Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development in the Developing World

Authors

  • Dama Mosweunyane
  • Keneilwe Molosi-France

Keywords:

Lifelong Learning, Sustainable Development, Poverty, Developing World and Heutagogy.

Abstract

This paper is necessitated to demonstrate that lifelong learning is important if developing countries are to realise sustainable development, which has proven to be illusive for a long time. Sustainable Development is a concept that is not fully understood by the ordinary citizens and some technocrats in the developing world. This situation therefore calls for its demystification through lifelong learning, which can be instrumental in educating the ordinary people about the denudation of resources that are necessary for continued human existence. The knowledge dearth about the concept is aggravated by the fact that Developing World is facing challenges of poverty and limited expertise for meeting requirements for Sustainable Development, such the education of people about the benefits of parsimonious consumption of their finite resources. This paper argues that the knowledge and skills deficit, which are partly a result of emerging technologies, have rendered lifelong learning most pertinent for the citizens of the developing world, if they are to maximally benefit from the economies of their countries. It is so because lack of knowledge on economic, political and social spheres is responsible for the maladies that are common in the Developing World, such as the depletion of resources that is aggravated by poverty and ignorance. The need for lifelong learning is identified as essential for global transformation because for development to be realised it is necessary for the people to have
acquired the prerequisite skills, which when coupled with positive attitudes towards utilisation of resources render them responsive to emerging changes and challenges that are necessary for sustainable development. It is therefore imperative for people to be continually learning about apt measures of conserving resources, which are necessary for the development of the Third World. It has to be understood that for resources to be consumed scrupulously people should be informed through lifelong
learning about the implications of overconsumption and depletion of such finite resources. The ordinary people should be educated to appreciate and be accommodative of reformist strategies that are important for the realisation of Sustainable Development that which can be relayed through heutagogical interventions.

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Published

2017-12-17