This project is motivated by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser’s reappointment as an Advocate of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), showing that Qatar embraces the importance of education as a tool for empowerment, civic participation, human development, and sustainable societies laden by ethical and moral education. The cluster addresses NPRP-C’s thematic area 5.4.4 (Primary), 5.4.3 (Secondary) and 5.5.5 (tertiary) by assessing the Qatari education system’s policies, guidelines, current knowledge, and practices related to SDGs. The project will address the question of how the Global Citizenship Education (GCED) goals and Sustainable Development Goals Education (SDGED) imbued with ethical, moral and localized educational dimensions can be increasingly absorbed into Qatar’s education system.
The overarching objectives of the Cluster is to provide applied solutions to educational challenges with the aim of providing evidence-based designs and piloting innovative educational modalities in Qatar. The Cluster aims to produce a creative space in education ecosystem in Qatar which is conducive to support, study, and implement SDGs education and practice. The Cluster Project will create a multi-stakeholder, inclusive and coordinated educational space and applications aligned with the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser as one of the ten SDG advocates in the world. Operationalized Objective 1
Cultivate SDGED and GCED related capacity and leadership in Qatar’s education system through targeted intervention in primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Operationalized Objective 2
Identify, design, implement and evaluate educational models and modalities by rescaling Global Citizenship and SDGED towards a localized, contextually sensitive and human values centered process.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently called attention to the importance of and urgent need for increased Global Citizenship Education (GCED). This is in response to the alarming rise in human rights violations, inequality, and poverty that threaten global peace and sustainability (UNESCO, 2019). GCED integrates the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning to create a sense of belonging to a common humanity. It empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a sustainable society, for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. It also helps learners to become proactive contributors to more peaceful, tolerant, secure, and inclusive societies. GCED builds on the work of Peace and Human Rights Education to instill in learners the values, skills, attitudes and behaviors that support responsible global citizenship and urges learners to become agents of change in their communities, to face and resolve global challenges, to endorse cultural differences while preserving their national identity and to live healthy and fulfilled lives. Integrated within the SDG Goal 4–Target 4.7, GCED is a vital dimension of the SDGED. Global citizenship and sustainable development goals are interrelated concepts as they are both concerned with global responsibilities to address the century’s challenges for human survival and security at the intersection of ecology/environment, equity/social development and finance/economy. As the threats are not conventional anymore, it is not possible to expect conventional teaching and training methods to meet the necessities of the century. Accordingly, progress can only be achieved by responsible, problem-solving global citizens who are ready and capable to act at the local, national and international levels with unconventional and innovative mindsets informed by values, ethical standpoints and morally informed youth. Combining GCED and SDGED warrants the attainment of major analytical, cognitive and social skills, such as empathy, conflict resolution, communication, critical-creative-innovative thinking and information literacy, as also highlighted by Education 2030 of UNESCO. This approach recognizes that the answers for non-traditional challenges our world faces today in the environmental, economic and political spheres, global or national, rest at the dignity and compassion not only to each other but also for our planet. Therefore, the alignment of GCED and SDGED with lifelong quality education for all, emerges as a key strategy and priority for national and global prosperity. it.
The Cluster is designed in seven sub-projects that will examine existing initiatives, policies, knowledge, and curricula in Qatar and review global best-practices related to education and advancement of the SDGs. Through data collection, surveys, interviews, experimental designs, focus groups, document analysis, pilot studies with participant groups including students, teachers, administrative and leadership personnel, relevant government personnel, and schools this project will identify progress made advancing SDGED and GCED in Qatar. It will then identify what further work needs to be done to meet the GCED objectives imbued with moral and ethical education to foster SDGED. The approach is multidisciplinary given the range of subjects involved and the sub-project designs that also involve curriculum and pedagogy models for school and higher education levels. To this extent, the project will have an international relations perspective, while using other disciplines relevant to revising curriculum and pedagogy. Ultimately, by collaborating with multiple and diverse stakeholders, this cluster will provide a holistic profile of the best educational practices that can be adapted and indigenized to appropriately meet the needs of Qatar’s education system. It will offer recommendations of how to improve education, in line with the SDGs, in a way that respects Qatari tradition, culture, values, and heritage. In sum, its goal is to study existing education and create the best possible SDG education and Global Citizenship Education in Qatar.