This book serves the purpose of documenting and promoting African experiences on sustainable development, which encompasses both, formal and non-formal education. Sustainable development is very important to Africa, but there is a paucity of publication which documents and promotes experiences from African countries. Due to their complexity, the interrelations between social, economic and political factors related to sustainable development, especially at universities, need to be better understood. There is also a real need to showcase successful examples of how African institutions are handling their sustainability challenges. It is against this background that this book has been produced. It is a truly interdisciplinary publication, useful to scholars, social movements, practitioners and members of governmental agencies and private companies, undertaking research and/or executing projects focusing on sustainability from across Africa. As African nations strive to pursue the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is imperative to cater for the information needs seen across the continent and foster the dissemination of experiences and case studies, which may support both, on-going and future efforts. The scope of the book is deliberately kept wide, and we are looking for contributions across the spectrum of sustainable development from business and economics, to arts and fashion, administration, environment, languages and media studies.

The European Union has been one of the most vocal advocates of ‘sustainable development’, particularly in its dealings with developing countries. Even prior to the formulation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the EU has insisted upon the need for sustainable approaches to poverty reduction and economic growth in the Global South. When examining EU relations with African countries as part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, however, it becomes clear that the translation of Europe’s sustainability discourse into practice is highly problematic. Notably, there are concerns that the EU’s free market approach to development – embodied in its EPA trade deals – is incompatible with genuine, pro-poor forms of sustainable growth. Moreover, the EU is often seen as a hegemonic actor whose trade and aid interventions in Africa often do more to perpetuate poverty than to ameliorate it. This book casts a critical light on Africa-EU relations with regards to the EU’s sustainability pledges. It does this through looking at an array of issues – not least trade, aid, the environment, and democratic institutions. In this vein, the book poses a challenge to EU trade and development discourse in the era of the UN SDGs. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal.

This book provides a platform for young scholars in Africa and Asia, the Next Generation Researchers (NGRs), to publish their research outputs and express their perspectives on varying sustainable development challenges. This book forms part of a book series for the Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (ESDA) initiative administered by the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study for Sustainability (UNU-IAS) in partnership with 8 leading African universities. The sustainability perspectives expressed by young people - previously a silent voice in the global sustainable development agenda, are valuable in informing policy debates, particularly, in developing countries. Furthermore, the multidisciplinary perspectives presented in this book will be utilised to inform instructional material for ESDA’s three Master’s programmes in Sustainable Urban Development (SUD), Sustainable Integrated Rural Development in Africa (SIRDA) and Mining and Mineral Resources (MMR), as well as policy input to key developmental issues in Africa.

The book integrates the theory, practice, ethics, and policy of sustainability to better evaluate the implications for problems and responses to sustainable development in Africa. Chapters from leading scholars provide context and a deeper understanding of the critical issues in sustainability in the sub-Saharan African world.