Africa, projected to be the home of half of the world's children by 2050, confronts a significant 'teacher gap', both in quantity of teachers and in quality of teachers’ competences to effectively prepare learners for intersecting sustainable development challenges. Our SWOT analysis, conducted with partner institutions from 11 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, reveals the potential of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a catalyst for social change, while also demonstrating the lack of leadership capacity in higher education institutions to effectively utilize ESD. The SSATL-ESD project responds to these needs by accelerating and scaling the implementation of ESD in teacher education in the five SSA countries of South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Malawi, and Kenya.
The project focuses on capacity building and co-designing curriculum innovations that engage internal (students, staff) and external stakeholders (civil society, private sector) in ESD Leadership Change Projects around core sustainable development challenges such as youth unemployment, circular and green economies, inclusive sustainable growth, gender injustices, and digital inequities and divides.
After completion, the SSATL-ESD partnership between 5 European and 10 SSA partners will have delivered continuous professional development and trainings for over 400 ESD leaders, co-designed ESD curriculum innovation change projects (>45), and established continuing multi-sector partnerships (>40 organizations), providing the necessary resources for wider changes in the participating higher education institutions and societies. Through these tangible actions, SSATL-ESD serves as a roadmap to scale ESD Leadership as a practice-proven and future-oriented approach to implement the first-ever African Union's Framework for Competences and Standards for the Teaching Profession, both within and beyond the SSA region.