1. Workshop IV. Human Capital Contribution to Sustainable Development Rapporteur: Olivia Popescu, NCSD

2. Participants : SEE Countries (Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria), ‘Old EU Democracies’ (Germany, Austria) Main points related to SEE participant countries: Financing; Same structural limitations regarding the under developed human capital; Lack of investment in the human capital; ‘Patching’ policy measures rather than long term coherent strategies; Lack of integrated policy making, bearing in mind the concept of Sustainable Development; National Sustainable Development Strategies recently elaborated or in the process of elaboration.

3. Development of Education for sustainable development in formal and informal education TVET reorientation to SD Capacity building The need for coherent RD development strategy Mobilization of human capital from the region (‘brain drain’ phenomenon) Regional cooperation is generally overlooked, great potential gains are thus lost: best practices, lessons learned etc. Rigidity of educational sector towards innovation and change Prioritizing education and HC building at their rightful level: funding wise, implementation, continuous evaluation and adaptation. Identified challenges ahead

4. Recommendations Creation of a long term Research and development policy; Forming professional elites, who are able to help policy makers to identify real problems and provide real solutions; Research on Regional common benchmarks/indicators on SD; Organizing events on Higher education for SD – drafting of common curricula on SD for higher institutions; Education management; Strengthening links between individual players, institutions and other relevant stakeholders; The strengthening of regional cooperation networks; Sustainable Development needs to become a national as well as a regional priority. Addressing common challenges together as a region; All participants agreed on the necessity/ great utility of NSDS with HC at the base.