58/219, the United Nations General Assembly invited governments to promote public awareness of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Such understanding includes cooperation and initiatives engaging civil society and other relevant stakeholders.

Five years sequel to the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 74/223 of 19^th December 2019 titled “Education for sustainable development in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” noted with concern that over the past years, over 262 million children and youth aged 6 to 17 were still out of school in 2017. More than half of the children and adolescents were not meeting minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics. The resolution acknowledged the importance of education to achieving sustainable development, including in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This further reaffirms education as a critical enabler for sustainable development, an integral element of the Sustainable Development Goals on quality education, and a key enabler of all the other SDGs.

3. Action Plan

Underfunding, the impact of disrupted education and the need to support early childhood education and promote tertiary education, skills training, and vocational education in conflict and crises are concerned that underscore the need for public-private partnerships.

This also explains why the Federal Government of Nigeria geared an educational policy towards attaining national development. Against this background, IN-CSR is pleased to host this workshop on the role of public-private partnerships in capturing opportunities for long-term business growth and sustainable national development. We shall discuss current realities, and lessons learned, the challenges and opportunities for all stakeholders, especially the organised private sector.

The event will be organised in two sessions –

• Session 1 – The hybrid (physical and online) plenary session will start at 11:00 am with a welcome address by the President of IN-CSR, keynote address by the Honourable Minister and remarks by the event’s sponsors, followed immediately with questions and answers session to be concluded from 2 pm
• Session 2: The synergy strand session to be moderated by one of our in-house experts will resume at 4.00 pm for 2 hours. There shall be limited participants on invitation only and by event sponsors to meet with the Honourable Minister to discuss strategies and action plans.

A communique will be issued at the end of the session indicating benefits, opportunities, and lessons learned from the initiative.

4. Sponsorship

• Exclusive Sponsor – N25,000,000.00 (Speaker slot, brand and logo exclusively published on all conference materials)
• Gold Sponsor – N5,500,000.00 (Speaker slot, brand and logo advertised alongside other sponsors on conference materials)
• Partners (Not Sponsorship) – minimum donation of N500,000.00 (Acknowledgement at the conference and on the communique)

5. Contact Information

Event Organizer: International Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (IN-CSR) is an international team of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (CS&R) Consultants and Corporate Human Rights Advocates working to promote best practices in Sub-Saharan Africa.

For further details, please contact us at abuja@incsr.org or +234 81 718 614 82 / 81 768 988 91