Interview: Professor Tippawan Lorsuwannarat, Ph.D.
1. The development of NIDA philosophy
NIDA is initially a government educational institution established in 1966. Originally, NIDA’s philosophy was founded on the Buddhist proverb “natathi panya sama apa” which means there is no such light as bright as wisdom. According to Buddhism, “panya” or wisdom means knowing, true knowing, profound knowing, realistic knowing which frees one from delusion and ends foolishness.
Light reflected from various physical sources generates visual perceptions, guides us, and shows us the clarity and beauty of nature and all the living creatures. However, light from wisdom is different since it shines into your soul leading and guiding your thoughts, your life, and your organization from darkness to prosperity. This light leaves behind ignorance and embraces reasoning. It creates joy and delight to those who welcome it.
Such Buddhist proverb had been NIDA’s core principle until 2007 when it began its long-term development plan. “Wisdom for Change” had been introduced and proposed as the new philosophy in order for NIDA to respond to the era of change that had become a central theme in the need for development around the world at the time, especially in the US in which change was made as a key campaign promise by Barack Obama, then presidential candidate. The former president emphasized that change was needed if the country were to move forward and away from the old inertia of a system. That transformation in philosophy fostered and promoted better understanding of NIDA’s philosophy of wisdom.
After 15 years of “Wisdom for Change,” NIDA’s management proposed a new philosophy that offered better clarity in defining the goals of change. From past to present, Thailand’s national development policies had always been on the side of materialism focusing only on the economy, but not other dimensions including social and environmental developments. This near-sighted development plan had led to numerous problems such as widening income gaps, inequalities, inaccessibility to resources, unbalanced economic development, and exploitation of natural resources. To this end, since NIDA’s identity is first and foremost development, development policies needed to create a balance among all those aspects.
As such, to uphold NIDA’s identity of development and together embrace sustainable development goals set by the UN, NIDA’s philosophy has therefore transformed into “Wisdom for Sustainable Development.”
2. Wisdom for Sustainable Development
Wisdom is knowledge and principles that have been continuously accumulated and developed until they become profound understanding. Wisdom is a knowledge and truth seeking process which is exclusive to human characteristics and the most valuable path to enlightenment (Intellectualism Approach).
Wisdom eliminates prejudices and biases, in turn leading one to indiscrimination and justice. Wisdom is able to reduce various forms of prejudice derived from, for instance, attitudes, anger, fear, and ignorance.
Sustainable development is a balanced form of development among economy, society, and environment. It considers the impacts of economic development on society and environment. This type of development does not create social and environment damage that are manifesting in today’s world. Since World War II, development has always been regarding the revitalization of global and national economic systems. Until 1960 – 1970, the United Nations had expanded the definition and meaning of development to include poverty, education attainment, and healthcare.
After such period, the UN in collaboration with other nations in 1972 and 1992 reviewed and summarized the impacts of past development efforts and deduced that the problems plaguing the world had stemmed from the sole developmental focus on economic growth, without the integration of other developmental dimensions. The consequence was the growth in materialistic society and capitalism, causing social issues, lack of human development, exploitation of environment, and eventually unsustainable development. The UN report thus began seeking a new form of development with the term “sustainable development.”
According to the UN, sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Development policies must respond to present needs without compromising resources for future generations.
Sustainable development requires the integration of thoughts and concepts in economic, social, and environmental development. It requires a holistic approach that emphasizes human development and well-balanced components.
Sustainable development is key to conserving and preserving natural resources for future generations. It responds to the diverse needs of both current and future populations. Sustainable development promotes quality of life and healthy well-being, encourages social bonds and citizen participation, creates equal opportunities for all, justice, economic stability, and sustainability. It also supports good governance and public participation at all levels in order to foster creativity.
3. Why new leaders emphasize sustainable development
Since sustainable development is the integration of economic, social, and environmental development, the nation is able to better develop economic stability, rather than economic growth that fuels materialistic prosperity. To achieve sustainability, sustainable development focuses on human development and strengthens society and environment by optimizing and preserving natural resources, creating equalities and justice, and encouraging civic participation.
Based on its definition, sustainable development involves two generations – one in present and one in future. Development that meets the needs of the present must not inhibit and burden the needs of future generations since the world has limited natural resources, whether it’d be forests, clean water, or food. As such, the new generation of population must come together to invent and develop new systems, processes, and mechanisms that achieve sustainable development goals. If we ignore and neglect such responsibilities, our future generations would not be able to sustain and build a happy life.
The lessons from the past 70 years in development have shown us that development that did not take into consideration sustainability results in many serious social problems including inequalities in society at large, education, and healthcare, uneven income distribution, unemployment, household debt, stress and depression, environmental destruction, pollution, PM2.5, and blatant exploitation of people from different economic statuses.
4. How can NIDA develop a new generation of leaders to answer to the nations’ social and economic development?
One of NIDA’s core missions is to cultivate change agent with the use of wisdom, knowledge, skills, concepts, that initiate changes and transpires real impacts. NIDA graduates who achieve such goals are considered change agents as NIDA offers high-impact education that develops skills, knowledge, and experiences for the cultivation of global citizenships in the 21st century. NIDA assimilates new technologies, including for example data sciences and artificial intelligence, with existing knowledge and curricula to create tangible and practical applications. In addition, NIDA provides new decision models for new organizations; opportunities for international and knowledge exchange programs, international networks and affiliations; and learning space that promotes new learning experiences and creativity.
Nevertheless, the responsibility for sustainable development does not belong to only one generation. Sustainable development does not stand a chance if there is no collaboration between the present and future generations. There are currently approximately 18 billion young minds around the world, most of whom reside in developing countries. They are the ones with energy, drive, and creativity who are quick-witted and independent. They are the progress of society who drives the passion, dream, and hope for better tomorrow. Simultaneously, leaders of the previous generations can make good use of their experiences, understanding, and public mind. NIDA is a proud network of alumni across the country, helping to build nearly 90,000 leaders. NIDA offers a perfect opportunity for the young and the old to work together toward creating change and strengthening our nation’s growth and development in all sectors.
Is sustainable development only possible in government sector and civil society? How can it be achieved in the private sector? Based on the OECD report conducted by Business and Sustainable Development Commission on sustainable development efforts, it is found that sustainable development helped increase revenue for more than $12 trillion in four industries – food and agriculture, city, energy, and wellness. Some examples of private companies include Huawei (SDG9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure), Tech for All and Nike (SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production), Kimberley & Clark (SDG9: Clean Water & Sanitation), and Lego (SDG4: Quality Education). Therefore, it is obvious that sustainable development is not only restricted to public and government sector. There have been an increasing number of success stories in the business sector both domestic and international.
NIDA firmly believes that with its long-accumulated wisdom, incorporated with new directions in wisdom for sustainable development, NIDA is the answer for the cultivation of new leaders and sustainability. With cooperation between new and old leaders, the power of our wisdom will bring about sustainable development in every sector – business, government, and civil society – at organizational, societal, community, and national levels.