Events

The workshop is organized by UNESCO Beijing Office, New Delhi Office and Bangkok Office in partnership with Okayama University and Okayama City, with support from Japanese National Commission for UNESCO and Asia-Pacific Culture Center for UNESCO. The workshop will be dedicated to have countries in Asia to adapt good policies and practices in Okayama to their own contexts to promote SDGs through ESD in their respective countries. The collaboration between Japan and the participating countries will also be strengthened to jointly promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

Endorsed by UNESCO’s 37th General Conference (November 2013), the Global Action Programme (GAP) was acknowledged by UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/69/211 as official follow-up to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), led by UNESCO. UNESCO is promoting ESD through GAP focusing on generating and scaling up ESD action at all levels and in all areas of education, and in all sustainable development sectors.

In this context, UNESCO as the lead agency for ESD organized a Regional Workshop on ESD and Cities in Asia-Pacific in New Delhi, India from 28-30 November 2017, which focused on awareness raising on the role of ESD in the addressing socio-cultural, economic and environmental challenges in the Asia Pacific region. The presentation on Okayama’s multi-stakeholder approaches was well received at the workshop. UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education in Bangkok is currently developing a regional guide on community learning centres (CLCs) for sustainable development including the experiences of Kominkan of Okayama as one of the best practices. Furthermore, UNESCO has coordinated development of various teacher education resources for ESD promotion and practices in formal schools.

In follow up to and in order to provide further learning opportunities for the countries in the region, UNESCO, Okayama University and Okayama City jointly propose to organize a 5-day workshop in Okayama on 10 – 14 September 2018, in cooperation with the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO and Asia-Pacific Culture Centre for UNESCO.

At the workshop, the education policy makers and teacher educators from 13 Asian countries will have first-hand exposure to Okayama City’s experiences in generating political commitments, building partnership, and engaging education institutions and community members to promote ESD and SDGs. They will have the opportunity to learn, from experiences of Okayama University, a draft CLC guide and teacher education resources and SDGs, how to empower teachers to take lead in enhancing and coordinating community engagement to promote ESD and SDGs. In the meantime, partners and learners in Okayama and Japan, with interaction with the education policy makers and teacher educators from Asia, will know the ground reality of those countries, and develop deeper understanding of global solidarity and partnership.

Links:

Education for Sustainable Development

Theme page:

Education transforms lives

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/events/regional-workshop-enhancing-community-engagement-education-sustainable-development