Across Africa, educators are stepping forward as leaders of change. The Sub-Saharan Africa Teacher Leadership for Education for Sustainable Development (SSATL-ESD) project is empowering teacher educators to integrate sustainability into teacher education systems and professional development.

Coordinated by Leuphana University (Germany) and supported by the Erasmus+ Programme, the SSATL-ESD initiative brings together 15 partner universities across Africa and Europe to strengthen teacher leadership, curriculum innovation, and transformative pedagogies.

At the heart of this collaboration, Rhodes University’s Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC) leads work on course and policy design that supports professionalising academic teaching and building transformative learning pathways. The project aligns with the African Union’s teacher competency frameworks and contributes directly to the EU Green Deal and Agenda 2030 goals for sustainable and inclusive education.

🔑 What the Project Aims to Do

    • Integrate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into teacher professional standards and training.
    • Develop a hybrid ESD Leadership CPD course and Trainer of Trainers (ToT) model for higher education.
    • Support teacher educators to lead contextually relevant Change Projects that build sustainability competencies.
    • Establish ICT-supported ESD Labs and peer mentoring networks across African partner universities.

🌱 Co-Creating the Future of Teacher Leadership

Rhodes University is co-developing, with Copperbelt University (Zambia), a new blended ESD Leadership CPD Programme. The programme includes:

    • Modules on ESD policy, standards, and leadership in teacher education
    • Online Communities of Practice (OCoPs) that connect educators across Africa
    • A Trainer-of-Trainers course designed for national and regional scale-up

Drawing inspiration from the UNESCO Sustainability Starts with Teachers initiative, the new course aims to nurture a generation of teacher leaders who can confidently navigate sustainability challenges in diverse educational contexts.

🤝 Our Partners

The SSATL-ESD consortium includes leading African and European institutions such as:

Rhodes University (South Africa), University of Zambia, University of Namibia, University of Malawi, Kenyatta University, JKUAT (Kenya), Leuphana University (Germany), University of Crete (Greece), and Frederick University (Cyprus), among others.

Each partner brings unique expertise in ESD, curriculum innovation, online learning, and change project implementation — together building a continental network of ESD leadership and collaboration.