YC
United Nations
Educational, Scientiﬁc andCultural Organization

Education for Sustainable Development 2014
World Conference, Aichi-Nagoya, 10-12 November
Stakeholder Meetings, Okayama, 4-8 November

REPORT

Youth Statement • Proceedings • Participant Profiles

Published by
Japanese National Commission for UNESCO
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
3-2-2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8959, Japanjpnatcom@mext.go.jp
www.mext.go.jp/english/unesco
Edited by
The Goi Peace Foundation
1-4-5 Hirakawacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0093, Japan
info@goipeace.or.jp
www.goipeace.or.jp© Japanese National Commission for UNESCO, 2015
The editors are responsible for the overall presentation of the report.
The ideas and opinions contained in the report are not necessarily
those of UNESCO, MEXT, or other organizers of the UNESCO ESD Youth
Conference and the UNESCO World Conference on Education for
Sustainable Development and do not commit these organizations.

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YC
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Youth Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Proceedings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6 November | Pre-conference day . . . . . . . . . 8

7 November | Conference day. . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Opening plenary session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Parallel workshop sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Plenary discussion session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Wrap-up session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Youth at the World Conference. . . . . . . . . . . 30

Participant Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

7 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To mark the end of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD,
2005-2014), UNESCO and the Government of Japan hosted a World Conference on Educationfor Sustainable Development (ESD). During this event, which took place in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan,
from 10 to 12 November 2014, participants celebrated a decade of action and set the agenda for
ESD beyond 2014. The Conference also launched the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD
as a follow-up to the DESD.
Before the World Conference, as one of the selected stakeholder meetings that took place inOkayama, Japan, the UNESCO ESD Youth Conference* was organized on 7 November 2014 by
UNESCO, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), theJapanese National Commission for UNESCO, Okayama City, and the Goi Peace Foundation. The
Youth Conference brought together 50 young ESD leaders between 18-35 years old, who wereselected from over 5,000 applicants from 180 countries. They were joined by approximately 50 observers and volunteers, mostly young people from ESD and youth-related organizations in Japan.
The objectives of the UNESCO ESD Youth Conference were:•

To provide a platform for ESD youth leaders from around the world to engage in dialogue
and peer learning to enhance their ESD practices.

•

To highlight the contributions of youth to the ESD movement, particularly their innovative
approaches.

•

To formulate collective input and recommendations to the World Conference on ESD in theform of a Youth Statement.

•

To promote further youth involvement in ESD and a commitment to actions beyond 2014.

The entire thematic agenda of the Youth Conference was designed to contribute to the overall
goal of the GAP: “to generate and scale-up action in all levels and areas of education and learning in order to accelerate progress towards sustainable development.” Special emphasis wasplaced on one of the GAP’s priority areas—”empowering and mobilizing youth.”
On 6 November, Pre-conference day (page 8), the participants got to know each otherthrough icebreaking and storytelling activities. Then, as a prelude to their discussions on specific
ESD themes, they worked in groups to share their visions for a sustainable future, while acknowledging their differences in local circumstances and worldviews.
The Conference day (7 November) began with a photo session with the UNESCO DirectorGeneral Irina Bokova. In her remarks during the Opening Plenary Session (page 11), she empowered the youth by saying: Don’t wait for us. Forge ahead… Young people can lead the world,and I promise you, the world will follow! The keynote speaker, Sally Asker, Director of InSIGHT
Sustainability, affirmed the advantage of being young and encouraged the participants to grasp
the opportunity to make their collective voice count at the World Conference.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In the Parallel Workshop Sessions (page 18), the participants were divided into eight discussion groups according to their expertise and field of activities. The themes of the workshop
sessions were: 1) Policy advancement, 2) Whole-institution approaches, 3) Educators and trainers, 4) Innovative learning for youth, 5) Local communities, 6) Sustainability challenges, 7) Social
entrepreneurship, and 8) Women and marginalized groups. Each group discussed how ESD
actions can be scaled up in the given thematic area, and developed recommendations to be
included in the final Youth Statement.
In the afternoon Plenary Discussion Session (page 24), the participants further explored
how young people can empower and mobilize their own generation as change agents in global, national and local sustainable development processes. The day ended with a comment fromeach participant sharing their feelings and resolve, with everyone seated in a large circle.
During their stay in Okayama, the youth participants also took part in an Opening Ceremony
and a Farewell Party hosted by Okayama City, and enjoyed a day of local sightseeing and culturalexperiences.
As an output of the UNESCO ESD Youth Conference, the Youth Statement (page 4) was
adopted and submitted to the World Conference in Aichi-Nagoya to provide young people’s
collective recommendations and commitments for advancing ESD beyond 2014. The statement
represents the voices not only of the conference participants, but also of the young people fromall over the world who joined the pre-conference discussions on UNESCO’s online platform.
The core message of the Youth Statement is that youth should be involved in the planning andimplementation of all the areas of the GAP, and that young people themselves are in the best
position to empower and mobilize other young people to become change makers. When given
the opportunities and support they need, they are ready to take on leadership roles to advancetheir communities and countries towards sustainability.
After the Youth Conference, the participants actively participated in the World Conferencein Aichi-Nagoya (page 30), sharing their views and opinions with decision-makers and ESD
experts. Through workshop discussions and self-organized events, they made a strong call foryouth recognition and intergenerational cooperation.
By the end of the conferences, the youth participants had come up with numerous initiatives
and campaigns, and were committed to following up on their discussions and disseminating
the youth recommendations to catalyze further commitments and actions worldwide. Most ofall, the young ESD leaders forged a strong bond amongst themselves that is sure to continue indifferent forms of collaboration across borders.
* The UNESCO ESD Youth Conference followed up on the recommendations of the 8th UNESCO Youth Forum(October 2013, UNESCO HQ).

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanYOUTH STATEMENT
This Youth Statement was adopted at the UNESCO ESD Youth Conference held in Okayama, Japan, on 7 November
2014, to provide a vision, commitment, and recommendations from youth for advancing ESD beyond 2014 in linewith the Global Action Programme on ESD. It represents the voices of 50 ESD youth leaders in the conference, who inturn represent thousands of young people around the globe, and also includes contributions from over a hundred
youth who participated in pre-conference online discussions.

Vision for a Sustainable Future
We invite you to take a moment as you read this statement to hold in your heart your loved ones: your children, their children and those that will follow. Imagine—as we have—how the decisions that we make today
will impact each and every one of them. Reflect—as we have—on the importance and value of this youth
statement to their lives, as well as to ours.
Our statement captures the voices and visions of thousands of youth from around the world who are strongly represented and have widely contributed to this global call—from the experiences of an environmental
educator in Madagascar, to the creative approaches of a biomimic in Bahrain; from empowering indigenous youth in Thailand to innovating with gaming platforms in Moldova. Our journeys are different, yet ourdestination is the same. We come from different backgrounds—a rich diversity of race, colour, religion andbelief—yet our vision is one. Our voices are united.
Together, we stand for a sustainable, resilient and equitable society in which every person in every cornerof the world has the opportunity to thrive. We strongly believe that Education for Sustainable Development(ESD) is fundamental to achieving this vision. ESD provides the empowering mechanism through which we
can transform the critical sustainability challenges that we face into opportunities. It must be the essence of
education. Without ESD we cannot move forward.
Young people play a vital role in advancing the ESD agenda. The implications of our collective decisions andactions will shape our reality and our future. We are committed to lead, yet we cannot do this alone, andneither can you. Together, we must empower and mobilize youth around the globe! This document
presents our strategic recommendations to achieve this, building on the UNESCO Global Action Programmeon Education for Sustainable Development.
We urgently call for a multi-stakeholder commitment to and collaboration on these recommendations. We
acknowledge and celebrate the existing efforts of the frontrunners who have led us this far. For many of us,
the journey has already begun. For those just starting, we invite you to come with us.

Recommendations
1. POLICY ADVANCEMENTa) Ensure the active involvement of youth in policy planning, implementation and evaluation. Youthshould be recognized as a key stakeholder at all levels, domains and stages of educational governance.
Through this, youth will be able to shape policies to strengthen ESD.

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YOUTH STATEMENTb) Ensure that policies drive ESD with the urgency it requires and in a holistic, just and gender responsive way. Policies should address the multiple dimensions of sustainable development and drive
immediate action to realize sustainable development in the here and now.
c) All relevant stakeholders should allocate resources to empower youth as change agents for ESD.
Governments, civil society organizations, youth councils, communities and businesses should allocate
financial, technical and human resources to enable the implementation of ESD policies and the recommendations of this declaration.

2. WHOLE-INSTITUTION APPROACHESa) Educational institutions and governments should provide the institutional support, resources
and legitimacy for youth-led change processes towards sustainability. This requires a combination of bottom-up initiatives and top-down steering. Mechanisms should include dedicated funding,institutional integration, working space, mandates, recognition, and training for youth-led sustainability
initiatives.
b) Enhance collective action among sustainability initiatives. Educational institutions should support the joint efforts of pupils, students, staff and the local community. This requires the development of common visions and identities, places of encounter, projects and programmes which are shared
among all stakeholders.
c) Recognize youth as equal partners to accelerate the operational transformation of educational institutions towards sustainability. Educational institutions should practice what they teach, by generating positive environmental impacts. In collaboration with staff, youth should become change agents anddecision-makers in environmental management, including issues of energy, food, water, waste, buildings
and biodiversity on campus.

3. EDUCATORS AND TRAINERSa) Recognize that all citizens have the potential and responsibility to act as facilitators for ESD. To
educate billions of people on sustainability challenges and opportunities, the mobilization of educatorsand trainers needs to reach beyond those in traditional educational institutions. Youth, professionals,
practitioners and citizens across all levels and sectors need to be mobilized as ESD educators and trainers.
b) Build capacities of youth as trainers and peer-to-peer educators for ESD. Youth should be empowered to educate a critical mass of peers, parents, friends and communities on ESD. This requires special
support and attention from professional trainers and educational institutions.
c) Enhance the capacity of existing educators and trainers to empower youth to engage on ESD
issues. Teachers, educators and trainers need to learn about the new methods, technologies and approaches of ESD-based education. This requires supportive mechanisms such as online trainings andforums, toolkits, funds, peer-to-peer learning and support networks.

4. INNOVATIVE LEARNING FOR YOUTHa) Educational institutions and governments should encourage and support youth and educators toexperiment with innovative learning approaches. ESD is different from traditional education. It thus
requires experimentation with alternative technologies as well as creative and experiential methods tobreak through conventional mindsets and find the best ways to educate youth.
b) Monitor and evaluate these learning approaches to determine their effectiveness and efficiency
in promoting ESD. Educational institutions, governments and educators need to develop indicators,

57 November 2014 • Okayama, Japanframeworks and processes to evaluate the diversity of experiments with ESD in order to identify whatworks in different institutional and geographic settings.
c) Scale the impact of successful learning approaches to different geographic and institutional
contexts. Successful learning approaches need to be de-contextualised and codified, in order to bethen replicated across geographic locations, increased in scale and integrated into mainstream policies.
Dedicated funding, recognition, high-level backing and leadership are key to realizing all three of theabove recommendations.

5. LOCAL COMMUNITIESa) Respect the voices of youth in community-driven ESD initiatives. International agencies, governments and civil society organizations should respect the voices of youth when implementing ESD initiatives in communities. This requires that youth are involved in the identification, design and implementation of ESD-related community problems and solutions.
b) Support youth-led ESD initiatives in local communities. ESD forms a strong foundation for the economic growth of local communities and the protection of ecosystems. Realizing this potential requires
training, mentoring and sponsorship of youth-led ESD initiatives, supported by educational institutions,companies, civil society organizations and governments.
c) Encourage youth to engage with and learn through real-life situations. Local communities should
be positively impacted by ESD and provide a source of learning and inspiration. This requires promotingsocial service-learning, transdisciplinary education and research, living laboratories, learning centers andonline education.

6. SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIESa) Enable all youth to understand and critically appreciate the complexities and uncertainties of sustainability challenges and opportunities. In order to undertake effective action on ESD, young people
need to understand the interconnected socio-cultural, economic and technological systems and trends
that create persistent sustainability problems.
b) Empower youth to develop visions of more sustainable futures. Through dialogue and facilitatedinteractions, young learners need to be supported in developing daring, radical and challenging visionsof a more sustainable world. Those visions then provide the inspiration and rationales for youth-led sustainability efforts.
c) Equip students with the competencies to transform their personal lives, educational institutions,communities and countries. To realize their sustainability visions, youth need to be equipped with thenecessary knowledge, skills and values for transforming themselves and the unsustainable systems intheir society. Encouragement, feedback and recognition from educators, peers and educational institutions are necessary to strengthen their confidence and motivation along the journey.

7. WOMEN AND MARGINALIZED GROUPSa) Ensure that educational curricula and policies drive ESD in a way that enhances the equality andequity of socially marginalized groups. Socially marginalized groups are vulnerable and difficult toreach through ESD activities, as they are discriminated against for reasons of gender, age, ability, colour,
religion, income, geographic origin and sexual orientation, among others.
b) Recognize the values, experiences and perspectives of youth from marginalized social groups
for ESD. Youth from marginalized social groups can provide unique, relevant and interesting values,

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YOUTH STATEMENT
experiences and perspectives to the education of mainstream and privileged students. Sharing thoserequires intercultural, interfaith and intergenerational dialogue to create mutual understanding andacceptance.
c) Create safe and accessible learning spaces for youth from marginalized social groups. Specific conditions need to be put in place for empowering youth from marginalized social groups to participate in
ESD activities. This requires, among others, deconstructing stereotypes and providing financial support
and facilitated encounters.

8. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIPa) Recognize the importance of social entrepreneurship to contribute to the goals of ESD.
Governments and educational institutions should recognize that social entrepreneurship enables young
people to learn about ESD in an informal setting, to create jobs, set up their own ESD activities, and havepositive impacts on their local communities.
b) Create favourable policy and funding conditions for new social start-ups. In order to realize thepotential of social entrepreneurship to contribute to ESD, governments and financial institutions needto provide subsidies, tax allowances, scholarships, guidance and mentoring schemes to support young
entrepreneurs.
c) Develop the capacity of youth to set up and manage their social enterprises. Educational institutions, businesses and civil society organizations should foster the entrepreneurial knowledge, awarenessand skills of youth. This requires dedicated courses, peer-to-peer coaching, mentoring, start-up funding
and office space, among others.

