World Student Community for Sustainable Development

The 2012 Student Summit for Sustainability (S3 2012) will take place from 12th to 17th November, 2012 at the Multimedia University, Nairobi, Kenya. It will define a common conception of a green economy for university students through the focus topics on energy, waste, water, food and sustainable transport. Speeches and discussions will be supplemented by practical activities and development of partnerships for sustainability.
Goal
Showcase university students’ talents, innovation and potential for building a sustainable and resilient society.
Objectives

1. Evaluate experiences, lessons learnt, challenges and opportunities for university students’ leadership and innovation for sustainable development;
2. Identify policy measures to build university students capacity through the promotion of green career development;
3. Establish new regional and cross-border collaboration and institutional partnerships between university students and higher education stakeholders in building sustainable and resilient communities;
4. Agree on a common platform and strategic partnership framework for university students’ corporation on environment and sustainability issues globally;
5. Provide a structured knowledge platform for gathering students’ contribution on sustainable development post Rio+20

Activities
Pre-summit: Generate a critical mass of engagement from students, universities and sponsors to establish a foundation for a successful summit within all of the five focus topics.
Summit: Three days of presentations, round-table discussions, parallel events followed by a day of a special workshop on leadership and entrepreneurship as well as sustainability touring exhibition. Extensive poster competition for summit participants’ projects and research related to sustainability.
Post-summit: Activities entail fostering universities-businesses-industry partnerships and network mechanisms by:

1. Nourishing mentorship, networking, and business support for green careers through sustainability fellowship.
2. Mobilising global students action in transforming the impoverished Nyakongo village, Kenya into a model Sustainable Village.
3. Developing educational activities to support reorientation of curricula towards sustainable development at univesrities globally.

Outcomes
The summit will produce enhanced understanding, inspired action and collaborative student-run projects focused on promoting sustainable and resilient communities in developing countries. Concretely, the summit will:

1. Improved understanding and capacity of university students worldwide on sustainability.
2. Creation of a virtual sustainability education and learning platform targeting university students and young professionals providing information on innovative technologies and social engineering solutions  for green societies
3. Launch of a mobile sustainability exhibition showcasing everyday sustainable living in shipping cargo containers and a sustainable development plan for a rural Kenyan village.
4. Establishment of a sustainability fellowship for students motivated to launch green careers and innovative enterprises after the summit.

Participants
About 300 well selected students, academics, young entrepreneurs and policymakers will gather in Nairobi to share their insights on a green economy and to learn from each other. Plenary sessions will be video streamed online to allow more students to participate in the summit at a reduced cost and impact on the environment.

Projects related to S3 2012:

An East African example of a sustainable rural village – the first “Sustainable Node”

Mobile exhibition on sustainable living

Application: