November-2018

Dear Friends
Here’s another edition of the UNESCO Chair newsletter, filled with exciting developments from around the world on building next generation of Community Based Researchers, advocacy for the role of higher education institutions to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals, and the Chair’s support to building knowledge democracies.

Cover Story

Knowledge for Change (K4C) Residency - Mentor Training Program


The second cohort of the Mentor Training Programme (MTP) under the K4C initiative was organised at University of Victoria (UViC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada from 15-27 October 2018. It was attended by 12 mentors from 5 hubs spread over 4 countries (India, Canada, Cuba and Malaysia). The two-week residency was split between a first week at UViC and the second week at SFU, which provided different learning opportunities to the mentors.  Read more

Big Tent Declaration

The Big Tent Consortium (a global network of universities and their community partners) issued the ‘Global Communique-VIII’, as a call to action to its members on the Role of Universities in the Implementation of the UN SDGs. While history has positioned higher education institutions (HEIs) as key drivers of change, conversations about SDGs in HEIs have not been robust and sustained so far. We believe it is now urgent that HEIs lead on the implementation of the SDGs, through research, teaching and learning, industry and civil and community engagement, thereby taking on a stewardship role towards achievement worldwide. The Communique has been endorsed by 11 partners, networks, colleagues and peers in an expression of solidarity with us.
The Communique is available in English and several other languages:
English version of Communique: Click here
French version of Communique: Click here
German version of Communique: Click here
Spanish version of Communique: Click here
We request you to pass on this information among your networks and have more and more people join this movement!

UNESCO Chair Focus Areas

Inviting applications for potential partnerships from the global South to consider applying to become a hub in the K4C Global Consortium
The Chair is inviting academic organisations and civil society practitioner organisations to apply to create a K4C Hub and join the movement to build the next generation of community based researchers. If you are interested in becoming a K4C hub, send in your application, in writing to Walter Lepore ([email protected]).
 
GUNi meeting of the Expert Group on Higher Education and SDGs
Dr Rajesh Tandon, UNESCO Co-Chair attended the first meeting and open-debate of the GUNi Group of Experts on SDGs and Higher Education. Celebrated on 29th and 30th October 2018, the meeting saw over 80 people gather in Barcelona. The discussion focused on the importance of Higher Education Partnerships for SDGs as well as the presentation of the publication “Approaches to SDG17: Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals”. The Group will publish a new report on SDGs and Higher Education in 2019. After a successful first edition of the “GUNi International Conference on SDGs: Actors and Implementation”, the 2nd GUNi International Conference on SDGs will be celebrated in late 2019 / early 2020. Read more
- Album online with all pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/guni-kc/sets/72157703222134365 
- Compilation of tweets of the event
 
Round table on ‘Knowledge, Democracy and Hope’ at the SCUTREA Adult Education Conference

Dr Budd Hall, our UNESCO Co-Chair joined Marjorie Mayo of Goldsmith’s College and Jude Fransman of the Open University for a round table on ‘Knowledge, Democracy and Hope’ at the SCUTREA Adult Education Conference on “Life Long Learning and the Pedagogy of Hope” at the University of Sheffield July 17-19, 2018. The conference was inspired by the 50th Anniversary of the publication of Paulo Freire’s book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The roundtable invited participants to share their experiences and reflections on ways in which new forms of participatory knowledge for social change are being created and used. The panel drew on their own experience in the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Global Consortium, Popular Education and political engagement in the UK and Civil Society and University research partnerships.

Curricular Reforms and Social Responsibility of Educational Institutions under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) 2.0
UNESCO Co-Chair, Dr Rajesh Tandon, attended the second meeting of the Subject Expert Group on Curricular Reforms and Educational Institutions Social Responsibility under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) 2.0 in New Delhi. This meeting was an extension to the first meeting wherein a detailed discussion on the draft report (prepared by Dr. Rajesh Tandon) was undertaken by the SEG. The objectives of this engagement are three-fold: first to integrate and engage the faculty as well students of Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) in understanding rural realities. Second, to align the existing curriculum and design new curriculum on the basis of rural realities. Third, to make universities contribute to government development programs. The suggestions made in the draft report received positive responses from all SEG members.

