CONTEXTUALIZING
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT IN THE
UGANDAN CONTEXT
Presented at the Uganda Martyrs
University, Annual Research
Conference 27 TH January 2016
By
Daniel Babikwa (PhD.) Director,
DSCPE - NEMA
Presentation outline
• Introduction
• What is development?
• Sustainable development and its evolution
• SD Pillars and key assumptions
• Contextual realities informing the SD drive
• So what?
• How should the University respond?
- Research
- Teaching and
- community engagement
• Higher level sustainability literacy as the ultimate goal
Words of wisdom
• “the world has got enough resources to meet the needs
of every citizen, but not their greed” (Mahatma Gandhi)
Development?
• What is development?
• what is sustainable development?
Two perspectives on Development
What is development?
• (1) as economic growth, as modernization, as a topdown technocratic wealth creation driven process,
• 2. as a socially empowering transformative process
focusing on building people’s capacity to take charge of
their destinies
(People cannot be developed, they develop
themselves when empowered appropriately
to take charge of their destinies – Julius K
Nyerere 1967)
What is sustainable Development?
• SD is development which maintains or enhances
environmental quality and resource productivity on a
long term basis that meets the needs of the present
generations without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs
(World Commission on Environment and
Development Report,
1987)
SD Evolution and informing narratives
• The silent spring by Racheal Carson (1962) highlighted
the threat of DDT pollution of water bodies in the USA
and warned of the dire consequences if nothing was
done to prevent such acts done in the name of
development
• The Stockholm declaration of 1972 which reiterated the
need for a common outlook and principles to inspire and
guide peoples of the world in the preservation and
enhancement of the environment
• the World Commission on the Environment – Gro
Brundtland Our common future (defined SD) (1987)
• The UNCED Rio conference 1992 – Agenda 21
Cont.
• The WSSD declaration a recommitment to the
implementation of the Jo’burg plan of action
• The MDGs and
• Now the SDGs and the GAP (global action plan)
Sustainable Development pillars
• Environment
• Economy
• Society
The complex inter-relationships of SD
DEMOCRACY
Social Injustice
Exploitation
P EA C E
Poverty
POLITICAL
The existence and apread of
nuclear and other weapons of mass
destruction and the overall level of
military expenditure.
SOCIAL
Social conflict
Degradation
ECONOMIC
The affliction with hunger and
poverty of 29% of the human
race,
mainly
in
what
is
misleading called the Third
World.
BIOPHYSICAL
Lack of jobs
Pollution
and
ecosystems
and
species
destruction at such a rate and on such a scale
that the very biotic processes of organic
regeneration are under threat.
Extinction
DE V ELOPMENT
Violence
Intensifying human repression resulting from the
increasing denial by government of the most
fundamental rights and inability of increasing numbers of
people to develop even a small part of their human
potential.
Depletion
Sustainability
CONSERVATION
Adapted from Ekins
1993
The context (economic)
• The relentless pursuit of economic growth as
economic development stands as one of the
most outstanding threats to sustainable
development;
• Sustainability as a concept has been often
abused to only refer to economic considerations;
• A widening gap between the poor and the rich –
extremes of wealth and extremes of poverty
• Extractive economies with a high level of
dependency on natural and environmental
resources
Context cont.
• Environment and Natural Resources is the major source of
raw materials, food security, revenue and foreign
exchange earner, over 90% of the country’s Exports are
ENR based in Uganda;
• Turbulent world economic systems (increased instability
and inconsistency)directly affect local economic systems
and structures and lead to practices that undermine
sustainable development
• The turnover of the world’s 10 largest companies exceeds
the combined GDP of 100 smallest countries
• Oil company Shell alone controls 160 million hectares
of land - 146 countries in the world control a smaller area
• Emerging new dimensions of poverty
Context (social).
