Time4Sustainable Development

The next 10 years are the decade for delivery for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A collection of 17 global objectives, the SDGs are designed as a roadmap to a peaceful, equitable and just society - a universal framework for more sustainable ways of living and operating.

Whilst governments around the world have the ultimate responsibility for delivering these goals, they can’t be achieved without the support of the business.

The challenge of how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into work practices presents an exciting opportunity for businesses seeking to reshape their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies, to involve everyone in the organisation and to engage more in societal projects. Aligning CSR initiatives with the SDGs has the potential to develop an interconnected model for sustainable growth.

Unfortunately, employee engagement initiatives supporting the practical implementation of the SDGs remains at a low level in many European organisations.

The Time4Sustainable Development (T4SD) project addresses these three themes in unison. A Strategic Partnership for Innovation project co-funded by Erasmus+, it explores how the 17 SDGs may serve as a reference framework that can support organisations in improving their CSR engagement with societal organisations, and in a way that contributes to the Goals, whilst at the same time ensuring the engagement and development of their employees.

The Time4Sustainable Development (T4SD) project objectives are:

1. To develop an innovative European approach that supports the combination of CSR initiatives that contribute to the SDGs through the integration of societal projects along with the personal, team and professional development of employees.
2. To develop, test and validate a CPD programme for Training and Development Professionals (Adult Educators) to enable them to facilitate this approach.

T4SD combines the three themes of a) CSR, b) working towards the SDGs and c) supporting the social, personal and professional development of Adult Educators and employees.

It will offer enterprises and organisations attractive and meaningful formats of CPD for their employees and connects it to cultural, social, and environmental projects in which they “donate” the work and CPD time of their employees to serve sustainable societal purposes.

The project involves three main target groups:

1. Adult Education professionals: Their professionalisation in T4SD will be facilitated by a modular, blended learning approach, based on competence oriented learning and validation.
2. Employees who will be offered attractive and innovative development programmes and at the same time get opportunities to engage in community-based/societal projects.
3. Professionals and volunteers from NGOs working in the cultural, social and environmental fields who will be offered professional development in educational methodology and innovative instructional design.