M I N I- G L O B A L A S S O CI A T I O N M D P S U M M I T

Al-Farabi KazNU as the Global Hub of UNAI on Sustainability attended the G l o b a l A s s o ci a t i o n M D P S u m m i t.  Usually, a global association mdp summit is held over five days, face-toface, on the campus of one of the mdp programs.on november 20, an abbreviated form of the Summit was held online in a little over three and a half hours. In its 12 years, this is the first time the Summit was not held in its traditional form. Covid-19 has challenged all of us to innovate, and one benefit of this innovation is that more than 160 people, from all six MDP regions, were able to participate in our meeting, and most stayed for all of it. This is a notable increase from the 30 or so that usually attend the MDP Summit. The prohibitively high cost involved with travelling, lodging, and meals have limited the number of people who could participate face-toface in previous years. This is true not only of faculty members, but also of students, who participated in the large numbers this year.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, one of the intellectual authors of the MDP program, opened with a talk called “How might the MDP program build on successes, innovation and creativity during COVID-19 to strengthen the Global Association moving forward?” Following Dr. Sach’s Q and A session, the SDSN’s SDG Academy, an online education platform, presented on free educational resources for teaching and learning about sustainable development, that can be used to support specific pillars of the MDP program.