As a new list member, and to introduce myself want to draw your attention
to, and stimulate debate about, this new DFID funded project being managed
by me for the EAUC. and see
http://www.eauc.org.uk/promoting_poverty_aware_procurement_on_campus
Centred mainly on institutions in N England and Scotland this project aims to
encourage FHE to be more aware of, and take more accout of, the
poverty/development implications of procurement/purchasing decisions. This
would include curriculum issues (e.g. ethical fashion, or beauty courses in FE),
but particularly would be concerned with decisions being made about the
functioning of the institution - e.g. what are the consequences of paper/pulp
purchasing from the tropics/sub-tropics on the well-being of the local people
involved in cultivation and manufacture? Or timber being used for a new build
may be sustainably certified, but what does this imply about the impacts on
the commmunity from which it is being sourced?
And then we are going on to explore the procurement processes that would
enable poverty/development issues to be regularly taken into account when
decisions are being made.
I am struck when reading the recent literature about institutions and their
global role, that this dimension of their interaction with the rest of the world
seems not to get a mention - (though there are references to the fact that
globalisation affects the catering fucntion because it must make sure that the
menus cater for overseas students).
So my hope in posting this two fold:
To stimulate you to get your institution involved in the project if your are in
Scotland or Northern England, and
To get some feedback from you about how the global citizenship agenda in
institutions can be expanded to embrace the "trade" relations that HE has with
the developing world
John Forster
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