Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) through Mizan K4C Hub, Faculty of Leadership and Management has been appointed as UNESCO Knowledge For Change (K4C) Regional Training Centre (RTC) for Asia region.
Its by UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education based in University of Victoria (UVic), Canada and Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) India for the year 2024 to 2027.
The UNESCO-K4C RTC ASIA status was awarded through a three-year Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed by the Vice Chancellor of USIM, Prof. Ts. Dato Dr. Sharifudin Md. Shaarani with the UNESCO Chair Prof. Emeritus Dr. Budd Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon, witnessed by the Dean of Faculty of Leadership and Management, USIM and the Director, Centre for Global Studies University of Victoria (UVic), Canada in January 2024.
Other universities that are awarded with the UNESCO K4C RTC status are University of Limmerick, Ireland for European region, Gulu University, Uganda for African region, Universidad de Ibague’, Colombia for South American Region, and University of Victoria (UVic) Canada for North American region.
USIM UNESCO-K4C RTC ASIA receives strong support and long-term commitment from the university main partners or the International Youth Centre Kuala Lumpur (IYCKL) – an agency under Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia (KBS) and Malaysia Youth Council (MBM). IYCKL hosted UNESCO K4C International Residency in 2022 and was appointed as UNESCO K4C Residency Centre under the RTC Asia.
The establishment of the RTC will allow UNESCO, USIM, and K4C members to train the next generation of mentors and leaders with the necessary knowledge and skills of Community Based Research (CBR) based on modules developed by UNESCO Chair.
Prof. Dr. Mahazan Abdul Mutalib, the coordinator for USIM UNESCO-K4C RTC ASIA said, “the commitment of USIM to UNESCO K4C started in early 2016 through the establishment of Mizan Research Centre (MRC) USIM through the fund received from Bank Rakyat.
“We later signed two MoU with the UNESCO Chair in 2019 and 2022.
“The MoU were also joined by Malay Agricultural Settlement (M.A.S), International Youth Centre Kuala Lumpur (IYCKL), and Malaysia Youth Council (MBM).
“USIM has joined K4C network since 2016 through series of training programmes organized by UNESCO K4C in various countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, India, and the United States of America. 2022 was important to us.
“We have successfully organized UNESCO K4C International Residency 2022 that give way to the appointment of USIM as UNESCO K4C RTC for Asia Region. To date, Mizan K4C Hub has 11 UNESCO K4C certified mentors representing the academia and civil society institutions”.
As a UNESCO K4C RTC, USIM will offer UNESCO K4C mentor certificates through a 21 weeks K4C Mentor Training Programme (MTP) for Asia Region beginning from 26th August to 2nd December 2024.
Prof. Mahazan said, “our first Asia K4C mentor training session will be joined by academics and leaders from various universities and civil organizations in Asia such as National Taitung University Taiwan, Eeman Foundation Singapore and Cambodia, Universitas Medan Area (UMA), Universitas Mercu Buana, and Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU) from Indonesia, Global Peace Movement of Southern Thailand and Krirk University, Thailand, Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University (UNISSA) Brunei, Study Korea News Inc. South Korea, and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Malaysia.
Our Asia K4C residency will be conducted from 5 to 13th October 2024 at International Youth Centre Kuala Lumpur (IYCKL)”.
The training will be lead by the UNESCO Chair team supported by facilitators from USIM, Pria, and other K4C hubs in Asia. Civil society facilitators will also act as trainers for this programme.
Among them are Dr. Jufitri Joha from Benevolent Malaysia (former President of Malaysia Youth Council), and Dr. Mohamed Maliki Mohamed Rapiee from IYCKL.
The UNESCO K4C model is innovative, cost effective and has a proven track record in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
It is based on the understanding that universities must collaborate with community organizations to co-create knowledge and to address local sustainability challenges as highlighted in UNESCO agenda of open science and knowledge democracy.
The UNESCO K4C consortium has established more than 30 hubs and train more than 10,000 community researchers globally. – BACALAHMALAYSIA.MY
