Partnership spawns free training course for civil servants on sustainable development

The United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC), in partnership with Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (ENAP) - National School of Public Administration in Brazil has recently launched a freely accessible self-paced online course, “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and e-Learning Design Basics”  on ENAP’S virtual academy platform. 

The partnership between UNSSC and ENAP aims to harness online learning and the power of the internet to increase awareness about the 2030 Agenda, promote e-Learning to support capacity building among civil servants in Brazil and support education for sustainable development.

The self-paced course provides knowledge, insights, and resources  that can support initiatives to tackle extreme poverty, fight inequalities, address climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. It also provides  tools that  civil servants can use to develop contextualized online learning and content to help promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The launch of the course is one of many initiatives to support UNSSC’s mission to assist organizations in scaling up learning on sustainable development. One such initiative is the 2020 Training of Trainers programme  which has created a multiplier effect in  knowledge dissemination on the 2030 Agenda..

“We are pleased to work with UNSSC on this initiative to reach and educate the broader population in Brazil on sustainable development through building capacities of our civil servants. This is a good opportunity for civil servants to act as knowledge disseminators of the 2030 Agenda through developing e-learning and conducting workshops and ensure that we reach and serve the underprivileged communities in the country,” said Mr. João Vitor Domingues, General Coordinator of Training for Senior Executives, ENAP of the Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (ENAP).

The Escola Nacional de Administração Pública (ENAP) is the National School of Public Administration in Brazil, founded in 1986 with the mission to transform the culture and the mental model of each public agent and develop their capacity in order to innovate, achieve results, and serve the society. One of ENAP’s main priorities is to support and scale up sustained action in achieving the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

The freely accessible course is available in English. It is divided into two modules - the first provides basic content on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and includes resources on climate action and digitalization for sustainable development. The second module is on instructional design basics for e-learning, and highlights components on adult learning, online facilitation and inclusivity. The course will later be made available in Portuguese.

By February 2022, the course had 209 enrolled participants. In light of a transparency policy which has been put in place by the two partners, members of the public can, through a dedicated website, gain free access to the course statistics, and number enrolled participants by clicking 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and e-Learning Design Basics under the “cursos” tab.

Interested participants can view and enroll in the free self-paced course here.

Questions can be directed to  UNSSC at sustainable-development@unssc.org.