UN gives FGV EAESP award for innovative teaching practices that promote sustainable development

The teaching team of the “Sustainable Leadership: The Rainforest Perspective” course, coordinated by the Center for Sustainability Studies at Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Sao Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP), has just received an award from the United Nations for innovative teaching practices that promote sustainable development.

The 2024 Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Faculty Teaching Awards received entries from more than 800 institutions in over 90 countries that are signatories to the PRME – an initiative created by the United Nations in 2007 to encourage business schools to incorporate sustainability issues into their curricula, research, classes, methodologies and institutional strategies.

The “Sustainable Leadership: The Rainforest Perspective” course was created in 2022 and it is part of the curriculum of the GNAM Global Network Week, an exchange program carried out by the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM), made up of 32 business schools in many parts of the world. Over the course of a week, students who opted for this program immersed themselves in the Amazon Rainforest to experience alternative ways of organizing activities and critically reflect on what it means to be a leader for sustainability, based on the complex issues they experience. The course focuses on empathy, collaboration and environmental stewardship, while also equipping students with the skills and mindset needed to tackle global challenges. Together, the reflection activities and dialogues with local stakeholders and leaders enable a paradigm shift in the conception of leadership, push the boundaries of conventional approaches and empower students to create positive change in the world.

The course’s faculty is composed of Fernanda Carreira (professor and course creator), Ricardo Barretto (professor), Gabriela Alem (professor), Mayara Souza (organization and support), Julia Pacheco (director of exchange programs) and Marcio Halla (local partner from consulting firm Ecotoré).

The winners of the 2024 PRME Faculty Teaching Awards were chosen by a group of experts from PRME signatory schools. The awards committee was looking for classroom interventions that demonstrate impactful educational work, contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, help develop students’ skills and make relevant links between subjects. The committee also looked for entries that demonstrate alignment with the goals of PRME’s Impactful Five (i5) teaching framework.

The other winning teaching teams belong to California State University (in the Accounting category), the Ross School of Business in Michigan, USA (Administration category), Corvinus University of Budapest (Marketing category) and Goa Institute of Management, India (Operations and Analysis category).

“The impact of the course has been very profound. Our students not only gain a deep understanding of the various dimensions of sustainable development, but also critically reflect on the need for a paradigm shift if we are to actually achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. We’re talking about students from different countries around the world, who spend a week together on a boat sailing down the Tapajós River, listening to community leaders, indigenous people and women about what it means to be a leader for sustainability – something very different from what they learn at their business schools, many of which are ranked among the best in the world,” said Professor Fernanda Carreira, the course’s creator.