Use of pedagogy and SDGs in teaching content and real-world case group assignment and reflective (individual) essay

A/Prof Christo Karuna, 2025

With the aim to create a fictitious for-profit or not-for-profit group/alliance that promotes responsible leadership within a Shared Purpose/Values framework. The group/alliance should be associated with generating products or services that either creatively:

• Helps solve a major problem being experienced anywhere in the world, or
• Helps address a major social need anywhere in the world.

This problem/need should be tied to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5—Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls).

In practice student teams learn how to negotiate and generate shared purpose, values and vision based on the respective diverse stakeholder roles they assume in the group/alliance to address the major social problem or need tied to SDG 5, and then, via a high-quality process management system, work collaboratively towards attaining the KPIs tied to the formulated goals in a responsible leadership and resilient manner amidst adversity and the ever-turbulent societal landscape we operate in.

The output is a Values Alignment Scorecard, whereby teams will tie performance measures and targets to goals formulated based on the groups/alliance’s shared purpose, values and vision.

Students develop critical thinking skills and learn how to work in a collaborative manner in diverse teams whilst mastering responsible leadership and embracing divergent and convergent thinking. Graduates learn how to apply theoretical concepts to address real-world societal issues and help attain social sustainability goals.