The UN Sustainable Development Goals in Theory and Practice

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of sustainable international development, a field of endeavor undertaken by governments, non- governmental organizations (NGOs), and international agencies that aspire to alleviate human poverty and inequality. The course explores the definitions, institutional frameworks and goal setting that shape development practice at local, national and international levels. Students are oriented to the discourses of poverty, inequality, human development, natural resource governance, and sustainable development that have driven policy and planning. Students are also introduced to the ways in which this discourse is now enriched and contested from a number of perspectives: those of Indigenous communities and local knowledge formations of various kinds, as well as alternative formulations of well-being and social justice. A robust experiential dimension of the course will link these practices and controversies to local case studies experienced directly through field study.