Youth Empowering and Mobilizing YouthAcross the globe, youth are increasingly mobilizing themselves and taking leadership roles to advance theircommunities and countries towards sustainability. In this process, young people recognize that creatinga sustainable future will require a collective vision, commitment and action from youth around the world.
Therefore, youth-to-youth empowerment and mobilization present a unique opportunity for harnessing theknowledge, energy and creativity of young people to advance ESD.
Young leaders on ESD can be inspirational role models for encouraging other youth who share similar concerns in their local contexts. This can be achieved through peer mentoring, sharing of knowledge and skills,
and fostering open and safe platforms for expression and action in their communities and beyond.
A critical element of successfully mobilizing youth is building trust and reducing conflict. Stimulating international and intercultural dialogue amongst youth fosters friendship, exchanges, understanding and cooperation among cultures, generations and people with different worldviews. Youth recognition of diversity as
an opportunity contributes to advancing ESD at local, national and global levels.
Youth-to-youth empowerment initiatives have the potential to be bold and creative in the way they tell stories and mobilize others. It is here that other stakeholders can harness and partner with the creativity, passion
and dedication of young people. In this way, youth-to-youth initiatives can continue growing, spreading themessage and creating more impact.
We, the youth of the world, commit to taking responsibility for empowering and mobilizing young people.
We are dedicated to using this collective driving force to maximize positive impact on our society and environment. With this role as change makers, we are ready to do our part in transforming today’s world for amore sustainable future.

77 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

PROCEEDINGS
6 November | Pre-conference day

Drawing and sharing a vision
for a sustainable future

Sharing a vision for ESD
What do we want to achieve through Education for Sustainable Development?
Before starting to talk about strategies for promoting ESD, the participants worked to depict
a shared vision of a sustainable future, while acknowledging their differences in local circumstances and worldview. Collaborating in groups, they expressed their vision in words and drawings, and discussed what values they need to promote in order to realize that vision.
The following page lists some of the aspects and essential values of a sustainable future as
outlined by the youth participants.

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PROCEEDINGS

Values and Way of Living•

There is a culture of respect for people and for the natural environment. We learn from theharmony that already exists within nature and apply that to the way we treat the environment and one another.

•

We recognize that we are part of nature, that every individual is responsible for preserving
our planet, and that every choice we make in life should be based on sustainability.

•

All the various sectors of society work together, sharing a holistic view that everything—including humans, nature, the economy, food, transportation and energy—are interconnected, and that they are all part of the same cycle.

•

There is a focus on personal transformation, which in turn influences other people andbrings about change in society. Children and youth are also empowered to create change,
especially through entrepreneurship.

•

We have an inclusive society with empathy, understanding and equality, where everyone,
including indigenous people, women and minorities are brought in and not left behind, andwhere there is happiness, beauty and joy for all.

•

Local communities grow their own food and build their own houses, and preserve theircultural identity.

•“To be more rather than have more” is a widely shared value, and everyone puts more effort
into contributing to the community than into acquiring things for themselves.

Systems•

Everyone has access to education, including formal, non-formal and informal education.
There is a focus on creative education and community-based education that can inspire
people to come up with innovative solutions.

•Global communication allows us to share ideas and best practices and replicate what’s working in different parts of the world.

•

New systems are established based on our interconnectedness and on striking a balance
between the environment and technology, such as in green energy and a cyclical economy
using waste as resources.

•

Today’s economy-centered system is transformed into a human-centered system, in which
health and happiness are the key indicators, instead of economic welfare.

•

We build resilient, thriving, prosperous communities looking beyond sustainability into regenerative systems.

97 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanIN PICTURES: PRE-CONFERENCE DAY

Making a “human world map” in an icebreaker

Participants get to know each other by telling the stories of their lives—both good times and challenging times

Miki Konishi explains the offerings from Okayama City

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Japanese observer-volunteers

PROCEEDINGS

7 November | Conference day
Opening plenary session
During the opening plenary, Masaaki Akaike, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, welcomed the participants. A keynote address was delivered by Sally Asker, Director of InSIGHT
Sustainability and member of the World Conference International Steering Group, and a guest
presentation was made by Prof. Anantha Kumar Duraiappah, Director of UNESCO Mahatma
Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development.

Welcome remarks
Masaaki Akaike
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology of Japan (MEXT)(excerpt)
Welcome to Japan.
Gathered here in Okayama today are 50 young people from48 countries around the world. You are all representative
young leaders working on the active promotion of ESD inmany fields in your countries. I understand that during thisconference you will draft a Youth Statement and announce
it to the world. I have high expectations for the statement
you will draft as ESD professionals in various fields.
I would also like you to take this valuable opportunity to
deepen your friendship with colleagues participating fromcountries around the world who have similar ESD aspirations. I hear that exchanges of opinion
have already started via online discussions, even before the conference. I hope that exchanging
opinions and sharing experiences among colleagues from different geographical regions andspecialties will lead to ideas about future activities and to the building of a global network ofyoung ESD practitioners.
You will also go on to participate in the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in Aichi-Nagoya next
week. I would like each of you to be a public relations ambassador and convey to those at theWorld Conference the achievements made here in Okayama. UNESCO clearly considers young
people to be important stakeholders, and I expect you to serve as an important driving force for
ESD at the World Conference and afterwards.
In conclusion, let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Goi Peace Foundation,
the City of Okayama, and all those involved, for their efforts to make this conference a reality.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Opening remarks
Irina Bokova
Director-General of UNESCO
I am deeply honoured to be with you today, to open
the UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development
Youth Conference. For this, I wish to thank the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology of Japan, the Japanese National
Commission for UNESCO, the City of Okayama andthe Goi Peace Foundation for organizing this important conference.
Most of all, I thank the Youth Delegates who are with
us today. I say ‘Youth Delegates,’ but I really mean
Youth Leaders of sustainable development. There
are 50 of you, young women and men from some 48
countries across the world, selected from a shortlistof 5,000 young people from 180 countries.
Each of you has been chosen because you stand out for your achievements in ESD. You standout in your leadership. You stand out in your commitment. You stand out in your vision.
This is a vision of a better world for all, where the human rights and dignity of every woman andman are nurtured. It is the vision of a planet whose boundaries are respected, whose diversity issafeguarded, for the benefits of generations today and tomorrow.
This vision has never been more relevant than today. The planet is under pressure today. Climatechange is affecting our daily lives, especially for the poorest. We have no choice—we mustchange the way we think about progress, the way we understand growth. We must change theway we produce and consume, the way we live our lives together.
Political regulations and financial incentives are essential for safeguarding the environment, andfor shaping a more sustainable future. But they are not enough. We need to craft new ways ofseeing the world, new ways of thinking and rethinking about our responsibilities to each otherand the planet, towards the environment and biodiversity, and new ways of acting and behaving as global citizens.
This is why education is essential, as the bedrock for sustainability, to shape new values, skills
and knowledge. We need green economies, but we also need green societies.
This is the inspiration for the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development(2005-2014), sponsored by Japan and led by UNESCO. I wish to pay tribute to my predecessor,Koïchiro Matsuura, who was at the forefront of crafting this Decade, and provided leading inspiration to take it forward. In Aichi-Nagoya, we will take stock of the Decade’s achievements
at the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, and we will lookforward to a new, ambitious agenda.
This is especially important today, at a time when governments are shaping a new, ambitious
development agenda to follow in 2015. UNESCO is playing a leading role in this global debate.
Education for Sustainable Development must have a central place in this agenda. This is the12

PROCEEDINGS
core lesson of the UN Decade—education is the most powerful force for sustainability. We arecrafting a global vision of education for the 21st century. Education is the way to connect thedots between the social, the economic and the environmental dimensions of sustainable development—the core message from Rio+20 in 2012.
You all know the expression “Think Global, Act Local.” Education is the best way to act at the
local, national, regional and global levels, and to weave these levels together. This calls for education that is relevant to the needs of the 21st century, that empowers learners, that nurtures
new forms of global citizenship and solidarity.
These are the lessons of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and countries across the world have started to integrate them into their education systems. It is one of theaims of the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative, which UNESCO is steering
forward.
We need to build on this—we need to do more. For this, we need your help. We need your ideas
and, especially, your leadership.
I see this in the list of profiles prepared for this forum, highlighting your activities across theworld, from Madagascar to Argentina, from community learning centres to game platforms. I
see this in the commitments you have submitted to the Global Action Programme that will belaunched next week at the World Conference in Aichi-Nagoya. I see this in the dynamism of the
UNESCO Associated Schools Network—a family of more than 10,000 schools in 181 countries
that are pioneers of sustainability.
Let me say one thing. Don’t wait for us. Forge ahead. Continue with your vision, your projects,
your programmes. Do everything to make change happen in your lives, in your communities,
in your countries.
Young people can lead the world, and I promise you, the world will follow!
And I pledge to you today, UNESCO will support you at every step in every way we can. We will
see you next week at the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development,
and we will build your vision into the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum in 2015.

Participants at theOpening plenary session

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

We have just launched the celebrations of our 70th anniversary. UNESCO was founded in 1945
to bring peace to the world, to be a global moral leader. We have put forward new ideas—
Education for All, and the kind of education needed for the 21st century. The notion of global
citizenship education partly stems out of Education for Sustainable Development.
Next year, at the COP21 in Paris, there is an expectation that the world will adopt an important
agreement on climate change. UNESCO’s Leaders’ Forum will be dedicated to sustainability andclimate change. Your ideas and projects are so much in need. Unless we change the way we live,
consume and produce, change will not happen. Political agreements are important, but then
the test comes in how we implement these agreements in practice. This is the responsibility of
governments, civil society, the private sector and young leaders. Believe in what you are doing,
and change will happen.
UNESCO will carry your message to every major event next year, on the way to shaping a new
global development agenda that is just, sustainable and inclusive, and that respects the boundaries of the planet.

Conversation between the UNESCO Director-General and theYouth Participants
Following her remarks, Ms. Bokova took questions from the youth participants.
Q: This is a one-time conference, but how do you think youth can be continuously involved in shaping thefuture in a more prominent way?
A: I believe this should not be a one-off event. A big conference on advocacy is very important, because we set the stage and adopt a strategic vision and plans of action. But what is most importantis the future work. I believe, particularly with the young leaders, that there is so much opportunity
today with the new technologies to engage, create a platform, and exchange ideas. I believe that
expanding networks and working together in this way is very important, particularly in the areaof sustainability—climate change, biodiversity, and all the notions about the changing environment—because they are global issues that have no physical boundaries. This is where I think youth
engagement is all-important. You may be in a country in the north helping a country in the south;or, ideas coming from the south can be very useful also in the north. So, new technologies havehuge opportunities to bring people together. We meet here and exchange ideas, but we do notstop here; we continue in the same vein of working together.
Q: What comes after the Decade of ESD? Is UNESCO using its influence to make ESD part of more “traditional” educational settings?
A: We are taking stock of this decade, and we are drafting a plan of action for the future. What we aredoing precisely is to have Education for Sustainable Development deeply embedded in education
systems. It is not just something that accompanies schooling; it is not just an additional or complementary kind of knowledge. That is why we are designing the future of education development
goals. Currently, we have the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are ending in 2015. The
second goal is to “achieve universal primary education,” but now we are expanding this and looking
at quality of education, and at what types of education we need for the 21st century. The concept of“global citizenship” comes in here. One of the targets of this new goal, that hopefully will be adopted
next year, is Education for Sustainable Development. We are working all across the board—withgovernments, with different countries in all parts of the world—and when we make this a goal forthe future, I think there will not be a single country in the world where this will not be incorporated
into the educational system.

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PROCEEDINGS

Keynote address
Sally Asker
Director of InSIGHT Sustainability
Member of the World Conference International Steering Group(excerpt)
To date, much of the focus about education, training,and public awareness systems around the globe has
not been on Education for Sustainable Development.
Rather, it has been on Education for Development.
Now more than ever, ESD needs to be the purposeof education, not simply a component of education.
Education must prepare learners to contribute to sustainable development and to combat the global challenges we all face, through the promotion of criticalthinking, collaborative decision-making, responsibility
for today and for tomorrow—all ingredients of global
citizenship that enable all of us as learners to transform
ourselves and society for a more livable tomorrow.
What we do know is that we have all the tools and assets at our disposal to harness our innerstrengths and make a change. We just need the will and a renewed vision of education to help
shift the gear.
The principles of ESD, together with the competencies ESD promotes, are the key enablers to help
us shift this gear. ESD can be the change agent. I ask each of you: How can we move toward sustainable development and meet global challenges without education? How can we change as a society
without education? Education is an essential component in reaching sustainable development.
Now is the time to demonstrate to decision-makers at the most senior level that what ESD is doing
is quality and has relevance. We need our leaders to advocate for ESD at a global level and become SD literate by integrating ESD into both education agendas and sustainable development
agendas. We need to continue our work to change mindsets and create a new perspective for ESD
beyond 2014. In this context, your participation here at the Youth Conference and next week atthe main conference holds much importance.
As you are aware, to mark the end of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development, known as the DESD, which spanned the years 2005-2014, the Government of Japanand UNESCO are hosting the World Conference on ESD. While the conference marks the end of theDecade, it is very much a forward-looking event providing the foundation for post-2014 action.
The conference will launch the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, which seeks to build on
the foundation that has been built over the last 10 years. The GAP focuses on five priority action
areas: advancing policy, integrating sustainability practices into education and training environments, increasing the capacity of educators and trainers, empowering and mobilizing youth (myfavourite one), and encouraging local communities and municipal authorities to develop community-based ESD programmes.
A decade is simply not long enough to change behaviors, actions, policies, and governments on

15

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japanthe magnitude that is required to shift the global gear. And UNESCO cannot and does not have themeans or mandate to do so alone. It is up to a joint effort between you, the Member States andevery citizen on this globe to make a difference, to rethink and reorient how we interact with ourplanet. Consequently, the scaling up of ESD actions is required.
I would like to encourage you to familiarize yourselves with the part of the GAP that specifically targets empowering and mobilizing youth. The GAP will be implemented in a decentralized manner
by Member States, national and local governments, and all stakeholders through their voluntary
contributions, partnerships, and commitments to it. It will be established for an initial phase of five
years, after which it will be renewed for extension.
As you are aware, the output of the Youth Conference will be a collective Youth Statement submitted to the World Conference. Your statement will seek to align your views and enable you to speak
as a united voice at the main conference.
When looking at the Global Action Programme in your preparations, critically ask yourself what
can strategically be done to push the ESD agenda further forward. Challenge your thinking andask, Where could youth as actors assist, and how? And discuss with your peers, What else is needed
to contribute to an effective post-2014 agenda? Today and in the days going forward, think and talkbetween yourselves and voice these ideas within your Youth Statement.
Now, I would like to offer some final words of advice. In the following days, try not to get fixatedon or frustrated by the label ESD; it is only a label. What is important is to think about the aims andoutcomes that ESD strives to promote. You may call it something very different in the context ofyour region or country. There are many other labels with similar principles and practices for a moresustainable future. Why not put them all in your practitioner toolbox? After all, the goal of all education—peace education, values education, environmental education, human rights education,and the list goes on—should be sustainable development. ESD is relevant to all, and outside theauspices of UNESCO, it is called many things. What we do know is that, collectively, we need toincrease people’s competencies and equip them with the knowledge and skills to enable them tothink, decide and act for a better tomorrow.

