CEE’s Shabnam Ivković wins CBIE’s first-ever Sustainable Development Leadership Award
By: Micaela Kelly
Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) congratulates Shabnam Ivković, director, international strategic initiatives and interim director of employment relations. Ivković received the inaugural Sustainable Development Leadership Award from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).
The award recognizes Ivković’s dedication to building awareness of and making an impact in advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on behalf of CEE at the University of Waterloo. As a leader in the sustainability education space, Ivković developed the Sustainability Impact Framework (SIF). The SIF aims to build sustainability awareness for students in work-integrated learning and increase their sustainability literacy and engagement with sustainability actions.
“We’re very proud of Shabnam for her initiative and creative approach to helping CEE address sustainability. Her framework helps our students to be future-ready by developing sustainability awareness and action,” says Dr. Norah McRae, associate provost, CEE.
Shabnam Ivković receives the award at the CBIE conference.
A close-up look at the Sustainable Development Leadership award.
A key element of the SIF, Ivković created the award-winning SDGs at Work activity for students on a work term to participate along with their co-op supervisor. The activity helps students learn about both their own and the organization’s sustainability goals and priorities. To determine the activity’s impact, at the end of the term, we ask students and supervisors which SDG they believe the student’s work impacted. Voluntary responses show 66 per cent reported that students’ work impacted one or more SDGs.
The SDGs at Work activity launched in spring 2023, and in 2023 more than 15,000 employer and 8,000 student responses reported an impact in advancing one or more SDGs during their work term.
“It’s an incredible honour to receive this award,” says Ivković. “The success of this entire endeavour rests on support from CEE colleagues, meaningful interest from our students and employers, early contributions from campus and community experts, and valuable feedback from peers in the field. I’m deeply grateful to CEE for the opportunity to create the Sustainability Impact Framework. CEE’s ongoing commitment to actioning sustainability is essential as students gain skills for the future of work.”
Ivković was recognized at the CBIE Annual Conference on November 5, 2024, in Ottawa, Ontario.
More UN SDG global recognition
Sustainable Development Goals at work: Student and employer perceptions of impact on sustainability through work-integrated learning
Shabnam Surjitsingh Ivković and Norah McRae report on the impact on students and employers from participating in the SDGs at Work activity and engaging with the Sustainability Impact Framework. Data was collected from end of term evaluations completed by Waterloo co-op employers and Waterloo co-op students.
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