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Systems Thinking for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
USD $59.00 USD $249.00Price range: USD $59.00 through USD $249.00
Course Overview
This course offers an in-depth understanding of systems thinking and its applications in solving the complex, interconnected issues inherent to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It emphasizes understanding, modeling, and designing systemic solutions for global challenges like climate change, clean water, health, and inequality, with practical tools and frameworks for real-world impact.
Aim
This course equips learners with a practical systems thinking toolkit to understand and solve complex SDG challenges. Instead of working on sustainability goals in isolation, you’ll learn to map interconnected problems, identify leverage points, anticipate unintended consequences, and design interventions that create long-term, scalable impact across multiple SDGs.
Program Objectives
- Build Systems Literacy: Understand complexity, feedback loops, delays, and system behavior in SDG contexts.
- Map SDG Interconnections: Identify synergies and trade-offs between goals (e.g., water–energy–food–health).
- Find Leverage Points: Learn to locate high-impact intervention points using systems tools and SDG indicators.
- Design Better Solutions: Create interventions that reduce unintended consequences and improve resilience.
- Measure What Matters: Translate systems insights into measurable outcomes and monitoring plans.
- Hands-on Application: Develop a real SDG systems map + intervention plan as a capstone deliverable.
Program Structure
Module 1: Why Systems Thinking for the SDGs?
- Why SDG problems are “systems problems” (complex, dynamic, multi-stakeholder).
- Limits of linear planning: why quick fixes often fail.
- Introduction to system behavior: feedback loops, delays, and unintended outcomes.
- Real-world SDG examples (poverty–health–education loop, water–energy–food nexus).
Module 2: Defining the System (Scope, Boundaries, Stakeholders)
- How to set system boundaries without missing the real drivers.
- Stakeholder mapping: who influences the system and who is affected.
- Root cause thinking: symptoms vs structural drivers.
- Problem framing for SDG projects (turning broad goals into analyzable systems).
Module 3: Tools for Understanding Complex SDG Challenges
- Iceberg model: events → patterns → structures → mental models.
- Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs): mapping reinforcing and balancing loops.
- Stock-and-flow basics (conceptual): where accumulation causes policy failure.
- Identifying delays and bottlenecks that distort outcomes.
Module 4: SDG Interlinkages — Synergies, Trade-offs, and Spillovers
- Understanding SDG interactions and cross-sector impacts.
- Examples of trade-offs: industry vs emissions, irrigation vs groundwater depletion.
- Examples of synergies: girls’ education → health → poverty reduction.
- Designing “SDG bundles” (one project, multiple SDG outcomes).
Module 5: Leverage Points & Policy Design
- What leverage points are and why they matter.
- Low leverage vs high leverage interventions (fixing outputs vs changing structures).
- Shifting incentives, information flows, rules, and goals.
- Designing interventions with equity and resilience built in.
Module 6: Systems-Based Project Planning (From Map to Action)
- Translating system insights into a realistic implementation roadmap.
- Choosing interventions: feasibility, scalability, governance readiness.
- Risk planning: anticipating unintended effects and mitigation strategies.
- Building stakeholder collaboration into the implementation plan.
Module 7: Monitoring, Learning, and Adaptive Management
- Choosing SDG indicators that reflect system change (not just activity counts).
- Leading vs lagging indicators; early-warning metrics.
- Building feedback loops for learning and mid-course correction.
- Reporting impact: telling a systems story with data and evidence.
Module 8: Case Labs (Guided Applications)
- Case Lab A: Safe water + sanitation (SDG 6) with health and equity outcomes.
- Case Lab B: Sustainable cities (SDG 11) linking mobility, air quality, and jobs.
- Case Lab C: Climate action (SDG 13) balancing energy access and emissions.
- Group discussion: what changed when you viewed the case as a system?
Final Project
- Create an SDG systems map (CLD) for one real problem (campus/community/city/sector).
- Identify 2–3 leverage points and propose interventions with expected effects and risks.
- Develop a simple monitoring plan: indicators, data sources, review cycle, and reporting format.
- Example topics: groundwater stress, food waste, youth unemployment, urban heat, air pollution, plastic leakage.
Participant Eligibility
- Students (UG/PG/PhD) in sustainability, environment, policy, planning, economics, or engineering
- Faculty, researchers, and project coordinators working on SDG-linked initiatives
- NGO and CSR professionals managing development and sustainability programs
- Government and institutional stakeholders involved in planning and implementation
- Anyone who wants to design smarter, system-aware SDG projects
Program Outcomes
- Systems Thinking Capability: You’ll be able to explain SDG problems through loops, structures, and drivers.
- Better Project Design: Ability to create interventions that account for synergies, trade-offs, and delays.
- Leverage Point Skills: Confidence in identifying where small changes can produce big impact.
- Measurement Readiness: A clear monitoring and learning plan tied to SDG indicators.
- Capstone Portfolio: A complete SDG systems map + intervention plan you can showcase.
Program Deliverables
- Access to e-LMS: Full access to course materials, examples, and templates.
- Systems Toolkit Pack: Iceberg model sheet, CLD templates, stakeholder mapping grids, leverage-point checklist.
- Real-Time Project Work: Guided work sessions to build your own SDG systems map and action plan.
- Capstone Submission: Systems map + leverage points + intervention roadmap + monitoring plan.
- Final Assessment: Certification after completion of assignments and capstone.
- e-Certification and e-Marksheet: Digital credentials provided upon successful completion.
Future Career Prospects
- SDG / Sustainability Program Analyst
- Systems Thinking & Policy Design Associate
- ESG & Impact Measurement Specialist
- Development Sector Project Planner (NGO / CSR / Foundations)
- Urban / Environmental Planning Support Roles
- Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Associate
Job Opportunities
- NGOs & Foundations: SDG project design, implementation, and impact measurement.
- CSR & ESG Teams: Systems-based sustainability initiatives and reporting.
- Policy & Consulting Firms: Systems mapping, scenario planning, and strategy support.
- Educational Institutions: Sustainability cells and SDG-aligned campus/community programs.
- Government & Development Agencies: Planning, monitoring, and multi-stakeholder coordination.
| Category | E-LMS, E-LMS+Recordings, E-LMS+Recordings+Live |
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