16

PROCEEDINGS
While your ages span from 18 to 35 years, those in the upper end of this bracket may no longer
consider yourselves strictly as “youth.” You may indeed have your own children, or be midcareer inthe context of your country. However, when you look around the main conference, you’ll noticethat you are quite a bit younger than the majority of people there.
While you represent yourselves as ESD experts, in the context of the conference your voice will
be heard as a youth voice. Use this to your advantage. I cannot encourage you enough to grasp
this opportunity and make your collective voice count. Youth involvement in the conference is
not tokenistic. Youth are included as a major stakeholder, one good reason being that half of theworld’s population is under 30 years of age, and you are the leaders of tomorrow.
Let me leave you with these thoughts that may trigger your own inspiration and help you reflect
on ESD in your context and on your own strengths as an ESD champion. The realm of possibilities
starts and stops based on the limits of your minds and your ability to educate, train, and spreadawareness within others, and to instill the values, ideas, and skills that link knowledge to action toreorient the way we live on the planet.
Yes, we must become more resilient in the face of the world’s sustainable development challenges, but we must leap forward. From a focus on the problems of today to harnessing our collective
strengths, capacity, and influence; to explore what is possible and start creating a future we want;to create a new and inspiring view of sustainability—a future in which we all thrive. It is about mobilizing and aligning our communities, focusing our energy, reducing resistance, and contributing
to creating something extraordinary for tomorrow.
As educators, we need to help citizens shift their perspectives and actions from problem-solving
to possibility, from adjusting today’s current model to creating a renewed vision for a sustainable
future, from a cost focus to a value focus, from resisting change to embracing change, from a focus
on loss to a focus on creation, from linear thinking to systems thinking, from consumers to citizens,from viewing people as liabilities to viewing people as assets—moving from fear to hope.
I encourage you to share your stories today and next week, and make your challenges and yourpotential to do something about them real. Do not accept “good enough.” Push the agenda forwhat you and your children want for the future and deserve, as the future is yours to shape, inspire,and lead.

GUEST PRESENTATION
Anantha Kumar Duraiappah
Director of UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peaceand Sustainable Development (MGIEP)
UNESCO MGIEP is an institute specializing in research, knowledge sharing, capacity building and policy formulation in thearea of education for peace, sustainability and global citizenship.
Opening his presentation with a short video, UNBOX with MGIEP,
Prof. Duraiappah invited young people to come up with out-of-thebox ideas to co-create solutions for issues as global citizens, andintroduced the youth programmes offered by MGIEP, including the#IAmAGlobalCitizen campaign and the YESPeace Network. (Moreinformation available at mgiep.unesco.org)

17

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Parallel workshop sessions
The overarching theme of the parallel workshop sessions was How can we advance ESD actions
beyond 2014? The sub-themes of the eight discussion groups were formulated in considerationof the participants’ expertise and fields of activities, and the focus areas they share. Themes
for discussions 1-5 are aligned with the five GAP priority action areas. Particular emphasis wasplaced on how youth can contribute in each area.
In each group, participants first shared personal experiences and good practices, identifying
what has worked particularly well and could be replicated by others, and what were some of
the challenges. They then engaged in discussions on how to generate and scale up ESD actionin their given thematic area, and developed strategic recommendations to be included in the
final Youth Statement.
The key discussion points presented by each group are summarized in the following pages.

DISCUSSION GROUP 1: POLICY ADVANCEMENT
Integrating ESD into international and national policies
An enabling policy environment is crucial for mobilizing education and learning for sustainable
development and the scaling up of ESD action in formal, non-formal and informal educationand learning. This thematic area explored how we can further support ESD efforts and move
ESD into the mainstream of sustainable development and educational policies and practices atinternational and national levels.
Key discussion points:

Discussion Group 1
presenting theirrecommendations
through skits

18•

For policy advancement, the participation of youth in policy-making and policy implementation must be ensured—for example, through youth representation in ministry advisory groups.

•

Decision-making processes should be based on critical evaluation and evidence-based
monitoring.

•

It is important to create an enabling environment for youth and marginalized groups toexpress themselves and participate in decision-making.

PROCEEDINGSDISCUSSION GROUP 2: WHOLE-INSTITUTION APPROACHESEngaging all stakeholders to transform learning and training environments
including curricula
Whole-institution approaches require not only the reorientation of teaching content and methodology, but also campus and facility management that is in line with sustainable development,
as well as the cooperation of the institution with sustainable development stakeholders in thecommunity. This thematic area explored how successful models can be scaled up and expanded to all levels and types of education.
Key discussion points:•

Educational institutions should provide the institutional support, resources and legitimacy
for youth leadership, which includes giving youth mandates, funding, office space, etc.

•

It is important to create synergies between internal and external ESD initiatives. This means
involving everyone, integrating efforts across departmental and community boundaries,
and creating places for cooperation between students and staff as well as with actors outside the education system.

•

Educational institutions must practice what they preach. In other words, the operations, policies and procurement of these institutions also need to be sustainable.

•

Whole-institution approaches should not only be about universities and schools; there
should be ESD leaders in every institution, such as government cabinets and labour unions.

Parallel Workshop
Sessions: Discussion
Group 219

7 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanDISCUSSION GROUP 3: EDUCATORS AND TRAINERS
Building capacities of educators and trainers to become learning facilitators
for ESD
Educators, trainers and other change agents are important levers to foster educational change
and to facilitate learning for sustainable development. There is therefore an urgent need todevelop leaders in schools, communities and in various sectors, as multipliers of ESD action. Thisthematic area explored good practices and effective approaches to strengthening capacities of
ESD learning facilitators.
Key discussion points:•

We need to shift from topic-based education to process-based learning, and from test-based
evaluations to evaluations based on progress, so that young people can develop criticalthinking and analytical skills, as well as communication and collaborative skills, which theyneed to move forward in this information-rich age.

•

We need to foster the emergence of learning communities that provide safe spaces for thedevelopment of learning facilitators. At these learning centers, the contents of ESD shouldbe specific to the local area, based on local issues and pulling in local wisdom and traditions,rather than being decided by central authorities.

•

We should establish mutual and more collaborative funding mechanisms to support innovative local ESD initiatives in the long-term.

DISCUSSION GROUP 4: INNOVATIVE LEARNING FOR YOUTH
Enhancing learning opportunities through innovative programmes including
E-learning
Enhancing learner-centered non-formal and informal learning opportunities in ESD is particularly important in empowering young people to take part in sustainable development processes. This thematic area explored how learning opportunities for youth can be developedand enhanced with innovative programmes including E-learning and the creation of innovative
learning spaces.
Key discussion points:

20•

Innovative learning is about transforming traditional knowledge into a way of learning thatis more alive using the “3H learning approach” (head, heart and hands).

•

Innovative learning approaches, such as E-learning, gamification, and student-created learning programmes, are facilitating the transition from the traditional, one-way education system to collaborative, transformative, co-created education, which is not just about taking inknowledge, but concerns the whole person.

•

Innovative learning programmes should be taken more seriously by opening up different
arenas to different actors for testing, evaluating and sharing these approaches, and thenmaking them accessible more widely so that they are gradually mainstreamed.

PROCEEDINGSDISCUSSION GROUP 5: LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Accelerating sustainable solutions at the local level through ESD
Effective and innovative solutions to sustainable development challenges are frequently developed at the local level. Multi-stakeholder dialogues and cooperation play a key role in this—for
example, among local governments, NGOs, the private sector, media, education and research
institutions, and individual citizens. This thematic area explored how ESD can be fully mobilized
to engage communities and enhance action for sustainable solutions at the local level.
Key discussion points:•

The promotion of ICT-based community learning initiatives is an effective way to reach people who do not have access to education and offer them basic education as well as ESD.

•

ESD programmes should follow community-based approaches tailored to community
needs, respecting traditional knowledge. Programmes should be interdisciplinary and linkformal education to traditional forms of education. Successful programmes can foster multiplier effects, sustainable livelihoods and community ownership.

•

Establishing public/private partnerships will ensure that there is no duplication of efforts
and that projects are provided with funding for implementation and have some continuity.

Parallel Workshop Sessions: Discussion Group 521

7 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanDISCUSSION GROUP 6: SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES
Making ESD a more central part of the international response to sustainability
challenges such as climate change, biodiversity and disaster risk reduction
Achieving sustainable development requires a fundamental change of mindsets that resultsin changes of action. ESD can contribute substantially to this end by developing the necessary knowledge, action competence and values. This thematic area explored how educationand learning can be strengthened in all agendas, programmes and activities that address key
sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction and water
security.
Key discussion points:•

Development organizations, NGOs and donors need to engage local stakeholders from the
beginning in project design, decision-making and implementation, and participatory evaluation. People who are respected in the community, such as elders and religious leaders, arein the best position to communicate with local citizens and deliver information and ideas ina way that they can accept. It is also important to translate concepts and information into
easily understandable language.

•

We should incorporate experiential and outdoor education models and environmental ethics into early childhood education. Climate change issues can be communicated throughdifferent learning styles and academic disciplines, such as engineering, business, the humanities and the arts.

•

We need to develop adequate evaluation frameworks and technological tools that can guideand encourage future resource allocation as well as long-term sustainability and community
resilience.

DISCUSSION GROUP 7: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Incubating social projects and entrepreneurship through ESD
With access to relevant knowledge and skills training, youth can often translate their innovativeideas into tangible social projects and entrepreneurship for sustainable livelihoods and community development. This thematic area explored how creativity for innovation can be cultivatedand supported through ESD.
Key discussion points:

22•

It is important to strengthen the commitment and improve the connections among venturecontributors, including governments, the private sector and civil society.

•

Young people should develop strategies for peer-to-peer coaching in order to foster creative
exchange of ideas on ESD. One example is to have young role models or youth ambassadorsthat can empower other youth.

•

UNESCO and Member States should make a collaborative effort to design policies and conventions that stimulate social entrepreneurship, especially among youth.

PROCEEDINGSDISCUSSION GROUP 8: WOMEN AND MARGINALIZED GROUPS
Empowering women and marginalized groups through ESD
To build a sustainable and inclusive society, it is vital to enhance educational opportunities
for young women and marginalized groups such as out-of-school young people, rural young
people and poor urban youth. This thematic area explored how ESD, in its various forms andfocuses, can effectively empower these groups to improve their quality of life and promotesocial cohesion.
Key discussion points:•

We should eliminate all forms of discrimination and promote positive traditional cultures, sothat indigenous knowledge is supported and included in ESD.

•

We must promote enabling economic policies, provide resources and build capacities among
marginalized groups, so that they can make use of their environment in a sustainable way.

•

ESD must be integrated into formal, informal and non-formal curriculums, to help womenand marginalized groups achieve a sustainable future.

Presentation by Discussion Group 823

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Plenary discussion session
Mobilizing youth for ESD action
Youth have a particularly high stake in shaping a better future for themselves and generations tocome. Moreover, youth are increasingly acting as drivers of the educational process, especiallyin non-formal and informal learning. Thus, while they are beneficiaries of ESD, they are also
important stakeholders and drivers of ESD actions beyond 2014.
Synthesizing relevant discussions from the parallel sessions, this session further explored how
youth can empower and mobilize their own generation as change agents in global, national
and local sustainable development processes.
In small discussion groups, participants discussed the following key questions:•

How can we empower and mobilize our own generation as change agents for sustainable
development?

•

How can we collaborate as a group to generate a bigger impact in promoting a global
ESD youth movement?

The following page lists some of the ideas that came out of the discussions.

Group discussion using“Entakun”—a cardboard
laptop desk

24

PROCEEDINGS

Youth can empower and mobilize their own generation by:•

Targeting young people who are not yet involved in ESD. Show them how ESD issues affectthem personally and instill in their minds that sustainable development is everyone’s responsibility. It is especially important to start this with younger children.

•

Promoting holistic education that nurtures feelings of empathy for other people and for thenatural world.

•

Providing peer-to-peer training, support and mentorship, as well as inspirational role models
and inspirational stories of young people.

•

Offering incentives to get involved, such as meeting meaningful people, acquiring new skills,
becoming more employable or acquiring financial rewards.

•

Offering experiential and innovative learning, and creating a safe space for dialogues andself-expression.

•

Doing research on behavior change, as different cultures and regions may require different
approaches.

•

Using different methods of storytelling, such as movies, music, pictures and art, and finding
other ways of making ESD attractive and interesting.

•Acknowledging and celebrating successes.

•

Encouraging interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral conversation and cooperation.

The group can collaborate to generate a bigger
impact by:•

Each participant taking the message of this conference totheir local community and act on it at the local level.

•

Sharing the Youth Statement and experiences from theconference with peers and media outlets.

•

Using social media and new technology as well as creating online platforms to continue the interaction and to share experiences, knowledge, bestpractices and networks, and develop collaborative projects.

•

Promoting cross-cultural learning and exchange programmes to turn our diversity into opportunity for global impact.

•

Collaborating towards specific future events such as the UNESCO Youth Forum or COP21.

•

Sharing resources in a methodic and easily accessible way, and creating a “bank” of problems
and solutions.

•

Establishing regional network hubs for promoting the ESD agenda.

•

Creating a 50-page online book documenting 50 ESD activities with advice and infographics.