• The changing character of the citizens
(stubborn/rebellious, intransigent, uncompliant citizenry)
• Increasing greed
• Contradictions in some regulatory frameworks and
systems
• Global insecurity, increasing violence and different types
of fundamentalism
• Increasing numbers Refugees even in regions there used
to be none, putting more pressure on existing resources
• Increasing population vs reducing resource availability
and productivity
• High levels of environmental and economic illiteracy
Context (Environment)
• Over 90% of the energy we use is wood fuel (biomass),
Agriculture which employs over 80% of the population
depends on the soil conditions and is largely rain fed;
• Increasing inability of the natural environment to absorb
and reprocess mounting quantities of toxic
and other waste
• Pollution which is damaging the habitat on land, at sea
and in our backyards; all life depends on habitat quality
• Increasing pressures on natural and environmental
resources for survival and economic development
(fragile ecosystems)
• Global warming and changing climatic conditions
So what?
• “We can not solve our problems with the same level of
thinking that created them” Albert Einstein
• We must reorient the existing frameworks, systems,
mindsets and practices to consciously address
sustainable development issues and challenges
• Universities and other higher institutions of learning
inevitably have to play a central role in the reorientation
process starting with an intensive self rediscovery and
renewal process;
• Universities have to revisit not only their research,
teaching and community engagement mandates and
processes but also their management and leadership
styles to reflect the spirit and practices that can lead to
the attainment of sustainable development
How should Universities respond?
• Reorient
• Reorient
• Reorient
• Reorient
styles
research agendas and processes, methodology
teaching
Community engagement
their management, administration and leaders
Reorienting research conceptualization
and practice
Some epistemological issues
• Sustainable development requires substantial reorientation in the content and methodologies of
University research in order to address the dynamic
interactions between:
- nature and society – socio-ecological systems,
- building capacity in inter and trans-disciplinary
research,
• Understanding complex systems;
• dealing with irreducible uncertainty;
• Mobilization and integration of diverse knowledge
systems
Epistemological issues cont.
• Older taken for granted approaches to knowledge
generation and research are becoming too
inadequate to address to contemporary challenges
of sustainable development;
• Research in Universities is still largely dominated by
positivist assumption of knowledge and dualist
reasoning associated with objectivist and
subjectivist assumptions about knowledge;
• There is a greater need for a more pluralist approach to
knowledge generation calling for the use of the diverse
research methodologies not only those provided by the
logical positivist school of thought;
Reorienting curricula and teaching
• To view the world as an inter-related socioecological system
• Break discipline based boundaries
• Focus on developing critical awareness of
environmental risks created by
unsustainable development practices
• Creating space for alternative thinking
• Bridging the gap between science, education
and indigenous knowledge
Reorienting teaching
• Turn away from teacher centered
methods and approaches which
emphasize teaching at the expense of
learning
• Encourage open and active processes
of learning
• Use of case studies
• Use socially-critical transformative
learning approaches
Reorienting Community engagement
• Promote service learning to address issues
located within the learners’ socio-economic
and ecological context
• Build capacity of communities to engage in
alternative livelihoods practices and
activities
• Engage learners and educators in Action
research and community problem – solving
• Support situated, reflexive learning in a
community of practice
Reorientation of University management
and leadership systems
• Facilitate a rebirth of the entire system by
revisiting the University vision, mission and
overall purpose to reflect sustainable
development concerns,
• Design and implement the institutional
sustainable development policy to guide
processes, activities, the utilization and
management of institutional human and material
resources ( finance, energy, water, stationery,
food etc.)
• Guide institutional procurement and disposal
practices
Higher level sustainable development
literacy as the ultimate goal
• The drive towards sustainable development will bear
sustainable fruits only and only when citizens become
critically literate in matters of sustainable development:
 - Going beyond general awareness on matters of
sustainable development
 - build sufficient knowledge and information to make
them informed enough to make meaningful/appropriate
choices and decisions on SD issues
 - Developing the right skills to chart livelihood pathways
and practices that are in tandem with the goals of
sustainable development
 - Be able to act positively both at the individual and
collective levels to create a sustainable nation based on
the awareness, knowledge, attitudes and skills gained.
Last word
“Only when the last tree is cut, when the last fish has
been caught, when the last river has been poisoned, only
then you will know that money cannot be eaten”
Old American Indian proverb