Workshop by UNESCO to highlight links between Global Citizenship Education, Education for Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship Education

UNESCO has promoted GCED since former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s launch of the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI), in 2012, which made fostering global citizenship one of the UN’s three education priorities. In our increasingly globalized and interconnected world, GEFI advocates global citizenship education for fostering global peace, improving the sustainability of the planet, and bolstering the defense of global commons. 

In 2015, with the launch by the United Nations of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, GCED became more important than ever. GCED and ESD have since been integral components of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), Target 7, and SDG 4 itself is widely acknowledged as the key enabler for all 17 SDGs.

GCED facilitates learners’ collaboration in collectively addressing the urgent challenges that impact the entire global community (UNESCO, 2023). According to UNESCO (2015, p.15), GCED aims to be transformative, building the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that learners need to be able to contribute to a more inclusive, just and peaceful world. GCED takes ‘a multifaceted approach, employing concepts and methodologies already applied in other areas, including human rights education, peace education, education for sustainable development and education for international understanding’, and aims to advance their common objectives.

Youth represent a dynamic and influential force in promoting global citizenship and active engagement with the world's challenges. Nevertheless, their potential to make a substantial impact hinges on the empowerment of essential skills and knowledge. Besides nurturing the cognitive and socio-emotional dimensions of GCED, it is also important for learners to adopt behaviours to act on their GCED values and beliefs by becoming agents of change and taking tangible actions in society to address the myriad challenges threatening the sustainable development of our world (UNESCO,2023). This also implies that the tools we provide for youth to assume the role of proactive global citizens must transcend the mere theoretical understanding of GCED concepts. Consequently, social entrepreneurship education provides a pathway for translating GCED principles into concrete, real-world initiatives.

​​​​​Yunus Thailand (มูลนิธิยูนุส), co-founded by the visionary Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus (b. 1940), is a non-profit foundation that works to promote and support the uptake of social business solutions to social and environmental problems. It works to provide education and awareness raising, research and thought leadership, and support and empowerment of social entrepreneurs, as well as to develop social business models in the nexus of social-environmental protection. 

The workshop will provide a platform to engage youth participants and enable them to gain a deeper understanding of GCED and social entrepreneurship, explore their interconnection, and develop practical strategies for incorporating both into their educational and entrepreneurial endeavors. The overarching goal of this workshop is to equip youth with the tools and knowledge needed to become catalysts for positive social transformation and to contribute significantly to a more inclusive and sustainable world.

With a focus on achieving these objectives, the workshop aims to:

• Enhance the synergies between GCED and social entrepreneurship: By leveraging the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly SDG Target 4.7 that encompasses GCED and ESD, the workshop will highlight the inherent connections and complementarity between GCED and the principles of social entrepreneurship. 
• Provide insights on the social entrepreneurship skills at local levels: Youth will provide perspectives to education practitioners on the support they need to build capacities to adopt and facilitate social entrepreneurship education approaches for ESD and GCED at local levels; 
• Exchange best practices and innovations: Participants will have the opportunity to share best practices, innovative approaches, and success stories related to both GCED and social entrepreneurship, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and experiences. 
• Foster a robust network: By bringing together practitioners and youth actively engaged in GCED and social entrepreneurship, the workshop will lay the foundation for a supportive and dynamic network.
• Enhance awareness of GCED and its global and social issues: By leveraging the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly SDG 4, Target 7, which encompasses GCED and ESD, participants will develop a deeper understanding of GCED and the global challenges and opportunities for positive change.
• Uncover the synergies between GCED and social business: The workshop will highlight the inherent connections and complementary qualities of GCED with the principles of social entrepreneurship.
• Strengthen capacities: Education practitioners will build capacities to adopt and facilitate social entrepreneurship education approaches for ESD and GCED, while youth will be empowered as social entrepreneurs at the local levels.
• Exchange best practices and innovations: Participants will have the opportunity to share best practices, innovative approaches, and success stories related to both GCED and social entrepreneurship, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and experiences.
• Cultivate critical thinking and problem-solving skills: The workshop will facilitate the development of critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, equipping participants with the means to devise effective solutions.
• Foster a robust network: By bringing together practitioners and youth actively engaged in GCED and social entrepreneurship, the workshop will lay the foundation for a supportive and dynamic network.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration: Participants will be encouraged to identify collaborative opportunities and joint projects that can further advance the principles of GCED and social entrepreneurship, creating a multiplier effect created by youth for positive change of global and social issues using the UN SDGs, in particular SDG 4, Target 7 (i.e. GCED and ESD).