25

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Wrap-up session
The participants agreed on the outline of the Youth Statement, which would incorporate theoutcomes of all the sessions and the online discussions preceding the conference. The drafting
committee, consisting of nine members who volunteered for the task, was entrusted to finalize
the text of the document.
Each participant was asked to make a brief comment to wrap up the day, sharing their feelings
and resolve as they looked forward to moving on to Nagoya for the World Conference on ESD.
The following are some of the comments that were shared.
I feel challenged by the fact that we are participants representing the entire world. We must take thatchallenge and push forward with all that we have discussed when we go back home, and at least letothers understand what we have planned here.
— Alhagie Haruna Cham, Gambia
I literally learned from each and every one of you, and I can’t wait to see what we have discussed being
put into action. I also can’t wait to implement some projects that I learned about here when I’m backhome, in order to solve some issues that I was wondering how to solve.
— Souha Werghy, Tunisia
This experience has inspired me a lot. You are each a leader in your community and your solutions
are really unique and impressive, and I can reflect your ideas in my own activities. I hope we can havefurther collaboration after the conference.
— Taichiro Fujino, Japan

26

PROCEEDINGS
Back home, you often come up against many obstacles, and you feel downtrodden by everything thatis going on. But it is so encouraging to be in a room full of people who are inspired and enthusiastic
about what I am doing and what all of us are doing. We all need to make sure that all the great
discussions we had do not drift off, and that we all take positive actions when we leave, either as agroup or as individuals.
— Anna Vickerstaff, United Kingdom
This has been a unique opportunity for me, because I have been to many different conferences, but it
is almost always within my own field. Here, I met people working on the conservation of sea turtles,
working on corporate responsibility, and working on online training, all of which are completely different from my own field. But in the end, we share similar values and even challenges and passions. I
hope to be in contact and share more of our experiences.
— Isis Paola Nunez Ferrera, Honduras
I am grateful for the serious attempt to make this a more participatory process, so we had the space toreally see each other and talk to each other. At many conferences this doesn’t happen. It is sometimes
lonely doing this work as a Brazilian in China, but I feel supported seeing you all and would love toshare more stories.
— Narayan Silva, Brazil
I am looking forward to working with everyone as a group during the World Conference, because thatis where we have to put our words into action, to make sure that our voices are heard, and that we getgovernments and other stakeholders to commit to work with us. I also look forward to developing aclearer vision of what we want to do and how we can continue to cooperate beyond this conference.
— Stefan Manevski, Macedonia
Listening to all the stories of what you are doing in your countries, I would say we are not the leadersof tomorrow, but the leaders of today. The future of the world is falling on our shoulders and we are
the ones that we have been waiting for. We have the responsibility to carry it forward. As we go backto our countries, I want to make sure we all know that this network exists and that we can all rely oneach other.
— Mahmoud El-Refai, Egypt

Qian Tang, Assistant
Director-General for
Education, UNESCO and
Wataru Iwamoto, Adviser tothe Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology of Japan, joined
the circle of participants tooffer their closing remarks27

7 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanIN PICTURES: CONFERENCE DAY

Discussion Group 3

Discussion Group 6

Exhibition space

28

Discussion Group 4

Discussion Group 7

Messages to children in Okayama

PROCEEDINGS

29

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Youth at the World Conference
Following the UNESCO ESD Youth Conference in Okayama, the youth participants were invited to take part in the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development
held in Aichi-Nagoya from 10-12 November 2014, among more than 1,000 participants from 150
countries and regions, including representatives of governments, NGOs, academia, the private
sector and UN agencies, as well as individual ESD experts. In addition to their active participation
as youth delegates in the plenaries and workshops that concerned their areas of expertise, theyouth participants contributed to the World Conference and demonstrated their leadership invarious ways.

PANEL DISCUSSION
One of the youth participants, Tariq Al Olaimy of
Bahrain, was invited to be a panelist along with the
UNESCO Director-General and other dignitaries in the
opening plenary panel discussion on “Achievements
and challenges of the UN Decade of ESD.” Tariq highlighted the emerging sustainability youth movements, particularly in informal education, as one of
the biggest achievements during the past ten years.
He also represented the voices of youth by pointing
out that there is still a lack of institutional support foryouth initiatives, and that in order for young people
to scale their impact, they need intergenerational
cooperation and recognition as equal partners. This
point was strongly supported by the other panelists.

PRESS CONFERENCE
On Day 2 of the World Conference, Sybren Bosch(Netherlands), Mona Zoghbi (Lebanon), and Funmi
Oyatogun (Nigeria) represented the youth participants in a press conference, specifically arranged to
put forward the perspectives of youth to the journalists gathered at the World Conference. Taking fromthe key recommendations of the Youth Statement,
Sybren emphasized that youth should be integrated
into all areas of the Global Action Programme, andnot isolated in a separate chapter. Funmi expressedthat the youth would like to see ESD implemented not only in traditional classrooms but in all
forms of education, and through more innovative means of communication, such as film andthe arts. Mona commented on the need to shift our values away from individual profit and materialism, and on the importance of “walking the talk” in our individual lives, starting with little
things like turning off lights and using less paper, which in turn will inspire others to follow suit.

30

PROCEEDINGSSIDE EVENT
In order to create their own platform to present theYouth Statement to the World Conference participants, the youth delegates took it upon themselves
to set up an impromptu side event on the afternoonof 11 November. The unofficial event, entitled Comewith Us, attracted over 70 participants, with many
more gathered outside the room because they
could not fit inside. Organized in workshop-style,the youth engaged in lively dialogue with country
delegates and other stakeholders, first by theme
and then by region, to share the youth recommendations for the GAP and to invite support for youthled ESD initiatives. Commitments were voiced bynumerous government and NGO representatives, all affirming their support for the youth initiatives and the Youth Statement. Many also described the workshop as one of the most inspiringthat they had attended at the conference, and congratulated the young leaders for demonstrating the kind of impact they can make.

Intergenerational
dialogue at the youthorganized side event

Dr. Shukuru Kawambwa,
Minister for Education
and Vocational Trainingof Tanzania, expresses his
commitment to support youth
initiatives in East Africa

31

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

FINAL MEETING
On the last day of the World Conference, the youth participants gathered for a final meeting
to wrap up their experience at both conferences and to share joint action plans, which they
had been working on in groups with members that have common interests. The planning andcoordination of the meeting was delegated to the youth themselves, spearheaded by several
volunteers.
Many post-conference initiatives and campaigns emerged as a result, including the following:•Translating the Youth Statement into different languages, and disseminating the conference
outcomes through articles, workshops and seminars.

•

Presenting the Youth Statement to presidents and prime ministers, education ministers, policy makers and youth networks around the world to encourage its implementation.
• Developing an online ESD youth exchange platform
to share each other’s resources, solutions and networks
for mutual support and capacity-building.
• Creating a linkage between ASPnet schools in different countries, through which primary school children can exchange their good practices using visualexpression.
• Launching awareness campaigns leading up to
COP21 in Paris, namely an art exhibition/competition,
and a 50-week online series called “Humans of ESD”
featuring one participant’s photo and ESD story every
week.

•

Collaborating across borders to bring successful educational models to other countries andregions as pilot programmes.

•

Planning and proposing to UNESCO to hold a youth-led, mid-term progress meeting for theevaluation of GAP implementation.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the mutual feeling expressed by all participants was that ofgratitude and respect for one another. They affirmed their responsibility and commitment tocarry this network forward, so as to create a tangible, collective impact on a global scale. As oneof the youth participants summarized, each of them was creating something like ripples in water; as these ripples start to become aligned and connected, they will become bigger waves thatcan eventually create significant change around the world. The UNESCO ESD Youth Conference
has made possible these kinds of connections that have the potential to grow into the next big
wave of ESD action.
Short documentary videos of the two conferences created by youth participant Ingrid Moum Rieser can beviewed at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/youthconference32PARTICIPANT PROFILES

7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

AfricaZo Hanitry Ny Ala ANDRIAMBALOHERY • Madagascar
Environmental Educator, Madagascar Ministry of Environment, Ecology and Forests
For ‘environmental right habits’, environmental education for sustainable development is one way to instill
positive change in population behavior. As a person responsible for ESD within the Ministry of Environment,
Ecology and Forests, I have a key responsibility towards my country, my countrymen, and myself.
My primary goals:• To strengthen environmental awareness by the acquisition of knowledge, know-how and life skills;• To grow respect for the environment and change the attitudes and behavior of local communities andtheir surroundings.
To reach these fixed goals, my main tasks involve harmonizing relations between human beings and their environment, with theaim of optimizing, to the extent possible, sustainable development policies. Therefore, several interventions and contributions
have been undertaken for years. The most significant actions are as follows:• Integration of the environmental dimension by inserting, particularly, an environmental education module within the publicschools in Madagascar: National School of Administration, National School of Magistracy and National School of Police;• Implementation of a weekly radio program at the Malagasy National Radio, in which each episode develops a specific environmental theme;• Insertion of an article inside a ministerial magazine titled “Sitrano Ny Tontolo”, which means “save the environment”;• Reinforcement of rural leaders’ capacity: They will have an ability to convince and to provide instructions to local people to solve
environmental issues efficiently and durably;• Integration of ESD into extracurricular activities in public secondary schools, in close partnership with UNICEF—connecting classrooms, communities, and youth around the world for biodiversity conservation, developing their communication skills, getting
new areas through debates, and increasing community togetherness and social awareness in terms of environmental and healthissues;• Implementation for ‘trainer training’ within public schools, particularly for their administrative and technical staff, in close cooperation with WWF.

Alinah BOCKARIE • Sierra Leone (unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances)
Senior Journalist, Media Matters for Women - Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone’s women and girls have little protection from sexual violence and other human rights abuses. They do not have access to justice or legal redress, and even where constitutional protections exist,
customary law often overrules it. Their lives are often defined by isolation, violence and poor health.
Our work focuses on Sierra Leone’s poorest women and girls, who are excluded from the benefits of
the information age because of their extreme poverty. These rural women and girls lack information
about their rights and opportunities in their language, resulting in the world’s highest rates of maternalmortality, teenage pregnancy, female genital mutilation, and gender-based violence.
We use Bluetooth to transfer a weekly ten-minute audio file of original programming to Listening Centers we created in our areasof operation. In our programming, we address human rights, health, participatory democracy, agriculture and many other issues.
This multi-language ‘radio-style’ programming reaches impoverished communities on a weekly basis at a very low cost. We place
digital recorders at all Listening Centers, and they are used to record listener comments and suggestions for topics to be coveredin future programmes. This feedback loop gives women and girls a ‘voice’, which can help create change in their communities
and shape the political and cultural vision of their country. Once women have the correct information, they are better informed
and can make informed decisions that lead not just to individual development, but also to sustainable community development.
We had 4,195 listener-visits in our first 90 days of broadcasting. Our strategy to locate our Listening Centers in hospitals, healthcare clinics, schools and youth centers has proven to be effective in attracting large numbers of listeners. We enable discussion ofsensitive women’s issues and offer livelihoods to female journalists who would otherwise not have such opportunities.

34

PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Alhagie Haruna CHAM • Gambia
Youth Desk Officer, Gambia National Commission for UNESCOMy engagement in ESD started in 2000 as a member of the UNESCO Club during my senior secondary
school. In 2006, I was engaged in ESD in the form of a sensitization on HIV/AIDS, in which 150 participants were trained.
In 2011, I served as Assistant Vice President of the University of The Gambia UNESCO Club. After the formation of the UNESCO Club we organized a symposium on human rights, culture and tolerance. Further
to this, we also engaged in environmental sanitation and tree planting on the university campus and in
the Central River Region of the Gambia.
As Youth Desk Officer at the Gambia National Commission for UNESCO, I have served as an ESD trainer for ASPnet school coordinators and students in 22 schools in The Gambia over the last two years. We provide useful information to such schools on how tomake teachers and students become aware of the need to live sustainable lives. The issues we addressed include climate change,poverty reduction, health education, biodiversity, and protection of the physical environment.
Furthermore, as the Assistant National Coordinator for ASPnet in The Gambia, I have been involved in projects like Sandwatch,environmental education, and intercultural dialogue in schools. Most recently, in April 2014, we organized a national training
workshop that involved 66 students and 22 teachers and coordinators from the 22 ASPnet schools, where we addressed some
ESD topics. Following this, we organized a beach cleaning exercise in collaboration with the Banjul City Council, and after the
exercise people were briefly sensitized on the importance of environmental preservation.
Before I joined the National Commission Office in 2013, I served as a school coordinator, and I have also served as an environmental studies teacher, where I taught students about issues related to sustainable development.

Phillip EGESSA • Uganda
Co-founder and Executive Director, StudyGateway
I am the Co-founder and Executive Director of an education startup called StudyGateway. The startup isdedicated to facilitating a higher quality of learning for students in East Africa by implementing innovative education solutions. As the Co-founder/Executive Director, I have spearheaded the development of
a paradigm-shifting educational model, in which learning experiences are tailored to match individual
students’ needs. By allowing students to have more control over their learning process and become
more directly engaged, they are able to develop skills such as adaptability, complex communication,
non-routine problem solving, self-management, and systems-thinking. Secondly, we have created collaborative working and learning spaces for students to connect with other learners in socially and intellectually meaningful ways.
Finally, we equip teachers with modern tools that enable them to be effective classroom leaders. With modern tools teachers canmore fully elicit, see, respect, and shape student thinking.
As a result, StudyGateway has addressed the current deficits in the local curriculum by introducing practical, user-friendly learning materials that are student-produced and teacher-facilitated. Today, we boast of a digital repository with over 200 instructional
video lessons produced in both English and local languages. Moreover, we have trained and recruited over 60 teachers andover 100 students (from Uganda and Kenya) to create learning materials that match their unique and diverse needs. Additional
trainings have been conducted at the eLearning Africa conferences in Namibia (May 2013) and Kampala (May 2014). The video
lessons can be accessed by students using low-cost mobile devices, and on school computer networks. Our Chamilo-based
collaboration tool breaks down the barriers between the traditional roles of learning and teaching. It gives students and teachers
the flexibility to be innovative by undertaking intellectual risks, fostering learning dispositions, and nurturing communities inwhich everyone realizes they have a continuous role as a learner.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Talent MADZIVA • Zimbabwe
National Coordinator, Katswe Sistahood and Hweva Education Trust
I am a secondary school teacher by profession. I am the founder of the organisation I work for, Katswe
Sistahood. Since its inception through the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative in 2009, Katswe hasgrown and now employs 5 full time officers, and has a mobilised membership of up to 3,000 young
women.
In 2010, I successfully initiated a regional platform on sexual and reproductive rights known as Pepeta
Africa. Katswe hosted the first Regional Pepeta Africa Leadership Course in July 2013, and has supported
the growth of other young leaders and linked them to capacity-building and funding opportunities.
Due to my interest and conviction in education as the ultimate equalizer, I have registered another organisation, called Hweva
Trust, whose agenda is to champion quality, nurturing education for all. It supports innovative approaches aimed at increasing
educational access for marginalised groups. Hweva was formed by young female education and human rights activists in 2011.
Its main agenda is education rights: education for equality and equity, and most importantly, education for the liberation of thehuman person, so that all Zimbabweans can attain their full potential and become fully human. Hweva strives to foster positiveand respectful relations, and to protect human rights through education and training.
The Education for Liberation agenda at Hweva is guided by feminist principles, and also by the principles of Paulo Freire’s
Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Our strategy is movement building, and we believe that real transformation will only happen if ‘thepeople’ are at the centre of the struggles. We have a conviction that every human being, no matter how ‘ignorant’ or submergedin the ‘culture of silence’, is capable of looking critically at the world in a dialogical encounter with others. Provided with the proper tools for such an encounter, the individual can gradually perceive his/her personal reality and deal critically with it.

