Expanding ESG & Sustainability Training for Caribbean SMEs
Summary
In 2024, Caribbean Ideas Ltd. committed to provide sustainability training content to more than 25,000 people by 2027. Caribbean Ideas will provide a combination of free course content on their platform, Sustain-U, and engagement for corporate and small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access the content on behalf of their employees. They will also expand their directory of course offerings by 80 courses to help organizations, their employees, and the wider public to understand sustainability & ESG issues, quantify their impact, and implement tangible actions that lead to sustainable development within their organizations and the wider communities where they operate. Using the framework outlined by the IDB’s Competitiveness, Technology & Innovation division, Sustain-U will deliver educational materials on private sector investment in innovation and new approaches, adapting regional businesses to a sustainability-first world, social innovation projects that have both economic viability and climate impacts, ecosystem development incorporating regional practitioners, and scaling reach for geographically dispersed/vulnerable groups.
Approach
Caribbean Ideas Ltd. commits to provide sustainability training content to more than 25,000 people by 2027. Caribbean Ideas will provide a combination of free course content on their platform, Sustain-U, and engagement for corporate and small to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access the content on behalf of their employees. They will also expand their directory of course offerings by 80 courses to help organizations, their employees, and the wider public to understand sustainability & ESG issues, quantify their impact, and implement tangible actions that lead to sustainable development within their organizations and the wider communities where they operate. Using the framework outlined by the IDB’s Competitiveness, Technology & Innovation division, Sustain-U will deliver educational materials on private sector investment in innovation and new approaches, adapting regional businesses to a sustainability-first world, social innovation projects that have both economic viability and climate impacts, ecosystem development incorporating regional practitioners, and scaling reach for geographically dispersed/vulnerable groups.
Hybrid training solutions will help organizations to educate internal staff and key external stakeholders (suppliers, customers, fence line communities) on relevant sustainability issues and empower them to take positive action. Training programs developed thus far include ESG Basics, Climate Change & Me, Food Security in a Caribbean context, Business opportunities in sustainability for Caribbean businesses, Women leading change & more. Sustain-U has over time built capability in course and curriculum development for online and hybrid courses, including online content production utilizing interactive quizzes and tools to embed learning, and has developed customized curricula that emphasizes local content and context critical for the global south. Certifications will be provided for completed courses, but SustainU also will integrate deeper accreditation as part of their multi-year roadmap to strengthen the impact and gains for participants.
Action Plan
Q2 2024 – Launch 15 new online courses to the public with a Caribbean Sustainability focus
Q3 2024 – Extend catalog to 25 new online courses along with publicly available online ‘sprint’ courses on specific topics (e.g. Carbon accounting) . 1,500 persons taking Sustain-U online courses
Q4 2024 – Extend online catalog to 40 cumulative online courses: 3,000 persons taking Sustain-U online courses
Q1 2025 – 5,000 persons trained
Q2 2025 – 50 cumulative online courses 7000 persons trained
Q3 2025 – 10000 persons trained
Q4 2025 – 60 cumulative course programs 15,000 persons trained, 2 real-world sustainability projects executed, and pilot of measurement software solution
Q1 2026 – extend measurement pilot
Q2 2026 – 20000 persons trained
Q3 2026 – 80 cumulative course programs
Q4 2026 – By year end 25000 persons trained, 5 cumulative sustainability projects executed
Background
As countries worldwide work to achieve the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the Caribbean and Latin America face unique environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges. These include increased risk of climate-related disasters — despite their low contribution to greenhouse gas emissions — social issues including crime and poverty, and a pressing need to future-proof our institutions to compete more effectively.
Sustainable development in this part of the world can help to advance economic growth, improve welfare, and preserve the environment for future generations. A critical mechanism to support this imperative will be the development of a new generation of sustainability-focused organizations and leaders who are armed with the understanding of sustainability issues including how to quantify their impact, and who can lead implementation of sustainability initiatives that drive behavior change equitably. It also requires increasing the broad awareness and understanding of sustainability issues among the general public, and a commitment to act / embrace behavior change around sustainability.
As a result, it’s imperative to increase awareness of the issues, arm leaders/employees and citizens with the tools to understand and quantify impact and take action. This is especially important as ideology around ESG, emissions and net zero continues to evolve worldwide, making it more important to equip local stakeholders with knowledge and resources to address these key issues and changing landscape. The Global South needs more tools that connect the ecosystem both intra-regionally and to external players/organizations, while also providing regularly updated sources of content and training to boost the capability to mitigate and adapt to climate change in order to spur sustainable development.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
Sustain-U needs financial resources to facilitate our build out of ongoing training content, resources and technology-infused solutions that support our behavior-change agenda. They also aim to collaborate with and connect regional audiences to other experts, solution providers and partners that can accelerate the development and reach of our program.
Additionally, given the importance of reach and distribution across a broad set of countries with important similarities, but also unique nuances, collaborations with media and other distribution partners that can boost reach and awareness around the important work of Sustain-U., Caribbean Ideas Ltd. will provide execution expertise around course development, sustainability ecosystem development ,job placement services and marketing / storytelling support.
They will also be leveraging expertise in building connections with and acquiring subject experts with local market expertise I’m helping to harness their knowledge at scale for the benefit of learners