1st Edition
Global Champions of Sustainable Development
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embody the collective aspirations of the world’s peoples: peace, freedom, development and sustainability. The challenges associated with the struggle for attainment of these goals and objectives are as diverse and complex as the variety of human societies, national conditions and natural ecosystems worldwide. The problems to be addressed range from extreme poverty and pandemics to racism and refugee crises. Some of the best strategies and solutions to these problems emerged from unlikely places, ranging from the corporate boardrooms and halls of administration to the fields of civic engagement and the vortices of crises. Often, a single person is the dauntless driving force behind these innovative programs and courageous experiments that made all the difference to the poorest and most disadvantaged social groups. Somehow, they were able to turn the abstract goals and principles of sustainability into concrete programs and effective action.
This book, the first of its kind, offers a platform that shares the individual experiences and personal studies of champions around the world that ‘make sustainability work’ in different contexts.
In the trenches of practice, results are far from guaranteed, while sacrifice and obstacles are inevitable. These champions forge the paths forward – advocating ideas, mobilizing support and exercising leadership – in diverse nations, organizations and communities. In their struggle, they develop plans and solutions that inevitably involve adaptation, sacrifice, trade-offs and compromises that address the concerns of competing groups.
Introduction
Patricia M. Flynn, Tay Keong Tan and Milenko Gudić
PART I SDGs and the big picture: key issues that transcend organizations, industries and countries
1 What does it mean to be a Latin family? achievements on sustainability of the Multi-Latina Grupo Familia
Claudia Vélez-Zapata, Juan Alejandro Cortés and Al Rosenbloom
2 Champions of sustainable development in Africa: challenges, successes and lessons learned in Nigeria
Ijeoma Nwagwu
3 Global Champions of water and sanitation for all
Diane M. Kellogg
PART II Sustainability in traditional industries
4 Making sustainability work in plantation agriculture: the story of a sustainability champion in the tea industry in Sri Lanka
A. D. Nuwan Gunarathne
5 Among the poorest of the poor: Tauhid’s sustainability approach in Northern Bangladesh 64
Enrico Fontana
6 A good cup of coffee from EcoCafé Haiti
Timothy Ewest, Kacee A. Garne and Tom Durant
PART III: Championing education and gender equality
7 M is for Malala
Laura Jackson Young
8 Role of participatory community education in Ireland
Edgar Bellow
9 Men as gender allies: Verizon’s Craig Silliman and Walmart’s Alan Bryan
Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio
PART IV: Partnerships and programs that foster sustainable development
10 Champions of sustainable development: the university for the common good and Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Bangladesh
Alec Wersun
11 Paths to empowerment: a case study of local sustainability from rural Nicaragua
Michael B. Smith, Susan Kinne, and Grupo Fénix
12 Poverty eradication and political engagement: a case of sustainable entrepreneurship in China
Xuanwei Cao and Xiao Wang
13 Global Champions of sustainable development. Uaná Refugees Program: an opportunity to start over
Norman de Paula Arruda Filho
Concluding remarks
Patricia M. Flynn, Tay Keong Tan and Milenko Gudić
Biography
Patricia M. Flynn is Trustee Professor of Economics and Management, Bentley University.
Milenko Gudić is Founder of Refoment Consulting and Coaching.
Tay Keong Tan is Director of International Studies and Leadership Studies, Radford University.
"This book makes the vital connection between the Global Goals and local initiatives by highlighting the work of champions across a variety of contexts. In doing so, it inspires and informs the social innovator in each of us."
Daniel LeClair, CEO of the Global Business School Network. Formerly served as EVP, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, and COO of AACSB-International.
"The global champions in sustainable development featured in this fascinating book offer tremendous inspiration for business and other leaders to engage their entrepreneurial spirit, and partnering capacities to create innovative and contextually-adjusted solutions to the most pressing global challenges of today. Showcasing the power of proactive and passionate approaches to the advancement of the SDGs, the book is inviting each of us, from current leaders to future generations coming out from responsible management education, to engage and contribute to a better world. Let us respond. The Earth is one, and we are so many!"
Yolanda Kakabadse, Former President of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Former President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Former Minister of Environment of Ecuador.