Niagara College is taking its expertise in sustainable practices for the Agri-Food industry to the world and sharing knowledge on future skills forecasting and opportunities for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) instructors.
Program Coordinator and Professor of Culinary Innovation and Food Technology, Amy Proulx, Ph.D., attended the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNEVOC) and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany joint technical session on Green Skills for a Just Transition on September 14 – 15 .
Round table discussions and working group activities were held at the German Ministry headquarters in Bonn. Proulx was the co-leader of a working group session on Agriculture and Food Systems with Inga Schallenau from Welthungerhilfe, a German non-governmental organization focused on global food systems and poverty alleviation.
“There is a massive opportunity for transformative skill development for improving the environment,” said Proulx. “According to FAO, the agrifood sector contributes 27% of greenhouse gas emissions and over one billion people worldwide are employed in agrifood systems.”
The sessions also emphasized UNESCO Greening Education Partnership‘s four pillars of transformative education: greening schools, greening curriculum, greening teacher training and education system’s capacities, and greening communities.
“NC excels in supporting these pillars, and we have many opportunities to do even more within these four dimensions of sustainability practice,” said Proulx. “We are surrounded by the work done by the United Nations (UN) every day. UNEVOC has centres around the world that exemplify the best practices in TVET and collaboration with TVET worldwide. NC has been involved in UNESCO’s work through the UNEVOC Centre with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan).”
Future skills transition
During the event, Proulx lectured on the challenges and opportunities for TVET instructors as they face future skills transition in their work. The presentations occurred at UNESCO-UNEVOC offices in the United Nations Campus in Bonn.
“My presentation showcased the impact of Open Education Resources (OER) in speeding innovation towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and climate change,” said Proulx. “In many countries, access to teaching and learning materials is limited, making it challenging for teachers to upskill to current and future-focused skills. Also, most of the global agricultural and food processing sector is informally trained, so TVET has an important role in catalyzing change through informal and self-organizing learning, which is made even more feasible with OER.”
The NC faculty member is part of a selected group of UNEVOC TVET Leadership School graduates who were asked to discuss their Theory of Change, which was a part of the program’s learning outcomes.
“NC has emphasized the importance of professional development and renewal for faculty, and participating in a leadership development opportunity such as the UNEVOC TVET Leadership School gave me fresh perspectives on the impact we have for sustainability,” said Proulx. “It was great to collaborate with TVET leaders around the world and build a sense of solidarity towards our work in skills development.”
Over the past 20 years, Niagara College has successfully completed more than 100 capacity building and training projects in over 25 countries, including Barbados, Bhutan, Chile, Colombia, Grenada, Jamaica, Malawi, Mexico, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Vietnam. For more information on Global Education and Partnerships and how to get involved, visit ncglobal.ca.
