The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Millennium Promise Alliance (MPA), an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with focus on enhancing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Ghana.
The two institutions are expected to develop strategies in building on their comparative strengths and engage in policy research, analysis and advocacy with focus on areas relating to sustainable development.
Under the agreement, the two institutions would facilitate the development of a curriculum framework to integrate all the 17 SDGs and targets into tertiary education in Ghana through teaching and learning at all the campuses of the UEW.
Management of UEW as part of the project, are expected to collaborate with the MPA to develop an SDG-based programme for students, NGOs, executive Directors and government officials.
The partnership between MPA and UEW was selected to represent Ghana for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network-Youth Initiative (SDSN Youth) to create SDG aligned curriculums at the national level, in support of UNESCO’s Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development (GAP-ESD).
The project is also being implemented in Morocco and Turkey respectively.
The Vice Chancellor of UEW, Rev Fr Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni, during the signing ceremony, underscored the need for universities to synchronise their academic programmes to be in line with the activities of social groups and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for their mutual benefit.
He stated that: “It would be in Ghana’s interest that attempts and efforts are made towards achieving the SDGs so as to improve the living standards of the people”.
The UEW, he explained, was ready to work with MPA to ensure that the nation was able to achieve the target stipulated in the SDGs, adding “In UEW we are poised and focused in supporting the efforts of government towards achieving the set goals.”
As a teacher education institution, Rev. Prof. Afful-Broni indicated that management and faculty would work assiduously in educating the needed man-power needed for national transformation.
The Executive Director of MPA, Chief Nathaniel Ebo Nsarko, in his remarks, underscored the need for people to be abreast with issues relating to SDGs if the country was to meet the target set within the stipulated period.
The signing of the MoU, he indicated, was to enable UEW to train the students to understand and appreciate the need to take the necessary steps to assist the government in the implementation of the SDGs.
The blue print that would be developed at the end of the project, he indicated, would assist other tertiary institutions to inculcate SDGs in their academic programmes.
He expressed optimism that UEW would be able to come up with a curriculum on the SDGs that would fast-track the attainment of such goals by 2030.
From David O. Yarboi-Tetteh, Winneba
