Sustainable development is one of the great challenges of our time. The unprecedented global challenges that we cross today is a blunt reminder of the need for cooperation across borders, sectors, and generations. More than ever, international assistance is needed to deal with the multiple health and security crisis intensified by the deepening climate emergency and their economic and social impacts. Yet these shocks are putting the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at risk and they are still far from reach.
We currently face the danger of famine levels worldwide as the result of the war in Ukraine and the resulting shortage of grain export. This situation, among others, calls for a stronger approach toward aid assistance (i.e. development cooperation) and development diplomacy. A new understanding of the required steps and new modes of action are needed to make the fight against poverty sustainable.
Both diplomats and practitioners in the field are crucial in making these changes, and they need a good knowledge of what development cooperation is and how it functions since their tasks may include the support of formulating policies and strategies, mobilising and allocating funds, and negotiating and monitoring development interventions.
Most diplomacy programmes cover development issues only briefly so the knowledge and skills offered to diplomats in this field are often limited. This Sustainable Development Diplomacy course aims to help close this gap.
The 10-week online Sustainable Development Diplomacy course explores aid assistance and sustainable development as important dimensions of international relations. It looks at various types of development cooperation at national, regional, and global levels from the perspectives of both donor and recipient countries.
The course covers the path to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs. Additionally, new approaches that are crucial for achieving the SDGs are described.