Hilary Ewang NGIDE • Cameroon
Founder/Executive Director, Centre for Community Regeneration and Development(CCREAD-Cameroon)
After training in the domains of environment and development at the undergraduate and postgraduatelevels, and having served as a community volunteer with 3 different organizations in Cameroon, I founded CCREAD-Cameroon, a youth-led organization which today runs three program offices in Cameroon.
From 2010, together with national and international volunteers, I have continued serving as team leader
in the following programs:• Environmental and climate change education. This is a partnership with the Ministries of Basic and Secondary education, in which
our team designed an environmental/climate change education curriculum for 28 schools, and has reached over 45,865 youths
through schools on issues of environmental education, biodiversity conservation and climate change education.
• Youth leadership and human rights education within schools. With over 250 schools reached since 2010, this program focuses onteaching leadership skills in schools, entrepreneurship, organizing debates and essay competitions on leadership, and exchanges
with students in Cameroon.
• Good governance and anti-corruption. In 2011, I led CCREAD-Cameroon to win the Development Marketplace competitionon the promotion of good governance in Cameroon. From 2011-2014, I introduced good governance education in 24 pioneer
colleges in Cameroon and produced the first governance education manual for schools in 2013, distributing over 500 copies toschools and over 20,000 governance leaflets to students.
• Charity vocational ICT training in schools and communities for women and youths. With partners, I have coordinated 4 years ofyouth training on ICT applications through schools in marginalized communities. We have donated computers to schools andplaced ICT volunteer teachers in 12 secondary schools in the Southwest region of Cameroon.
• With support from the UNDP/OHCHR (ACT project), I started a human rights education in schools program in 17 colleges and got
educational materials from Youths for Human Rights International USA.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Mohammed Aman OGETO • Ethiopia
Lecturer and Researcher, School of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Haramaya
University
Professional membership and representative: I am a representative (for Haramaya University and East
Africa) of a Japan-based international scientific and educational organization called ISDS, which is dedicated to promoting science and practice in all aspects of environmental, economic, social and cultural
sustainability.
Teaching: I prepared teaching modules for the newly launched competency-based Agribusiness andValue Chain Management (ABVM) BSc program for eight universities in Ethiopia, funded by NICHE (theNetherlands Initiative for Capacity development in Higher Education). I also took University-industry linkage training by NICHE
and conducted studies entitled “Generic skill preference of employers” and “Promises or practices of modularized education?”
Community services: I gave training to rural women smallholder farmers on entrepreneurship and market integration in three
districts of Eastern Ethiopia. I took the initiative to start this training in collaboration with Haramaya University and the Bureau
of Agriculture. Accordingly, the feedback obtained from the trainees was included in one of the chapters for the course I teach,
entitled Ethiopian Economy.
Conferences, supervision and publications: In the ‘International conference on biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services
for climate change mitigation and sustainable development’ organized by Haramaya University in collaboration with the United
Nations Development Program, I presented a review paper entitled “Payments for ecosystems services: Challenges, opportunities,
and future prospects for sustainable development”. In the ‘Third international conference on biodiversity and nature conservation symposium’ organized by Arbaminch University, Ethiopia, I presented research entitled “Land and water use efficiency of rose
cut-flower farms in three districts of Ethiopia”. I also supervised projects entitled “Should pastoralists be sedentarized?” sponsored by
the Norwegian Drylands Coordination Group, and “Feasibility study of Orphan and Vulnerable Children in Hararghe Regional State,
Ethiopia” sponsored by SOS Children’s Village, a not-for-profit NGO. I have also published articles in reputable journals.

Nickson OTIENO • Kenya
President, World Student Community for Sustainable Development
I developed environmental education and action projects aimed at building the capacity of students topromote sustainable development. These include:• The GreeningU Initiative, which fosters awareness of the concept of a green economy among campus
students. This laid the foundation for the proposed Kenya Green University Network.
• The Adopt a Forest and Adopt a River Initiatives aimed at engaging universities in the conservation of
biodiversity and watersheds within their environments• The United Youth for Peace Project, which helped a group of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) recover from the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya.
• A Green Entrepreneurship Workshop for university students.
• The Nyakongo Water and Sanitation project in a remote village in Nyando, Kenya, providing household Biosand Water Filters
and awareness on basic hygiene among an HIV/AIDS support group adversely affected by perennial flooding. This project was
implemented in partnership with SWALLOW Inc. It led to the conceptualization of the Nyakongo Sustainable Village Program forcross-border and multi-disciplinary collaboration among campus students in co-creating a model sustainable village.
• The Golden Climate Environmental Project Olympiad, a pioneering international environmental competition project Olympiad
for elementary and secondary students hosted by the Light Academy Schools.
• Spearheading the launch of a monthly Sustainability Knowledge Cafe at the University of Nairobi.

Selected conferences: Organizer of World Student Summit for Sustainability 2012; Facilitator for the Academic and Youth
Partnership Forums at the 2013 UN Global South-South Development Expo, UNEP, Nairobi; Facilitator of the Workshop on
Ecosystems and Water Security at the UNEP’s TUNZA International Youth Conference on Environment, Nairobi.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Oluwafunmilayo OYATOGUN • Nigeria
Director, Bailiff Africa
As Director of Bailiff Africa, I have the opportunity to provide the creative direction of the content of
the Bailiff Africa comprehensive online environmental magazine. Also, I am in charge of the workshops,
forums and programs which our organization puts up to empower young Africans with education forsustainable development (ESD). I launched this initiative and since its inception, we have been able
to reach several hundreds of thousands of young people through our online platform, and hundreds
through our workshops and forums.
We have grown into the hub of education for sustainable development in Nigeria and Africa, and wecontinue to expand the breadth and depth of our content. In fact, one of our major successes was a youth workshop we held on
the 11th of April, 2014, in Lagos, in which the Commissioner for Environment in the state was represented. It was one of many dialogues among experts and youths on specific environmental topics; this one specifically focused on the discovery of oil in Lagos
State. The resolution produced from this workshop has been passed on to the government, as well as the oil and environmental
industries. We have indeed been pleased with the response of young people and the community towards our organization,
which serves as an innovation hub for solutions to problems of environment and sustainable development in Africa.
In addition, during my one-year attachment to the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, I have taught climate change clubs
in two secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria, and we have gone ahead to secure from the schools’ administrations a special day
assigned to ESD for the entire school. This has been a huge accomplishment, as this indicates the schools’ progressive outlook
towards including ESD in the curricula.

Mawuse Hor VORMAWOR • Ghana
Senior Policy Researcher (Education), Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana
As a Legal and Policy Researcher at the Office of the President, I have had direct oversight responsibilities
coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the president’s agenda for reforming education delivery andinstitutional management. In practical terms, this has meant that I am directly charged with producing
policy research and briefs for the consideration of the president and his cabinet on how sustainability
topics and approaches could be mainstreamed into educational planning, curriculum review and practical classroom activities.
Where these broad concepts are approved by cabinet, I am required to liaise with a working group drawn from the Ministry of
Education in Ghana, the public and private primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions, and civil society organisations to flesh out these concepts into workable action plans incorporating monitoring and evaluation benchmarks for implementation. During the implementation phase, I am required to compose and coordinate a cross-institutional and targeted civilsociety monitoring team to perform anecdotal monitoring on the progress of the implementation processes across the country.
Currently, I am coordinating a team of researchers from the various sector institutions and from the National Development
Planning Commission at the instance of the presidency to develop a long-term policy document on a national ESD frameworkand implementation strategies.
I remain particularly impressed by the acceptance at the grassroots level of these education-transforming ideas and concepts,
and I feel very fortunate to be a part of an initiative that reforms the institutional approach to education and provides an opportunity for Ghana to meet her developmental objectives.

38PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Arab States
Tariq AL OLAIMY • Bahrain
Co-founder, 3BL Associates
I am a co-founder of 3BL Associates, which is a people + planet strategy consultancy that focuses on
multi-stakeholder regenerative development. Our bold vision is to imagine a more sustainable and socially cohesive Middle East where there is a policy of collaboration and compassion, where progresson sustainable development issues would be accelerated, where cognitive empathy prevails from anindividual to an organizational level, where what we value as a society is also what is of true value tothe earth, and where the conditions are created for each individual who is part of that whole to channel
their potential as a human being into a society of purpose.
One of 3BL Associates’ Think-do-Tank initiatives is on “Social Entrepreneurship for Marginalized Youth”, which was one of 15 youthled action projects worldwide to receive the 8th UNESCO Youth Forum label. The project is intended to provide youth-led social
entrepreneurship training that builds capacity and engages marginalized, at-risk Arab youth, and transforms them into change
makers who drive regional sustainable development and peace, regardless of the institutions that govern them.
I am also the co-founder of www.Diabetes.bh, the first online education and community platform for diabetes in Bahrain. The
platform also looks at interrelated sustainable development issues, such as climate change and disabilities. With a strong focus on
climate change issues, I am one of 20 founding National Coordinators of the Arab Youth Climate Movement (AYCM), which is now
present in 17 different MENA countries. AYCM works to create a generation-wide movement across the Middle East and North
Africa to solve the climate crisis. My values are deeply rooted in the wisdom of nature, which I believe is our greatest teacher
with regard to ESD. I am a Biomimicry youth educator, and am among the first 100 people in the world to achieve a specialist
certification in the field of Biomimicry, which is a practice that studies nature’s best ideas, models, systems and processes, andthen emulates them in order to solve some of the greatest human challenges.

Nuhaila AL SULAIMANI • Oman
Education Coordinator, Environment Society of Oman
Since I started working for the Environment Society of Oman (ESO), I have been taking leading roles
in promoting sustainability practices in educational institutions through meetings with students andstaff and discussions on green practices in daily life. In addition, I have been giving talks and initiating
activities in schools and colleges to raise current environmental issues. Some school activities included
the use of waste material to make posters that inspire a green school, and showing students how toseparate waste materials into different categories.
Since I joined ESO I have worked on the second annual Inter College Environmental Public Speaking
Competition, and my role in 2013 was mainly to mentor students through their projects and presentations. On the competition
day, students demonstrated their success in raising awareness in their colleges, families and towns about different issues such as
food waste, water waste, plastic bags, technology, global warming and recycling.
The native tree awareness campaign took place in Dhofar Governorate, in the southern part of Oman. ESO started the campaign
in 2012, and went ahead with phase two in 2013. In 2014, I took the lead in the awareness campaign, where we visited schools in
the Dhofar region and discussed the native trees with students. An activity was designed in order to give students the opportunity to express their knowledge about native trees and identify the danger of extinction of trees that their environment is facing
as a result of overgrazing, desertification, urban expansion, alien species and global warming. Then, they were given the chance
to share their suggested solutions and how they will go about implementing their ideas.

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Mohammed ALMAQRI • Yemen
Program Assistant, Social Fund for Development – Yemen
I was selected for the voluntary position of Outreach Co-coordinator to conduct education-related projects and activities in Hajah, Yemen, and handle funds along with 16 other co-coordinators nominatedin 16 major cities in Yemen by the Cultural Affairs Office in the U.S Embassy. I coordinated four awareness raising campaigns related to education issues and implemented one of the most effective andsuccessful projects I have ever led. The ‘E-School System’ project provided students’ affairs sections in
30 schools in the mountainous city of Hajah with school-based software that transferred the students’affairs processes from the old manual method to an electronic, modern, fast and easy way. Purchaseand installation of the software was done after repairing inoperative PCs provided by the Ministry of Education. Employees
were trained on the use of that software, which was the first of its kind in Yemen and lately competed for the President’s prize
competition in software programming.
During that time, I was recommended and selected as a steering committee member at the Middle East Partnership Initiative’s
local chapter in Yemen, which concentrates largely on education development projects and campaigns. Along with MEPI alumni,
I led several locally and regionally well-known and successful educational and community service projects.
Before that, I was a board member of the initiative assist-ye.org, which also targeted enhancement of education. I am also a
Faculty of Education graduate and was a teacher for almost four years. Recently, I was selected as a Youth Ambassador by A Worldat School, an international organization putting pressure on governments to demand better education for children. I was part ofseveral international campaigns under A World at School’s supervision.

