Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

The DESD is a grand, decade-long undertaking involving activities developed and carried out at local, national, regional, and international levels - with a particular eye toward "the degree of change in attitude and behaviour in the lives of communities and individuals at the local level." These changes are understood as involving 3 key areas of SD - society, environment, and economy - with culture as an underlying dimension. With regard to the latter, organisers note that "The values, diversity, knowledge, languages and worldviews associated with culture strongly influence the way issues of education for sustainable development are dealt with in specific national contexts. In this sense, culture is just not a collection of particular manifestations (song, dance, dress, ...), but a way of being, relating, behaving, believing and acting".

Each year of the Decade, a theme will be adopted to give particular shape to the activities undertaken; possibilities include: sustainable consumption, cultural diversity, health and quality of life, water and energy, biosphere reserves as places of learning, world heritage sites as places of learning, ESD in the knowledge society, citizen participation and good governance, poverty reduction and SD, and intergenerational justice and ethics.

In this context, stakeholders will apply the following 7 strategies both in their own institutional frameworks and in the networks and alliances in which they function:

1. Advocacy and vision building - will take place at all levels and involve all stakeholders. Governments and civil society will work to maintain a permanent dialogue in which issues are aired and where common agendas are forged through debate and mutual learning. At the local level, schools and civil society organisations (CSOs) may be involved in lobbying local governments on behalf of particular issues of SD. In this sense, organisers suggest, advocacy itself becomes an educational process, as learners think critically about their own circumstances and future.
2. Consultation and ownership - the notion is that, to develop worldwide momentum in the ESD, stakeholders at every level must "own the vision. In turn, ownership depends on consultation and participation in policy formulation and the planning of initiatives and activities. Governments have a particular responsibility to initiate consultative processes and establish fora for debate." Consultation will include:
   
   • Publication of government policy proposals and budgetary provisions
   • Processes to solicit input from civil society and the private sector stakeholders into national plans and initiatives
   • Parliamentary debate and committee work
   • Public awareness campaigns which invite feedback and comment
   • Commissioning of research and its transparent use in evidence-based policy-making.
3. Partnership and networks - "the regular and systematic exchange of experience and information with regard to ESD. This should an essential feature of the coordination of the Decade at each level, and particularly at regional and international levels. Knowing what others are doing around the world is a significant source of learning and innovation, and frequently an encouragement and motivational force to persevere in the long term." To view one example of a partnership effort associated with the DESD, click here.
4. Capacity building and training
   
   • Communication and awareness-raising (skills to provide the foundation for networking and establishing partnerships)
   • Planning, management and evaluation skills
   • Training and retraining of educators within the formal education system and in non-formal settings ("the level of knowledge and enthusiasm of the educator will be a key factor in stimulating the learners' interest and appreciation of issues of sustainable development")
   • Tools for analysis (a set of analytical skills and procedures associated with integrating the multiple dimensions of SD will be developed and shared)
   • Instructional content and materials - in printed, electronic, and audio-visual format - to support awareness-raising, public campaigns, classroom instruction, and non-formal learning
   • Instructional methodologies that reflect "learner-centred instruction focused on personal engagement with learning and on critical assessment of problems and possibilities".
5. Research and innovation - one element of this process will be "scenario development" to support integration of ESD into a multitude of different learning situations. These scenarios will serve as a resource for local discussion of how ESD could best be put into effect, and will include: ways to discover what the key local issues of SD are; possible learning strategies; ways of fostering links between the learning situation and the community; ways of integrating local knowledge and culture; and curriculum development processes enabling content to be decided locally based on SD principles.
6. Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) - a means of linking distant partners, storing data, sharing information and news as quickly as possible, and administering the large logistical enterprise that is the DESD. Organisers note that ICTs have particular links and implications with ESD; in this context, they stress that "local and creative use of information technology systems will be part of a dynamic ESD - the active use and sharing of knowledge, rather than merely a passive acceptance of other people's knowledge found on the web."
7. Monitoring and evaluation - one focus will be on identifying "suitable, relevant and measurable indicators at every level - local, national, regional and international - and for each initiative and programme."

Clearly, broad participation among many stakeholders at multiple levels will be central to this large-scale effort. To cite only one example, the Baha'is of the USA, in collaboration with several faith-based organisations (FBOs) and the US Partnership for the DESD, convened a strategic consultation on developing strategies for engaging faith-based communities on the day of the international DESD launch. The DESD website, in English, French, and Spanish, is one tool designed to foster communication and collaboration between and among these and other participants in the initiative - and to expose members of the global public to the messages and meanings of the DESD.

Education, Sustainable Development.

The following understanding of ESD informs the communication strategies developed to support the Decade: "Education enables us to understand ourselves and others and our links with the wider natural and social environment, and this understanding serves as a durable basis for building respect. Along with a sense of justice, responsibility, exploration and dialogue, ESD aims to move us to adopting behaviours and practices that enable all to live a full life without being deprived of basics." That said, organisers explain that, because there is no universal model of ESD, "there will be nuanced differences according to local contexts, priorities and approaches....The goals, emphases and processes must, therefore, be locally defined to meet the local environmental, social and economic conditions in culturally appropriate ways."

Organisers emphasise the linkages between ESD and both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on universal primary education for both boys and girls (especially girls) as well as the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All (EFA). "The creation of a gender-sensitive education system at all levels and of all types - formal, non-formal and informal - to reach the unserved is emphasized as a crucial component of education for sustainable development."