With an overarching focus on the role of education in attaining the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Hamad Bin Khalifa (HBKU)’s Maker Majlis, a platform under the College of Islamic Studies (CIS), in partnership with the UNESCO Office for the Gulf States and Yemen, brought together actors in the education and policy community with roles in education for a sustainable development ecosystem in Qatar.

Titled “Education for Sustainable Development in Qatar”, the panel discussion on September 18 aimed to create a venue to learn about the stakeholder experiences in SDG education, including their tools, enablers, and barriers.

Dr. Evren Tok, Assistant Dean of Innovation and Community Engagement and Associate Professor of Islam and Global Affairs at CIS and Dr. Seda Duygu Sever Mehmetoglu, Post-Doc, led the session, which created an opportunity to collectively work on identifying the overarching questions and explore areas for progress and collaboration.

The workshop formed part of CIS’s collaborative research project “SDG Education and Global Citizenship in Qatar: Enhancing Qatar’s Nested Power in the Global Arena” with the College of Public Policy at HBKU. The project aims to foster the creation of inclusive, multi-stakeholder, coordinated educational spaces and applications.

Dr. Evren Tok said: “Our workshop focused on how best to integrate the 17 SDGs and their values into teaching and learning. Education is a tool for providing the knowledge, skills, and values at the core of sustainable development. Therefore, creating more ways to teach the SDGs will help empower more youth to make contributions and ultimately give them a role in achieving all the SDGs.”

For more information on Maker Majilis and the programs at the College of Islamic Studies, please visit cis.hbku.edu.qa