Hajar BENMAZHAR • Morocco
PhD Student and Educator, Trace Element Institute for UNESCO – Morocco;
Focal Point and Trainer of Trainers, Y-PEER Morocco – UNFPA;
Volunteer, Moroccan Association for the Fight Against AIDS (ALCS);
Member of External Relations, AIESEC Morocco
Being a focal point and a trainer of trainers at Y-PEER – UNFPA and also a volunteer at ALCS has givenme the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach out to Moroccan youth from completely different backgrounds and social classes. Luckily for me, it’s a never-ending learning process, and when it comes tosuch fulfilling interactions, I prefer calling myself a facilitator rather than a teacher. This is because in each session, these youth
are in utter control of everything they’re learning, while I’m only there to facilitate the flow and the coherency of the information.
Moreover, my volunteering job mainly revolves around conveying not just the right information, but also the basic tools that will
help them easily approach topics such as sexual and reproductive health and gender equity. And along with AMNESTY, we’re
perpetually working on raising awareness on human rights.
I’m also a very devoted environmentalist, and when I first started my PhD research on the environment, a lot of people thought I
was crazy to constantly attempt raising awareness about the environment because in my country, this subject is still, unfortunately, quite irrelevant to the majority. But those are the challenges I like to take on, since doing what’s easy was never as entertaining
to me as a hard task. Currently, besides raising awareness about environmental protection and creating small environmental
clubs in schools, I’m also working on creating an environmental department within one of the NGOs I’m working with—AIESEC.
This international platform of young leaders is in desperate need of its own Green Team, because nowadays, having an environment department in each entity is more of a necessity. This project is ongoing and will be implemented by December 2014; it’ll
help in promoting the skills, values and knowledge that support sustainable development.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES
Mona BETOUR EL ZOGHBI • Lebanon
PhD Researcher, International Research Institute in Sustainability (IRIS), University ofGloucestershire, UK
I hold a PhD in Sustainability from the UK. My doctoral research explored the different forms, levels
and pathways of youth engagement with climate change and sustainability issues and implications foryouth well-being. The study entailed prolonged fieldwork in the Netherlands and South Africa, with afocus on youth in higher education. In both countries, I conducted several focus groups and interviews
with university students from different socio-demographic backgrounds and academic disciplines, andin universities across various geographic regions. The focus groups did not adopt a standard approachwith regards to framing the discussions, as I did not prepare and articulate specific questions to be answered by participants.
Rather, I sought to create some learning and reflective spaces for the diverse participants to share their personal experienceswith climate change and sustainability. I started each focus group session with an envisioning or futures-thinking activity, whereparticipants envisioned and drew out their own personal futures with climate change and reflected on the social and politicalchanges needed to achieve sustainability and their sense of efficacy and agency to influence such changes. The participants
were encouraged to reflect on the values and beliefs that have shaped their future visions and the ways in which their current
education and learning experiences are preparing them to manage a climate-threatened society and sustainability-oriented
economy. The discussions that ensued from such envisionings built on the personal experiences of the participants and helped
convey their profound voices, concerns and ideas.
I have also been involved in several other initiatives and projects on education for sustainable development. I moderated discussions on sustainability at youth forums in Zambia and South Africa, was a panelist for an international conference on inter-disciplinary sustainability research in the UK, and performed the internal evaluation of an international sustainability education
conference in Austria.

Mahmoud EL-REFAI • Egypt
Corporate Strategy Officer, Siemens;
Consultant, Siemens Foundation;
Board Member, Synergized Earth Network (SEN)
2014: Nominated for the BMW Responsible Leaders Network and delivered “Creating the Necessary
Preconditions for a Business Case with Social Impact” workshop at the 1st Mediterranean Young Leaders
Forum in Turkey.
2013-2014 LOTUS program’s Leadership in Action (LIA): Delivered various workshops on sustainable
development and energy applications for 100+ students at several universities around Egypt.
2014 (PwC-Enactus Green Camp): Delivered social business entrepreneurship trainings to the top 80 university students around
Egypt.
2012: Global Civil Society Symposium Post-2015 UN MDG Framework participant, Cyprus.
2012-2014: Volunteer/Trainer/Consultant at the Community Impact Development Group program created in partnership between Siemens Foundation and Ashoka. Trained and coached Ashoka Fellows (social entrepreneurs) on sustainable businesscreation and impact generation.
2012: Global team member at Synergized Earth Network (SEN), a value-driven and commitment-based organization that emerged
over the years by the founders and community members striving to live their core values through developing, crystallizing andcultivating these values in every facet of their life journeys.
2011-2013: Global Siemens delegation at the One Young World global leadership and sustainability summit in Zurich, Switzerland;developed various projects across the company in the fields of energy, awareness and healthcare.
2011-2012: DEMENA Climate Change Ambassador – delivered workshops and campaigns to spread environmental awareness, promote youth activism and climate advocacy, and build youth capacities, including DEMENA Recycling Festival, Green
Innovation Cup Competition, Cairo Climate Leadership workshop, and local climate workshop. Two week intensive training
course in Denmark, with Danish and Jordanian climate ambassadors, for the visualization of possible approaches to youth environmental activism and development of action plans.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Eman HAMDAN • Palestine
Resource Development Officer, ESNAD (Palestinian Initiative for Supporting Students)
I have been involved in an innovative approach to the problem of unequal access to education inunderprivileged areas in Palestine, through an initiative entitled the Palestinian Initiative for Supporting
Students (ESNAD). This initiative aims at funding academically talented underprivileged students toattend a university. From 2008 to 2012, 180 students received the scholarship and approximately 1,080
primary school students have academically benefited from the tutoring program, Student-to-Student
Initiative. Additionally, since we became recognized as a nonprofit company in 2013, 125 university
students have received the scholarship and more than 600 primary school students have academicallybenefited from the program.
ESNAD aims to help university students become more involved within their community, and to bridge the gap of access to
education by providing financial support to underprivileged students. The initiative also works tirelessly to break the cycle ofpoverty among young students and women by using education as a weapon to fight academic obstacles. University students
who receive the scholarship must ‘pay it forward’ by returning to their communities, applying what they’ve learned and tutoringgroups of primary school students. They serve as mentors and positive role models for the younger generations. Recipients,
through ESNAD, gradually become valuable academic resources to rural communities.
ESNAD also is proud to shine a bright light on young girls pursuing a higher education. The common oppression of women inrural communities in Palestine is beginning to fade as ESNAD works to empower women by providing them with education,outreach activities and social interaction. To a woman in rural Palestine, an education is much more than a university degree, it
is a lifeline.
This grassroots approach builds the idea of volunteerism and civic engagement among students while also providing them with
the necessary funds to continue their education. ESNAD’s approach assists young adults in attaining higher education, and at thesame time, builds the academic base of a younger generation of school children.
Our strategy is based on establishing relationships with private companies to fund the initiative, as part of their corporate social
responsibility, and over the last few years we have been able to build strong relationships and partnerships with the private sector
and organizations such as the Hani Qaddumi Scholarship Foundation, Paltel Group and Aramex.

Abbas HASSAN • Iraq
MA in International Law, Kurdistan BAR Association
I am Abbas from Iraqi Kurdistan, I have a Masters degree in Law, and since I was in secondary school, I
have been involved in education reform. When I was sixteen years old I began volunteering with a youth
organization, and I worked with them for 5 years.
While in university, I dedicated my free time to civil activities and worked for improving the education system, empowering youth, and promoting human rights and critical thinking amongst my fellow
students.
After my graduation I chose a career in humanitarian and social development, and during my career I have worked for international organizations like UNHCR, NPA, and the Swedish organization Tornseglarna. I was a team leader and trainer at NPA, and myfocus was on the less advantaged areas. I contributed to increasing the number of students at schools by advocating in the government to provide more buildings to host as many students as possible. I held many capacity building training courses in rural
areas for youth organizations. I participated in various international conferences in different countries like Germany, Netherlands,
Greece, Romania, Austria, Azerbaijan, South Africa, and Lebanon.
In 2007, there was an initiative by the Swedish organization Tornseglarna to establish a folk high school in Iraqi Kurdistan, basedon the Swedish folk high school. I was one of the six people who were picked to take part in a course to become a folk highschool teacher. In February 2008 the Kurdish branch of Troseglarna was formally established and I was elected as the secretaryof the board.
In the UNHCR I served the most vulnerable target groups, as education is one of the basic needs for refugees and internal
displaced persons. I contributed to implementing education services for refugees and IDPs by providing necessary legal andmaterial assistance in addition to conducting vocational trainings to make the education process feasible for them.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Hussam HUSSEIN • Jordan, Italy
PhD Candidate, Water Security Research Centre, University of East Anglia, UK
I worked at the European Parliament, the Italian Embassy in Amman, the NGO Friends of the Earth
Middle East, the London Middle East Institute, and the World Bank in Washington DC. After my studies
in international relations and diplomacy at the University of Trieste (Gorizia), at SOAS, and at the College
of Europe, I am currently a postgraduate researcher at the School of International Development at the
University of East Anglia in Norwich.
My research is focused on how the water scarcity discourse shapes transboundary water governance in
Jordan. I am looking at how, why, and by whom the discourse around water scarcity is constructed, andhow it impacts the transboundary water relations with the riparian countries.
I have been involved in education for sustainable development in many different ways, both academically, and professionally.
During my current PhD on transboundary water governance and climate change discourses, I have been invited to many conferences, public lectures and schools to explain issues related to water and climate change. This is particularly important to thesemi-arid regions of the Middle East where I am originally from. I believe that education and changing behavior through explaining why it matters—starting with children and youth—is the way to go.
I have also been volunteering with local environmental NGOs in the Middle East, and activities on transboundary water cooperation, sharing best practices, and constructing partnerships and raising awareness on environmental issues were key for theseorganizations.

Souha WERGHY • Tunisia
General Secretary, Young Leaders Entrepreneurs
As a social entrepreneur emerging from a conservative community, I have been excluded as a womanfrom sustainability because of patriarchy and gender-based violence. For that reason, since the Tunisianrevolution, I have engaged in education for sustainable development. I have been part of many international and national startups and hackathons for ending poverty, energy management and youth
empowerment through capacity-building. After gaining great experiences in many countries like the
USA and Morocco, I co-founded 3 clubs in the 3 highest-rated universities in Tunisia. Those clubs werebased on a curriculum which I designed, called CCC: Crush, Co-work, Create. These 3 clubs sought to annually train youth aboutsustainability, millennium challenges and how to contribute to a great ecosystem.
Later, I started a website called E-learning for ‘S-development’, where we partnered with the ministry of education to host Massive
Open Online Courses on management, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship and economics. We have delivered over
1,000 courses within the 2013-2014 school year.
In addition to that, I have been appointed by Young Leaders Entrepreneurs as a project manager to lead two successful startups.
One is called Countdown: Build Tunisia in 20 hours, where we gather more than 100 youth from different walks of life to get training in project creation, budgets, and generating revenues and profits in order to make the best project within their teams, whomthey have met for the first time, and pitch it in front of a panel of judges to try and win a prize. As a result of this, I was selected asa success story holder and was selected as one of the 100 promising emerging local leaders for educating youth about dispellingstereotypes through sustainable entrepreneurial projects.

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Asia & the PacificNami AKINAGA • Japan
Researcher and Entrepreneur, Leave a Nest Co., Ltd.
The objective of my ESD work is to involve industry in an educational platform, in order to make ESD
more sustainable.
I define sustainable development as keeping a balance between our quality of life and solving social
issues. To achieve that, we need education in which the next generations learn the real science andtechnologies that we rely on, and learn to tackle real issues that society faces. This original definitionis based on my own experiences. I majored in physics in my undergraduate studies, and completed a
Masters degree in Sustainability Science. Then I began thinking about how scientists can contribute to
everyday society. Especially when we experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, I noticed the importanceof bridging the gap between science and society. Indeed, we saw a huge failing of advanced technologies such as sea walls andnuclear power plants. I started to fear that, in emergencies, we may not be able to understand or fix those advanced technologies
any more, though we have been totally depending on them.
Based on this background, I belong to Leave a Nest, a unique venture company with the vision of ‘Advancing Science andTechnology for Global Happiness’. For 12 years, we have been offering science workshops with more than 100 private companies
to teach core technologies to school kids. We let them try cutting edge experiments and hold discussions on how science andtechnology are utilized in our lives. The topics are very diverse, including energy, urban planning, soil biology, agriculture, andfood security. We go to schools and offer this education for free, involving a lot of private companies as sponsors and as lecturers.

Davaajargal BATDORJ • Mongolia
Youth Leader and Translator, UNEP - TUNZA Youth Club in Mongolia;
Member, UN Youth Advisory Panel in Mongolia
I first started engaging in ESD when I was 16 years old. I started translating the TUNZA magazine—amagazine about the environment for youth—from English to Mongolian. While reading the articles
and the encouraging actions and activities of young people, I got inspired by them. Then, I wanted to
become more active in the community. First I became a member of the UNEP-TUNZA Youth Club, andfinally, the club leader, and I conducted many activities, campaigns and peer-to-peer trainings. Then,with the help of my school principal, I was able to start a student eco-club at my high school and raiseawareness among the students, parents and teachers. But the most important project I worked on during my activities was
making my high school, Shine-Mongol, the first eco-school in my country. The project team researched what practices othereco-schools have, and what our school had to do in order to make our practices more eco-friendly. We established small solar
panels and a mini wind turbine on the roof for outside lighting, initiated recycling of papers and separating of garbage, started
a summer camp for students where they plant and harvest their own crops and live in a traditional way without any electricity,renovated the water and sewage system, added ESD into the curriculum, and offered trainings and other activities. Finally, inthe end we got an accreditation from the UNEP in Asia and the Pacific that Shine-Mongol school is the first eco-model school in
Mongolia. This was the most successful and long-lasting initiative I was involved in.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Sophy BUINIMASI • Fiji
Executive Conservation Officer, I Taukei Affairs Board
I was an active member of the Econesian Society (created by students of the University of the South
Pacific to build capacity for students in the field of environment conservation), where a lot of our work
involved ESD, and I was part of several successful and inspiring initiatives, including the 350 Global
Movement, Earth Hour, Pacific Eco Camp, and Honor Fiji Journey.
As an Executive Conservation Officer for the I Taukei Affairs Board (‘iTaukei’ refers to indigenous people
in Fiji who own up to 92% of land and natural resources), I assist in coordinating the Conservation Unit
and helping our Conservation Officers, based in our 14 provinces, carry out awareness programs, secure
funding, run projects and set up Yaubula Management Support Teams (comprised of natural resource owners). YMSTs have beensuccessfully set up in most provinces, and through our awareness programs, resource owners have started to take ownership andare now actively involved in sustainable resource use and conservation.
In addition, I am involved in organizing and facilitating awareness programs on household waste management, Ramsar wetlands, water catchment, forest conservation, mangrove rehabilitation, invasive species eradication and the review of Environment
Impact Assessments.
With the Conservation Unit, I have been carrying out Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change Assessments on Fiji’s 1,171
villages. This vital data will allow us to assess how climate change is affecting Fiji and how we can help villages adapt to it.
On a policy level, I have represented the Board in the formulation of a National Integrated Coastal Management Plan, which will
be implemented at the provincial level by the Conservation Officers. ICM includes resource owners plus public and private sector
stakeholders, and the I Taukei Affairs Board is a core stakeholder, for we are involved in both policy making and its implementation.
Once this plan is approved by Cabinet, our natural resources will be mandated by law to be protected and managed sustainably.

