Education and Leadership to change the world

Within the framework of the 2030 agenda, the need arises to evolve the current educational model, removing the focus from the mercantilist system and focusing it on sustainable development. Today we are close to the point of no return, and we must strengthen the leadership that guides the transformative processes based on education. The Ubuntu method is allowing the birth of a new generation of empowered leaders capable of leading the changes that the world needs, who, hand in hand with a reform of the educational system, have the mission of summoning society in the mission of saving our planet and achieve a more dignified society for all.

Like never in History, we are 100 seconds from midnight. AlthoughThe ''Doomsday Clock'' was born as a warning of the danger of a nuclear war, today it symbolizes the deep climatic and social crisis that our planet is going through.

The deepening of poverty and inequality, the consequent exacerbation of social problems, an unprecedented health crisis, and latent racial discrimination during strong migratory currents, are only the reflection that we have not known how to face global challenges.

The truth is today more than ever it is necessary to train new leaders to lead the transformations that the world needs.

The Ubuntu method has reached hundreds of young people around the world, enhancing their leadership skills, and bringing them together around a transformative ideology that can change the world.

This article is a reflection on the need for a new conception of the educational model, and the imperative of a generation of leaders who, trained with the pillars that govern the Ubuntu philosophy, can lead our society towards sustainable development.

Approach

The 2030 agenda, a proposal with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), is intended to reverse the effects of an exploitative system that we cannot continue to sustain. The last century has promoted an explosive development of the economy, based on brutal competition and without respect for natural resources, monopolizing all areas of human activity and relationship. Education is no exception, since it has been commodified to such an extent that today it focuses its efforts on the production of workers at the service of the perpetuation of this system, in which individualism prevails, leaving social development aside and setting aside the process of questioning the system, from the collective imaginary (Ojeda & Martínez, 1998).

However, it is our job to vindicate education, which must be seen as a political and social action tool, and therefore a fundamental human right. In addition, it represents one of the SDGs, and is the key point that opens the way to the fulfillment of the other objectives in the medium term (ONU, 2015).

It is essential that it also promote sustainable development through large alliances and global objectives in which peace prevails (UNESCO, 2017).

The task is not easy, the legacy of overconsumption must be reversed, which has perpetuated and increased inequality (Cortina, 2002), and fight against the plutocratic trap that has appropriated the concept of sustainability to use it as a marketing strategy, to perpetuate an anti-ecological system.

In a dichotomous world divided between economic and state powers, society must turn in a direction that allows self-governance. To do this, first, we need educated citizens from a new perspective, since the generations of humans who are destroying the planet have been trained in our current educational systems (Gadotti, 2009).

Thus, the educational system is crucial, since it allows to aspire to a status of planetary citizenship, the peoples work collaboratively for common objectives, hand in hand with a cooperative and non-competitive economy, which allows overcoming inequalities and cultural integration of humanity (González, E & Mínguez, R, 2021). So, in the midst of the vortex in which the world finds itself, education stands as the main element to adapt to transformations, and more importantly, to create them.

Secondly, the rise of leaders who were inspired by the revolutionary processes experienced in the past, to seek the transformations of the future, has been decisive. The Ubuntu method allows the strengthening of said leaders, who through a social, ecological, and integrating vision of cultural diversity, can lead a transition towards a lasting and sustainable economy, and who know how to adapt to the different systems of government organization (REDES, 2018).

The truth is that History is marked by the work of great leaders, and today we can learn from them. The Ubuntu philosophy recognizes the legacies of those who marked a before and after with their battles, and through them, inspires a new generation of young leaders under the mantle of 5 pillars: self-knowledge, self-confidence, resilience, empathy, and the service.

Thereby, hundreds of young leaders, aware, capable and with a renewed mentality, have chosen the Ubuntu method to train, and thus lead the paradigm shift and the transformations that the world needs.

Conclusions

The existence of organizations committed to the SDGs allows hope to be maintained in the transition towards a more equal and dignified world for all people. Ubuntu embodies a philosophy that through education and inspiration forms leaders who in turn generate positive impacts in their communities, and bring the SDGs to every corner of the earth.

It is necessary that this type of organisms be strengthened to reach more and more young people, because today it is the generation that has the destiny of our planet in its hands.

The concept of development to catalog societies must remain in the past, since the economic parameter of production and consumption has become obsolete. The development of the economy must be to aspire to a system focused on guaranteeing opportunities, rights and freedoms for all. Today society as a whole is developing, as it is in a transition towards a social evolution that seeks the path of sustainability.

It is through a socio-educational and political process that great transformations led by leaders who, through the Ubuntu method, acquire the skills that the process requires can be brought about. In the words of Nelson Mandela ''Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world'', and today more than ever, his words resonate in the hearts of millions of people.

References

Ojeda, F; Martínez, A. (1998) Global education and ecological ethics as tools for sustainability. National Center for Environmental Education. URL:https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/ceneam/articulos-de-opinion/1998-ojeda-martinezvillar_tcm30-163523.pdf

UN (2015) Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. United Nations website URL: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals

UNESCO (2017). Education for the Sustainable Development Goals: learning objectives. UNESCO website URL: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000252423

Cortina, A. (2002). For an ethic of consumption. Consumer citizenship in a global world, Taurus, Madrid. URL: http://ibdigital.uib.es/greenstone/collect/cd2/index/assoc/consumca.dir/consumcat0001.pdf

Gadotti, M. (2009). Pedagogy of the Earth and culture of sustainability. Forum on our global challenges Commission Costa Rica 2000: A New Millennium of Peace "Si vis pacem, para pacem". University for peace. San Jose, Costa Rica URL: https://earthcharter.org/library/pedagogia-de-la-earth-y-cultura-de-la-sustentabilidad-2000/

González, E. Mínguez, R. (2021) Transforming education to change the world. I National Conference on Education for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals. URL: https://cienciaabierto.carm.es/jspui/bitstream/20.500.11914/4804/1/15488-Transformar%20la%20educaci%C3%B3n%20para%20cambiar%20el%20mundo.pdf

REDES (2018). Framework Document for Transformative Education and for a Global Citizenship. Network of entities for solidary development. URL:

https://www.redes-ongd.org/documento-marco-educacion-transformadora-y-por-una-ciudadania-global-redes/