Institute for Sustainable Development delivers first sustainability training programme for global DHL employees
- Thursday, 7 October 2021
Last week, our Institute of Sustainable Development (ISD) concluded an exciting and extremely successful training and development programme with DHL across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). ISD delivered its first intensive 3-day training suite focused on developing a sustainability mindset for DHL management across 11 MEA countries. This was the first time the Institute has conducted such a training, and it was a novel and learning experience for all involved.
The process began in March 2021 when the ISD was awarded the contract ahead of a prestigious field of consultancy groups and top tier universities. The delivery team was an integral part of our success, having such a diverse, experienced and professional group, led by ISD head Andrew Mackenzie and UN Sustainable Development Goals ambassador Stephen King, Lecturer in our School of Media. The training team consisted of Rhoderick Romano (Global Reporting Initiative, Social Impact Reporting and Design Thinking); Mahine Rizvi (Gender Equality and Sustainable Governance); and Rory McConnon and Dr Sreejith Balasubramanian (Vehicle and Facilities sustainability, Life Cycle Analysis and Route Planning for Sustainability).
DHL’s theme of ‘Connecting People, Improving Lives’ remained the focus throughout. We were successful in helping their employees develop an awareness of and involvement with issues related to Corporate Citizenship, harnessing the capability and willingness of their team to engage with community and social development at the ground level. The countries participating were Bahrain, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Qatar, the UAE and Zimbabwe.
Participants successfully completed training in developing a sustainability mindset and completed knowledge transfer in multiple topics, including Creating Shared Value, Understanding the UN SGDs, Governance and Stakeholder Involvement, Design Thinking, Factor Weighting Modelling, Life Cycle Analysis and Life Cycle Costing, screening Stakeholders Identification and the Triple Bottom Line.
We also conducted a panel discussion with leaders in sustainability from both industry, the United Nations and the governmental and non-governmental sector, giving DHL an opportunity to engage with other stakeholders on key issues around sustainability and collaboration. Guests included Princess Adewumi Mojisola, Nigeria; Hania Tabet, Sustainability and Environment at Airbus, France; and H.E. Mr. Poem Mudyawabikwa, Attaché of Zimbabwe.