Taichiro FUJINO • Japan
Co-founder, Cycle Beyond the Borders
I am a co-founder of the NGO Cycle Beyond the Borders. CBB’s mission is ‘free access to education’. We
provide comprehensive educational support to people living in rural areas of Cambodia. Receiving education is the key factor in forming their values. I emphasize that school creates the children’s community,
and therefore, every child needs access to education.
CBB’s comprehensive educational support means preventing children from dropping out of school.
For primary school students, CBB provides extra classes for students in Kampong Cham Province. We
currently offer classes in Khmer and math. These extra classes aim to support children who are unable
to keep up with their formal schooling. 80% of Cambodians are engaged in agriculture, so many children have to skip classes
during seeding and cultivating, and we provide supplementary lessons for them. CBB then provides bicycles to children who go
on to secondary school (from 12 to 13 years old). In Cambodia, the number of secondary schools is about 3,000, while there are
7,000 primary schools. CBB helps solve the problem of the distance students must travel to get to school. For university students,
CBB provides share-housing and scholarships. We tell students in rural areas about our scholarships, and then select scholarshipstudents.
These are our activities in Cambodia. These activities are based on the Education for All movement, and now CBB is getting
involved in ESD. Cambodian students also need an understanding of the universal values we share. CBB provides new learningfor children in rural areas. In rural areas, it is really difficult to get information about city life and work, so our scholarship students
help to teach them about it. Now, we are organizing a field trip to Phnom Penh. Our basic educational support is shifting to ESD
support.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Corrina GRACE • Australia
Founder and Executive Director, SERES (Supporting Ecological Resilience andEnvironmental Sustainability)
I am the Founder and Executive Director of SERES, a not-for-profit organization that engages, educatesand empowers youth at the frontline of climate change impacts and environmental degradation to
become sustainability leaders and change makers. SERES actively works to increase awareness and education of sustainability issues at a grassroots level, engaging with young people as leaders of theircommunities to participate in the protection of their valuable ecosystems.
Since starting SERES in 2009, I have worked to build a forward-thinking, innovative organization thatis working to create a generational shift towards sustainability in Central America. Since then, the organization has grown to amovement of over 1,400 young sustainability leaders from more than 182 communities, supported by a core team of 4 facilitators and 15 local ambassadors. Our work was acknowledged earlier this year when SERES was awarded the prestigious National
Energy Globe award, an internationally recognized trademark for sustainability. I am a Fellow of the tenth class of the Central
America Leadership Initiative and was accepted as a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
My work as a facilitator and knowledge broker for ESD and transformative change is internationally recognized. I was both aFellow and facilitator at the University of California, Irvine’s Empowering Sustainability conference in July, and I am collaboratingwith the university on their student sustainability leadership initiatives. I have worked with youth from across the United States,
Canada, Latin America, Australia and the Pacific, and am currently working on developing a collaborative program between
local leaders and international institutions that reframes the traditional development approach within the goals of long-termsustainability and resilience.
Prior to moving to Guatemala in 2007, I headed up the sustainability initiative for a large international financial institution
based out of Sydney, Australia, and prior to this was a consultant in the building services industry. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in
Mechanical Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Hussain HAIDER • Pakistan
Founder and CEO, Beydaar Society and Echo Change
I have been working for education since I was in school. When I was a schoolboy I witnessed a suicide
attack, which was very common in those days in Pakistan, and later on I came to know that the attacker
was a young boy almost my age. I kept thinking about why a person is so easily exploited by terrorists,and realized that uneducated youth is an easy target for exploitation. So I started my own initiative inthe form of my organization, Beydaar Society, to work for education. We are working in the neglectedareas of Pakistan—the slums where no one is taking interest. I am one of the global youth ambassadors
at A WORLD AT SCHOOL. This global youth ambassador group was launched by United Nations Sectary
General Ban Ki-moon and Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown. As 58 million children do not attend school, thisgroup has been launched to change that figure by sending as many children to school as possible.
Beydaar Society is not only working on literary education for youth in slums, but we are also working on personality building andhelping them to become a part of the society.
My organization, Beydaar Society, is now one of the very few student-run NGOs which are formalized and have expanded to sucha level in Pakistan. Beydaar’s work in the field of education for sustainable development make it one of its kind in the categoryof NGOs run by youth under 24 years of age. I recently opened a school for children from the slums, victims of child labour andorphans. Along with the standard curriculum, we are teaching technical skills, so that when they leave the school they will beable to stand on their own feet.
I have also launched a new global initiative with the purpose of forming a video and radio channel to help promote education.
This platform will provide career guidance, educational materials and other tools for youth.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILESSurya KARKI • Nepal (unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances)
Co-founder and Director of Development, Maya Universe Academy;
President, Diyalo Foundation
Through my classes at College of the Atlantic in the USA, I attended the Open Working Group on
Sustainable Development Goals taking place at the UN in New York, helping to represent the youth
voice through the Major Group on Children and Youth. The issues I have been focusing on are climatechange, social entrepreneurship and full employment, and quality education for all.
In 2011, I helped co-found the first-ever free education institution in Nepal, Maya Universe Academy,
which has a very innovative model of providing education to underprivileged kids in exchange for twodays of volunteering from parents in the school farms. For the first year, I spearheaded the establishment of two schools andthree farms. At the farms under my leadership we have trained more than 1,400 farmers in sustainable farming methods, andalso introduced farmers to the benefits of farming cooperatives, to enhance income generation in the three districts where ourschool farms are based.
In March 2014, I established the Diyalo Foundation, incorporated in the US as a nonprofit organization, with a focus on the threepillars of sustainable development: social, environment and economic. The Diyalo Foundation has a mission to build model villages in Nepal and Haiti, with an emphasis on quality education, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable energy. The foundation
will establish schools like Maya Universe Academy, to offer a practical curriculum with a focus on issues such as climate change,poverty eradication, and technology. Diyalo will also be taking the work done by Maya Farms and implementing it in different
parts of Nepal. We will increase trainings as well as micro-loans and crop insurance for poor farmers. The foundation will also be
doing last mile distribution of solar energy systems in Nepal and Haiti.
With Action Aid International, I have helped implement their poverty eradication programs in Nepal and will be representing themat the UNFCCC. This summer, under their guidance, I worked to design a model village as a national fellow to a former prime ministerof Nepal, and also did research to design a hazard programming framework.

Ahamed Kishor HAMEED • Sri Lanka
Head of Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, Maga Engineering (Pvt) Ltd
I possess over 9 years of experience in the area of sustainable development in Sri Lanka. Some of the
projects I have worked on include:
1. Digital Bridge. The Digital Bridge project is aimed at giving rural marginalised students the opportunity
to engage in interactive learning from experienced teachers. The project has connected 2,000 schools(roughly 20% of the schools in the country) by providing them with TV sets and decoder units to enable
them to access a satellite educational channel called Nenasa (‘wisdom’). Nearly 500,000 rural students
will have access to high quality educational content and materials, which are prepared by the Ministry of
Education and the National Institute of Education. Nenasa is supplemented by an interactive online Learning Management System.
2. Eco-education programmes in the East. Joined hands with the Sri Lanka Nature Group and the Central Environmental Authority of
the Ministry of Environment to raise awareness on environmental conservation amongst school children and government agencies
in the Eastern province. I took the lead in compiling a number of booklets and workshop materials on the natural resources in thearea, which were published in all three official languages.
3. Small & Medium Entrepreneurs Toolkit. The SME Toolkit Sri Lanka (http://srilanka.smetoolkit.org/srilanka/en) is a program of theInternational Finance Corporation (IFC) and is available in multiple languages through local partners around the world. Dialog Axiata
PLC promotes the SME Toolkit in Sri Lanka as a way to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives by promoting a sustainable private
sector in rural areas. Through the Toolkit, I assisted entrepreneurs with business management information and training on accounting
and finance, business planning, human resources, marketing and sales, operations, and information technology.
4. MAGA Nipunatha – Supervisory and Craftsmen Skills Development. I was instrumental in implementing the Nipunatha programme in an effort to overcome the shortage in skilled labour and to build capacity for the future in the Sri Lankan engineering andconstruction industries. The programme recruits students from technical colleges and provides comprehensive on-the-job training
for six months.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Yuri NAKAO • Japan
Staff member, Minoh Children’s Forest School
I have been working at Minoh Kodomonomori Gakuen (Minoh Children’s Forest School), which wasestablished in 2004 by parents, teachers and citizens to cultivate children’s self-autonomy and cooperation through education. For a decade, we have regarded the school as a place where children can learn
and practice a democratic and sustainable way of living both in their school life and in the future society.
In order to encourage sustainable development, I have taken the initiative in promoting citizenshipeducation, including themed study, philosophical discussion for students and themed dialogue eventsin the local community.
The themed study covers three major areas: environmental education, human rights education and education for peace. This
themed study also involves the whole school participating in discovery and action-orientated learning.
In philosophical discussions, children exchange their ideas about anything they are wondering about. For example, “What is freedom?”, “What is true happiness?” and “Why don’t wars disappear from the world?” The philosophical discussions have improved
students’ thinking habits and their capacity for reflection, and have given them an opportunity to consider a variety of topics fromvarious perspectives. The class also enables students to listen to others’ opinions and understand different backgrounds. Afterthe discussions, students write an essay so that they can think more deeply on the topics. Through the practice of philosophicaldiscussion, they look inside and get to know themselves. Students also discuss rules and events in a democratic way. Participatingin these meetings gives children a sense of responsibility for others and community and the skills needed for peaceful resolutionsof conflicts.
A monthly themed dialogue event for citizens, called Educational Café Marathon, aims to involve citizens in the local community,
share the values underpinning sustainable development, and encourage people to take action as a civic responsibility. For example, I invited guests who play active roles in sports, education and community planning, and then we set up an opportunity
to discuss the topics with participants. Through these community-oriented activities, education for sustainable development istaking place not only in the school but also among citizens.

PHAM Thuy Trang • Viet Nam
Member of Regional Strategic Team, Mekong Peace Journey
In 2008, I was first engaged in ESD through the Young Masters Programme on Sustainable Development(YMP) organized by Lund University, Sweden. Being inspired by what I learned and being aware of theimportance of ESD and interested in social issues, I have kept my desire to learn more in this field andtry to apply the concept of sustainable development to real life, through projects for protecting theenvironment, creating a peaceful life and sharing with others.
One of the inspiring initiatives I have been involved in is the Mekong Peace Journey Project. I was aparticipant, then a media-supporter, and now I am an organizer (a member of the Regional Strategic
Team and representative of Viet Nam). Mekong Peace Journey is a training/learning programme, through which we are trying
to provide knowledge and inspire youth in the Mekong Region to understand each other, empowering young people to build amore sustainable future by learning and understanding the past. Participants can hear the same history from different perspectives and find out the truth by themselves. They learn how to live peacefully, not only with people from different countries but
also with nature. We offer an alternative platform to learn and share about the impact of human activities on nature, disaster risks,
conflicts of interest regarding economic benefits, human rights, poverty, etc., which can help them to make the right decisions
regarding their future and take action for a sustainable future.
Issues of sustainable development cannot be separated from justice, inequality, human rights and diversity. Through Mekong
Peace Journey, I can see how ESD is successfully applied as a concept, a tool and a solution. I am very proud to be an organizerof this program, which helps youth understand concepts of sustainable development and real peace, and become agents ofchange in the Mekong Region.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Matcha PHORN-IN • Thailand
Director, Sangsan Anakod Yawachon Development Project
For more than 8 years, I have been working with ethnic minority children and youth (mostly Karen and
Shan ethnic groups) living in the Thailand-Myanmar border region. Many of them have no citizenship.
These children and youth face marginalization, discrimination and injustice from the Thai governmentand society as a whole. Most of their parents are subsistence farmers; hence they can rarely support theentire family’s needs. Moreover, they do not speak Thai, so it is impossible for them to get a job. As aconsequence, a large number of students are struggling with access to education, or eventually have toquit school at an early level. Furthermore, mainstream education in Thailand has yet to respect the rights
of other ethnicities. The centralized Thai curriculum and learning mindsets do not recognize ethnic diversity or diversity of any
sort. Therefore, ethnic minority students experience many forms of physical and emotional abuse from teachers and classmates,
and the curriculum contents are unfair to them. They internalize the ‘otherness’ stigma and become disempowered. This affects
their livelihood and civil involvement.
My program provides scholarships and trainings to 100-300 high school students each year. The youth who receive scholarships
are trained in our awareness-raising programs focusing on ethnic rights, gender and sexuality, health and wellbeing, and organic
farming and sustainability. Furthermore, they are encouraged and supported to discover their areas of interest in sports, arts orother academic areas. We also follow up and provide extensive financial and capacity building support to 30 university students
who went through our high school program. All 30 of these youth exhibit a strong desire to live in and help develop their homecommunities.

Vivek TRIVEDI • India
Social Development Officer, Urban Poverty Alleviation & Livelihood Cell, Municipal
Corporation, Chandigarh;
Research Scholar, Centre for Social Work, UIEASS, Panjab University
I am a professional social worker and my area of interest is around youth development, their relationshipwith families, and empowerment. I have always believed in the potential of youth and I see them as seedsof change for any nation.
My work experience in the city spans over a decade and I have successfully introduced various innovative practices. The major achievements included implementation of wage-employment for the
first time among poor youth, and we linked poverty-stricken youth to the Indira Gandhi National Open University for bachelor
degree courses after giving them the required skills education. Social Work Education with IGNOU was promoted to create adevoted professional workforce to handle and execute development and welfare sector programmes at all levels, including
policy planning, implementation, supervision, etc. With the execution of innovative programmes, we were successful in creating
opportunities for urban poor youth to break the vicious cycle of poverty.
Prior to this, I served as a Project Director to the UN Development Programme and Government of India project on Urban Poverty
Alleviation & Livelihood under the National Strategy for Urban Poor (NSUP). I got associated with ESD during my internship at
the Commonwealth Youth Programme, Asia Centre in 2003-04. I worked on bridging the digital divide among marginalized andunderprivileged youth using a mobile training centre, based on the ‘reaching the unreached’ concept and also spreading teachings of social reformers including Swami Vivekananda and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Transforming the lives of underprivileged youth
remained my priority while working with leading national and global inter-governmental organizations in various capacities.
The work focused on various social issues: public health, poverty reduction and alleviation, skill building, livelihood, financial
inclusion, HIV/AIDS, etc.
I have received numerous opportunities to share my ideas at international forums. At the Asia-Pacific Summit on Climate Change
in 2009, I participated in leadership training conducted by Noble laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore. I found the programme really helpful as it made me reflect on what could be done to produce better results at the local level.

