Programme

A very rich programme and comprehensive approach to the subject are characteristic for the course. The intention is to present the idea of sustainable development from scratch in such a way that is also understandable for those who are not experts in this field. On the other hand, a diversity of the subjects, an open approach and practical projects done by the participants make the course an attractive form of seeing the issues in a new light and broadening knowledge of people dealing with the environmental problems.

The workshops cover about a hundred hours of regular activities; in addition to this less formal activities come such as field trips, meetings, reading articles, videos projection. Each day of the three-week course is tightly filled with inspiring activities. A typical course day starts right after breakfast with lectures and workshops which continue after lunch break till afternoon hours (5 o'clock). In the evening everybody has time for individual activities like reading articles, working on projects, preparing oneself for debates, films projection, concerts and the like. One of the two weekends is intended for a hike in the nature.

The basis of sustainable development. Before the beginning of the course, the participants are obliged to become familiar with the basis of the idea of sustainable development through the e-learnig phase (Introduction to sustainable develoment): definitions, social and economic processes, systems thinking, natural resources problem, economical and ecological basis etc. It enables all the participants (coming with different backgrounds) to gain adequate knowledge and understanding to start the course activities together.
The course programme is than divided into two parts:

I. Theory and practice of community sustainable development.
During the first 10 days of the course we concentrate on the local aspects of sustainable development and the participants do practical project for the Lodz community concerning the value of the citiy green areas (trees in particular). The participants take part in a number of meetings with the people that are involved in borough life and with the local community representatives; they pay visits to local organizations, companies and other stakeholders. This results in preparation of the reports describing possible solutions to the problem and good practices.

II. Sustainable business.
During the second week of the course the issues concerning implementing the SD to industry and business are raised and practically handled - the participants run a real life consulting project for partner companies in tems. The lectures provided by our partner Fraunhofer Institute (Leipzig, Germany) cover many top CSR topics with an emphasis on sustianability management systems and GRI guidelines.

Apart from the lectures, exercises and seminars, field activities are included in the teaching process. The students visit many places, which is a perfect practical complement to the indoor activities.
More relaxing and exploring excursions are offered too. We were in the Pieniny mountains, the Bieszczady; we even rafted on the Dunajec. But certainly such excursions are also of tremendously informative value, especially when taking into account the theme of this course. During the excursions we try to reflect in a deeper way on our connections with Nature. Every year we take part in folk music concerts and dance workshops.

In 2011 we will also organise a networking workshop with a goal to make the project oriented cooperation among the ChoSD Alumni stronger. On the second weekend of the course we will invite a wider group of those who took part in the Summer Academy in previous editions to work all together on the strategy on LAPNET (Learning and Practice Network - kind of informal Summer Academy Alumni association) development so that it efficiently supports all the Alumni in their work in the field of sustainable development.