UNESCO Chair Events

Academic Meet at Make in Odisha Conclave
Dr. Rajesh Tandon, UNESCO Co-Chair was invited to participate in the Academic meet held under the Make in Odisha Conclave (MIOC) held in Bhubaneshwar on 14^th November. The Academic meet during the MIOC aims to bring forth the “ways forward” in Odisha Higher Education sector. Dr. Rajesh Tandon gave a talk on the session Internalization of Higher Education & Community Linkages. In his presentation, Dr. Rajesh Tandon stressed on societal relevance of higher education and specified engaged teaching and engaged research as a critical component to higher education. For more details, visit https://mio.investodisha.gov.in/WebsiteLanding/Academic

Prof. Madhura’s visit to University of Victoria
Prof. (Dr.) Madhura Y., Director, School of Architecture and Design, Manipal University Jaipur, visited University of Victoria on September 19th, 2018 as a Mentor and Hub Coordinator of the Knowledge for Change (K4C) program. During her visit she discussed her interest in building the K4C Consortium and to hold the residency for Cohort 3 at Manipal University Jaipur. Discussions centred around design of the residency for Cohort 3 in ways that allow the practice of new methods of research; institutional arrangements required, how to create learning opportunities with the Hub, profile of mentees for the courses/workshops/ teaching modules that will be designed.
 
Blogs

In case you missed the blogs by UNESCO Co-Chairs Prof Budd Hall and Dr Rajesh Tandon:

In Sejahtera, Values and Higher Education, Prof Budd Hall writes about the Values and Higher Education conference held for 600 faculty and staff of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and guests. The vision of Tan Sri Dato Dzulkifly Abdul bin Razak, the newly appointed Rector of IIUM, will certainly go a long way in building a knowledge democracy in Malaysia and strengthen the commitment of HEIs to achieve SDGs. Read the full blog here

Building Local Community by Dr Rajesh Tandon on his learnings from Simon Fraser University, Surrey -- a model for enhancing and deepening “civicness” of engagement, of going beyond engagement with and building a local community. Read the full blog here

Social Infrastructure and Social Responsibilities: Extending Our Understanding Of Engagement by Prof Budd Hall on how universities, through thoughtful partnerships with community and private sector actors, can contribute in major ways to goals of economic, social and environmental justice through the fundamental ways that they operate. Read the full blog here

Life and Times of GD Agarwal by Dr Rajesh Tandon. G.D. Agarwal passed away on 11 October, after a four-month hunger strike to push the government to clean up the river Ganga. In this obituary, Rajesh Tandon remembers the man and the times he lived in. Read the full blog here
 
Book Review

Strengthening Community University Research Partnerships: Global Perspectives
Brianna Strumm, Carleton University, has reviewed our book “Strengthening Community University Research Partnerships: Global Perspectives by Hall, B., Tandon, R. and Tremblay, C. (eds.)” in Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning, Volume 3/Issue 2/Fall 2017.
Read the full review: http://unescochair-cbrsr.org/pdf/Review_of_Strengthening_Community%20.pdf

Other Resources

Catalyst for Sustainability: Case Study of the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation
A new case study on the work of the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation shows how post-secondary educational institutions can build green, social real estate projects, including affordable housing, and incubate scaled social enterprises—all in partnership with community organizations. Commissioned jointly by the McConnell Foundation and UWCRC, and authored by Edward Jackson, the report has been cited in popular and professional articles on municipal governance, community-university engagement and social finance.
To access the Full Report, click here
To download the Summary Report, click here

Rethinking Research Collaborative Has a New Website!
Visit:  https://rethinkingresearchcollaborative.com/
The Rethinking Research Collaborative (RRC) is an informal international network of academics, civil society organisations and social movements, international NGOs, and research support providers who are committed to working together to explore the politics of evidence and participation in knowledge for international development.
 
“On Knowledge Democracy”, Discussion Paper by Alice Lemkes for Lankelly Chase
Most of us will have studied a very small part of the extensive and diverse knowledge systems of the world, and we will reproduce this understanding of what counts as most valid, credible, robust, accurate, and useful within our thinking and acting, and this is held up by the dominant narratives in the public sphere. Knowledge Democracy speaks to this, and grapples with critical questions such as:  Who owns knowledge? Whose voice is credible? Who gets to generate knowledge? What does knowledge consist of? What are the hierarchies of different knowledge types? This goes beyond commonly held ideas that the work of democratizing knowledge can be done (simply) by capacity building and providing open access to data. Read full paper here