News
UNESCO issues new syllabi to support teaching of journalism for sustainable development

With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) coming to an end, and being replaced with what will be called the 鈥楽ustainable Development Goals鈥 (SDGs), a long-term pedagogical strategy requires that journalism teachers globally begin to critically rethink the correlation between a free, independent and pluralistic media system and the overall process of sustainable development.
A new UNESCO publication titled offers an insight into how such a process of critical rethinking can unfold in the classroom. A collection of 8 syllabi, the book clarifies how the social, political and environmental dimensions of sustainable development can be appropriated within the overall design of journalism curricula.
In his remarks on the syllabi, Getachew Engida, Deputy Director-General for Communication and Information, underscores what he calls 鈥淯NESCO鈥檚 unique normative role in promoting good practices and agenda-setting with regard to journalism education worldwide.鈥
鈥淚n this regard,鈥 Engida argues, 鈥渢he publication helps to extend our theoretical understanding of journalism as a responsive, dynamic and evolving practice. It is thus a significant step beyond the originally published in 2007.鈥
Bringing together a diverse ensemble of journalism education experts internationally, the syllabi represent UNESCO鈥檚 ongoing attempt to integrate the notion of sustainable development into journalistic pedagogy, thereby extending the Model Curricula as well as the supplementary .
In early September, the book was informally introduced to UNESCO鈥檚 Member States by Guy Berger, Director of the Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development, in a CI Knowledge Caf茅 presentation on UNESCO, the Internet and the SDGs.
Edited by Fackson Banda, a programme specialist with UNESCO鈥檚 International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), the syllabi are set to be formally launched during the annual conference of ORBICOM 鈥 a network of UNESCO chairs in communication 鈥 to be held from 28 to 29 October 2015 at the Iberoamericana University in Mexico City.
The publication is a project of the IPDC鈥檚 Global Initiative for Excellence in Journalism Education.