“SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” goals are buzzwords at the United Nations, Barbados’ Foreign Ministry and in the boardrooms of major international organisations.
Just last week, Prime Ministers and foreign ministers from a dozen Caribbean states, Barbados’ Senator Maxine McClean among them, referred to sustainable development goals dozens of times in addresses to the UN General Assembly in New York.
A striking example of sustainable development at work is how two key Western Hemisphere tertiary educational institutions, the State University of New York, SUNY, and the University of the West Indies, both led by “visionaries”, Carl McCall, SUNY’s board chairman, and Sir Hilary Beckles, UWI vice chancellor, have set out to help make many of the goals a reality.
On a recent weekday evening in Manhattan, McCall, a major New York public figure whose resume includes stints as a theologian, Wall Street executive, elected New York state senator and a former state financial comptroller, and Sir Hilary linked arms to launch the SUNY, UWI Centre for Leadership and Sustainable Development.
Launched in the presence of dozens of Caribbean cabinet ministers, regional diplomats and consular officials, key voices of the Caribbean diaspora in New York, and the two universities’ leadership, the joint initiative, explained McCall and Sir Hilary, would build on areas identified by the institutions, conduct extensive research driven by democratic principles, leadership and governance and search for solutions to economic and social challenges facing the Caribbean.
Actually, the centre blends well with Sir Hillary’s dream of putting the UWI and its campuses in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados on a global pathway that unites the Caribbean, China, the US, Britain and other developed and emerging economies.
As he explained it, “both the UWI and SUNY have agreed that a centre of this nature is required to provide innovative solutions to the underlying problems that ultimately constrain the achievement of sustainable human development in the wider Caribbean and in the urban areas of New York state, in which there is a substantial Caribbean diaspora that is served by SUNY. This initiative is part of a programme of international engagement that enables the UWI to play an active developmental role among the wider Caribbean Community.”
McCall agreed.
“SUNY’s new partnership with the UWI represents an important milestone in our ongoing conversations about educating and empowering students and faculty in order to make substantial advances in the areas of leadership and sustainable human development,” he said. “Our partnership is all the more exciting when you consider the positive impact and practical benefits the application of our research, academic programmes, teaching and learning will have for our students and faculty as well as the millions of people in the Caribbean, the Caribbean diaspora in New York and beyond.”
The centre, which will benefit Bajan and other Caribbean students and experts would:
• Create a master’s degree programme in leadership and sustainable development.
• Spur the “facilitation” of a think tank.
• Establish a network of experts.
• Foster student advocacy and the mobilisation of the Caribbean diaspora.
Baroness Patricia Scotland, the Commonwealth secretary general, commended McCall, Sir Hilary and their respective teams for their “vision and commitment” that meet the “practical needs” of people across the Caribbean and in the diaspora.
Sir Hilary, who was described by Dr Merodie Hancock, president of SUNY’s Empire State College, as a visionary, was clear about the raison d’etre of any university.
“Universities are not built to serve themselves,” he said. “They are built to serve the countries in which they operate.
“Universities are always seeking to illustrate their relevance.”
Among the guests at the opening were Dr Leonard Nurse, senior lecturer at the Centre for Resources Management and Environmental Studies at the Cave Hill campus; Irwin LaRocque, Caricom’s secretary general; Dr Richard Bernal, UWI’s pro-vice chancellor for global affairs and a former top Caricom trade negotiator; Fred Mitchell, Bahamas’ Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Tony Marshall, Barbados’ UN ambassador.
Tony Best is the NATION’s North American Correspondent. Email: Bestra@aol.com.
