SUDEGO was designed starting from the fact that in the school and in the society there is not enough information on sustainable development. This is an issue of strategic importance for humanity as evidenced by the program launched in late 2015 by the UN focused on 17 goals to achieve for 2030, adopted by the Commission Communication to the European Parliament (22.11.16) and the EU document (Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe) that postulates to create a sustainable European economy by the year 2050. We believe that the world of education is a major player for implementing this process and therefore SUDEGO intends to develop some innovative tools enhancing the basic and higher skills on five of UN goals: 3) health and wellbeing; 5) gender equality; 7) access to clean energy 12) models of sustainable consumption and production; 15) Life on Land. The proposal was formulated with the objective of complying with the I horizontal priority and the II school priority in the Programme; we involved 7 partners from 5 countries (3 IT, BG, ES, FI, UK), all of them with experience in the field of training and with strong links with the world of school and / or with stakeholders in the productive and social sectors. There are two newcomers to this type of project. There are two local education authorities. The purpose of the project is to provide, through the work of a transnational team, a consistent set of information and a set of modules for teachers of secondary schools, designed to help them to develop themselves and to suggest for their students a mentality a proactive attitude oriented towards the goal of a sustainable Europe. One of the innovative aspects is the cross-sectoral nature of the project that aimed to recreate, in this case in favor of the school system, a synergy between education and the world of production, also to guide future educational and working choices of the students. SUDEGO will be organised into 5 IO to create innovative products and 3 activities targeted to a proper and effective management of the project (management, quality, dissemination and sustainability). The final results, which will be offered free of charge on the project website and platform and in the book to all interested users, will be 5: 1) a report on the state of art and the best practices; 2) 5 teaching modules aimed at high school grade I; 3) 5 teaching modules aimed at high school grade II; 4) a raport explaining the results of the testing of the products; 5) a theoretical document intended to contextualize the project, accompanied by the guidelines and the “value giving” characteristics of the products that will be reported in SUDEGO Book. In the realization of such products we will involve, on the side of partners' experts, teachers of the school system, stakeholders of enterprises and public administration and students of the two degrees. As for the management of the project, it will be guaranteed by the Coordinator, assisted by the Project Board, to harmonize the commitments and actions to be taken during the process, ensuring proper communication to four targets (project partners, direct and indirect target groups, stakeholders and beneficiaries involved in the activities and the National Agency); 5 project meetings, one in each of the involved countries, will be organized. The Quality System that will have a system coordinator and a Quality Board will involve all the partners on the basis of a Quality Plan which includes the hazards plan and the conflict resolution procedures. The evaluation will focus on the results and will be organized on the basis of peer review and the general consensus of the partners. Finally, for the dissemination and sustainability, are expected: a) a mailing list (for the most part made up of potential users) not limited to the involved countries, b) the creation of a rich web page appealing and easy to use; c) the use of blogs and social networks, and connections to the School Education Gateway and eTwinning to trigger a multiplier effect; d) the organization of the 5 multiplier events, one in each country; e) the writing up of 4 newsletter; f) the electronic and paper version of the book contains the papers of O5; g) the involvement, with the second mailing list, of the local and regional decision makers of school system and all other organizations that deal with sustainable development in all EU countries. In total at least 1,400 people will be contacted during the life of the project. It will be signed by the partners a sustainability agreement that will commit them to perform a series of actions in the three years after the end of the project, to enable full functionality of the tools developed and a broader dissemination.
When we submitted SUDEGO we had reflected that there hadn’t been enough debating about sustainable development so far, neither in the society. On a strategy of global sustainability, this topic plays a critical role and will be of great support in the future for the next generations. Towards the same direction have moved both the 2015 UN program, with its 17 goals to be targeted within 2030 -endorsed by the European Commission with an official directive on 22/11/2016- and the EU document COM(2011) 571 Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe document, dealing with the creation of a sustainable European economy within 2050. We were confident that the world of education would be the right place to engage this debate and the final results have proved us right. The teachers, as well as the great receptiveness and enthusiasm of their students have been the right targets and beneficiaries of our project. They are the ones that can better spread this crucial information and promote best practices among their families and communities. SUDEGO has provided them with a innovative tool kit to create basic and advanced knowledge and effective skills about five out of the 17 goals of 2030 Agenda: Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being; Goal 5: Gender Equality; Goal 7: Affordable Energy; Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; Goal 15: Life on Land. The work was completed in 2 years by a partnership of 7 qualified organizations from 5 different countries (3 IT, BG, SP, FI, UK); all with great experience in either the education sector and productive or social field. In line with the priority Relevant and High-Quality Skills and Competences, SUDEGO has provided a set of consistent information and a program of didactic modules for teachers of ISCED2 and ISCED3, intended to help them and their students create a different point of view and a positive vision towards 2030 Agenda. The project was organized in 4 different intellectual goals aimed at creating innovative materials and supported by different side activities to implement the smooth and effective project coordination (management, quality control, communication, dissemination & sustainability). The final results are available for free on the project’s web site and platform: 1) a report on the state of the art and best practices; 2) 5 ISCED2 level school didactic modules 3) 5 ISCED3 level school didactic modules 4) the SUDEGO e-book that sums up the project’s action and highlights its results. It’s made up by: guidelines, evidences, best practices, test analysis and the trend updates of the 5 goals in EU-28. The methodology for the didactic modules was a tiered structure: 1) the core of the lesson, made up of slides, videos, multimedia and interactive materials; 2) the lesson book, i.e. a teacher manual with the plan of the lesson, further information on the presentation materials, teaching strategies, references; 3) an end-of-the-module multiple choice test with answer feedbacks. The project was monitored by a Quality Control System to which all of the partners contributed; the assessing activity was focused on the results and was organized on a peer review basis and supported by the partners’ general consensus. Thanks to the 5 meetings hosted in each of the countries and the positive climate that the staff was able to create, the project was supported by the absolute coordination among the partners. Not any friction, nor argue was ever reported, but a positive cooperation and fruitful internal and external communication; a massive action of dissemination was pursued by means of different channels (web pages, social networks, newsletters, contact and decision makers mailing lists, 5 multiplier events). We noticed, with great satisfaction, that the information and suggestions that we shared suddenly returned a positive feedback: the large attendance during the events, the social actions taken by the schools, the first positive results (i.e. the aluminum bottle to reduce the use of disposable plastic bottles). Actually, thanks to the project, we eventually answered to the Goal 4 request “Quality Education”; as a matter of fact, UNESCO is convinced that only education can provide the so-called necessary core “Competencies for Sustainable Development”. According to this, although not funded, all the partners decided to run test activities and assessment procedures for the didactic modules, in their own country and on a volunteer basis. It’s been estimated that about 3,500 people - mainly target groups, stakeholders and beneficiaries - have been directly targeted by the project and had the opportunity to test the SUDEGO materials. The partners have agreed to the creation of a sustainability agreement that will guarantee the project’s products to remain available on platform for at least three years, along with a supporting program. They will also keep up with the dissemination program, as well as being testimonials to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda principles.