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Europe & North America
Sybren BOSCH • Netherlands
Chair, Studenten voor Morgen (Students for Tomorrow)
As chair of Studenten voor Morgen, I have been actively involved in inspiring students about the importance of sustainable development, and making higher education institutions more aware of theirsustainability impact.
During the past year, our organisation has been working on many projects, the most prominent being
the SustainaBul, the sustainability ranking of higher education institutions. This ranking assesses universities on the integral approach of education, research and operations, and the added (sustainable) value
to society. Over 50% of Dutch higher education institutions now participate in this ranking, including
12 out of 14 universities. Part of the SustainaBul ranking is also knowledge exchange among institutions and other related actors.
Other activities include lobbying for a political agreement on integrating sustainability into the national education policy. A treaty between youth organisations and politicians has been signed the 9th of October. Another large project we will carry out is theSustainable Introduction Event, in which local student organisations organize sustainable introduction events, and battle against
each other for the most ‘green’ event. These local activities lead to more students getting involved in sustainable development.
Also, Studenten voor Morgen focuses on knowledge exchange by bringing together inspiring examples of sustainability issues
at Dutch higher education institutions. We also provide tips for student associations on how to make their association moresustainable.
Personally, I am convinced that only awareness of sustainable development can lead to real action. I work together with the
National Youth Representatives to the United Nations, and have been involved in the European Youth Event, generating ideas fora better Europe—with sustainable development in education as a top priority.

Leah DAVIDSON • Canada
Founder, Act for Antarctica
To educate youth about the importance of sustainability, I launched an internationally recognized campaign called Act for Antarctica, through which I worked with teachers to integrate the polar regions
into environmental science, social science, and humanities curricula. It resulted in 1,000 conservationacts submitted from across five continents, including tree-planting and park cleanup activities, fundraisers for endangered animal species, and lesson plans and videos created about climate change. I also
published a book called Antarctica: To Be Inspired after returning from an educational expedition with
the Canadian-based NGO Students on Ice. The book has been distributed internationally and is now
in use by the International Polar Foundation. I have delivered over 50 multimedia presentations to schools and science centerson the importance of protecting Antarctica, including speeches at the International Polar Year Conference and for TEDxYouth@
AntarcticPeninsula.
As the Undergraduate Chair of the Penn Humanities Forum, I have started to establish the first hub for the environmental humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, which will include funding for lecturers and research fellowships, as well as the creation ofan electronic journal and an annual curated art exhibit. I have also been selected as a winner of the Top 20 Under 20 Award in
Canada and as a finalist for Canada’s Top Teen Philanthropist Award for my environmental activism.
To promote the economic development and empowerment of women, I have also raised over $30,000 to launch a microfinanceprogram in rural Peru, which is in the process of starting/expanding 20 small businesses, including a large-scale knitting co-operative uniting artisans from the city of Huancayo. I lead the Penn chapter of the Compass Fellowship, a personal and professional
development program to encourage university students to start their own social enterprises. I was also selected as one of four
students out of 60+ applicants to report on social innovation and environmental sustainability at the World Economic Forum
Annual Meeting of the New Champions, representing the voice of youth and critiquing international policy.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Irina FEDORENKO • Russian Federation
Founder, Green Light Russia;
PhD Student, Oxford University Centre for the Environment;
Member, Initiatives for Land, Lives, Peace
In 2008 I established Green Light, a youth environmental education NGO, in Vladivostok, Russia. Besides
recruiting volunteers and organizing ESD events and trainings, I also handled fundraising, reportingand communications. The eco-projects that spilled out after the trainings involved more than 5,000
participants over the period of 3 years (2008-2011). My main passion is developing ESD training programmes and training trainers who would then go and work as peer-to-peer educators. I attended andcontributed to training programmes run by the Council of Europe, and was successful in bringing that knowledge back home.
My NGO was named the best European Environmental Practice in the ‘Youth Participation’ category during the 2010 World HealthOrganization 5th Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Health in Parma, Italy.
Since then I have been leading various teams and organized numerous small-scale presentations, medium-size international
events and global forums and conferences with more than 10,000 participants. The youth camp that I worked on with the Russian
Ministry of Youth stands out as an example. In 2011, I created the curricula and educational programme for the ‘civil society’ sectionof 600 participants. I put a big emphasis on climate change and sustainable development, and those topics were greeted withenthusiasm, as they were new for Russia at that time.
At Oxford I was elected as Environment Officer of my College, and with the team have organized such events as the Sustainability
in Practice speakers series, a charity concert and sustainable food brunches. For these, I was awarded the Nautilus award for mycontribution to college life.
Currently I am studying ESD Youth NGOs in Russia and China and trying to figure out how communication and technology canhelp youth groups to survive in semi-authoritarian political regimes.

Alexandr ISCENCO • Republic of Moldova
Co-founder and Research and Cooperation Coordinator, Moldovan Environmental
Governance Academy (MEGA)
I have been much engaged in Education for Sustainable Development, especially in the last 5 years.
From 2010 to 2013 I participated in various programmes, including Global Environmental Governanceat the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Sustainable Environmental Management at the Universityof California in Berkeley, U.S., and the Young Environmental Leaders Programme at the Regional
Environment Center in Hungary.
The knowledge, experience and contacts obtained there allowed me to start organizing programmes
and delivering trainings on environmental management, green economy and sustainable development. At first they weredone as sessions at various projects and conferences (including the 2013 World Resources Forum and the European Forum
Alpbach). Then, together with an amazing team of young people, we organized our own project, G.R.E.E.N. (Garbage Recycling
and Environmental Education Nationwide; greenmoldova.wordpress.com). We used the concept and tools of gamification tocreate engaging and powerful practical learning experiences on waste management and sustainable development for pupils in 3
regions of Moldova. Within the project I was primarily responsible for the gamification concept, the trainers team, the content ofsessions and the overall learning experience. During the organization of the project I decided to scale up the impact of G.R.E.E.N.
through a game-style web platform and mobile app that allow young people to obtain knowledge and skills in sustainable
development and create a positive social and environmental impact in Moldova. For this purpose, I joined forces with a team oftalented young people to establish the Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy (MEGA). Nowadays, we are designing
the Game with Impact—a learning, connecting and impact-creating platform in the form of a game—as well as organizing otherprojects on sustainability education for youth. Besides all that I use my writing skills to publish books that deliver messages onsustainability to readers. An example of this is the book The Monster: Blade of Darkness (www.themonster.info).

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Stefan MANEVSKI • The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Director, Center for Intercultural Dialogue (national branch of Service Civil International)
I have been involved with youth work programmes in South East Europe since 2006. Among the firstactivities of my organization were environment camps to bring young people closer to nature. This
was also the moment when I started working with volunteers to engage them in these processes.
Over the years I have worked with over 5,000 young people, based on many different needs, some ofthem directly connected to sustainable development and rural development. In 2010, I was one of thefounders of the Bujrum Center for Rural Development, promoting active lifestyles and protection of theenvironment in North-East Macedonia.
Within the European Youth in Action programme I have delivered various training courses for different organizations in the
Balkan region, including the CID Kumanovo, Streets Festival, Young European Federalists, YEU International, Cultural Triangle ofPrespa, European Youth Parliament and others. The courses focused primarily on topics connected with youth participation, intercultural dialogue and sustainable development, topics in which I am always working to develop new approaches and methods.
Some examples of initiatives that I took part in:
As a trainer/facilitator: European Youth Meeting on Sustainable Development in Tallinn, July 2011; Youth for Exchange andUnderstanding—European Convention in Serbia—volunteering for sustainable development, August 2011; Volunteer for Nature
youth exchange and volunteer management in rural area training projects for Bujrum Center for Rural Development; Reduce
Reuse Recycle training course for Roma Youth Center.
Long-term activities: SAVA working group activities on environment protection, including various actions with volunteers; study
sessions with the Council of Europe on the topic of sustainable volunteer camps; MultiKulti Youth Center (part of CID) activities on
active citizenship and animation in the community; Savoring Unique Nature project.

Umeda QODIRQULOVA • Tajikistan
Project Manager, Youth Group on Protection of Environment (YGPE)
During my 2 years as the Project Manager of the ‘Green Patrols’ Program in YGPE, we had the opportunity
to continue and develop this youth environmental movement that has members in 9 districts/towns of
the Sughd region, involving a total of 200 schoolchildren. Our achievements include:• Organizing the ‘School of Ecological Leadership’;• Carrying out national and regional youth summer ecological camps, known as ‘Our Green House’.
• Creating and broadcasting the youth environmental TV show Green Five and Youth TV debates onsocio-environmental issues;• Carrying out ‘The Week of Clean Schools/Houses’ and ‘Earth Day – The March of Parks’;• Actively participating in the recycling program, and gardening and beautification of cities and streets;• Monitoring local ecological problems;• Conducting seminars/trainings/tournaments on debates concerning local environmental issues.
One factor which made our activities significant was the involvement of schoolchildren in awareness-raising and problem-solving issues. We trained them and let them define problematic points in their area, motivating them with further participation insummer educational schools. This method brought a lot of unexpected positive outcomes. For example, in March 2011 schoolchildren from one of the villages in the Gafurov district, after short intensive trainings on leadership and problem-solving, could
define that the main problem of the local society is bad waste management (waste is collected only once a month and causes
infection and diseases among the local population). So, despite their young age, teenagers could pursue negotiations with local
authorities and conduct a meeting of local inhabitants with authorities, where they presented the results of their environmental
monitoring, offered several solutions to the identified problem (e.g. applying experience of neighboring districts in recycling paper and plastic bottles) and facilitated discussions. Their experience was shared with the Green Patrols of other regions, inspiringthem to take similar kinds of actions successfully.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Ingrid Moum RIESER • Norway
Associate Fellow and Alumna, Centre for Environment and Development Studies,
Uppsala University (Sweden)
The most inspiring and dynamic initiative I have been involved in is the Centre for Environment andDevelopment Studies (CEMUS) at Uppsala University. Since its inception CEMUS has been primarily student-led, and students are seen as co-creators of education and knowledge, rather than passive consumers. As a student, I coordinated and facilitated a course together with a student colleague, in consultation
with staff, researchers and teachers. My aim in this work is to enable students to be critical and creative, tochallenge themselves and to grow as both learners and human beings, which involves allowing for various
ways of learning and communicating. My hope is that after a CEMUS course, students will feel empowered to make the changes
that they would like to see in the world.
In 2012/13 I studied at Schumacher College in Totnes, UK, a transformative experience that gave me valuable insights into what amore holistic education can look like. As a student there, you are seen as the creator of your own learning journey, undertaken withthe support of staff and your peers. Holistic education entails learning with your head, heart and hands. Beyond the academic work,
students help with cooking, cleaning and gardening at the College, while integrating their personal development into the learning
process. I continue to be involved in the college’s activities, facilitating courses and organizing events.
For my MA dissertation at Schumacher, I made a documentary about the growing movement to make economics education morepluralist and connected to the real world. The project has given me experience in how to communicate visually and tell stories about
positive change. I will be showing parts of the film and talking about economics education for sustainability during the keynote
speech I am giving at the Swedish ESD - Call for Action conference, the purpose of which is to prepare Swedish recommendations
for the Nagoya conference.

Felix SPIRA • Germany
Executive Director and Co-founder, rootAbility;
PhD researcher, Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT)
During my Bachelor studies, I co-founded the Maastricht University Green Office in September 2010(www.greenofficemaastricht.nl). The Green Office is the first student-led and staff-supported sustainability unit at a European university. It is driven by a team of 8 student employees and one university
staff, with support from 30 student volunteers. The unit is integrated into the university, supervised by asteering committee and receives 164 000 € in funding for projects, salaries and office space. By putting
student and staff collaboration at its core, the model mobilizes the energy of youth and expertise ofolder generations. It strives towards a whole-institution approach towards sustainable development through projects for change
in education, research, community, operations and governance.
I worked at the Maastricht University Green Office for two years. During this time, I led the conceptual development of themodel and implemented numerous projects. My main achievement was the publication of the first sustainability baseline reportfor Maastricht University. Due to the publication of the report, Maastricht University won the SustainaBul Award as the Dutch
university with the most transparent sustainability efforts. In 2012, we also received the Student Leadership Award from theInternational Sustainable Campus Network and were described as a “lighthouse-type of project”.
Given my firm belief in the transformative potential of the model, I co-founded rootAbility together with three friends as a social
business to inspire and enable others to follow our example. Since September 2012, we have delivered over 50 workshops andpresentations on the Green Office Model and sustainability in higher education in nine countries. We empowered students andstaff to replicate the Green Office Model at eight universities in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Those units engage
over 45 student employees and present a cumulative investment of 750 000 €.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Anna VICKERSTAFF • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Green Exchange Assistant Manager, Leeds University Union
I am the Assistant Manager on Leeds Green Exchange, the Leeds University Union sustainability project.
The project aims to embed sustainability not only in the curriculum, but into the behaviors and attitudesof every student in Leeds. The project is multi-faceted in its approach, ranging from campaigning on
normalising sustainable behaviours to providing a grant scheme for students to apply to lead their own
transformational sustainability initiatives. The project also partners the University in the development anddissemination of a more sustainable curriculum.
Through the Green Exchange, I have been responsible for empowering students to engage with sustainability, not only through their studies, but by applying these ideals in their daily lives through simple behaviours like local
procurement. I also manage £65,000 worth of funding for students from any higher education institution in Leeds to apply to
run their own campaigns and projects, which aim to have a direct impact on both transient students and the legacy of the city.
Within my institution, I have also co-hosted informal forums where staff and students engage on ESD and other sustainability
issues in a relaxed and free-flowing context. I have partnered with grassroots local initiatives and liaised with national bodies
and NGOs. I have interviewed the University Vice Chancellor about his commitment to sustainability and established a strong
relationship with the University’s sustainability team to extend reach and collaboration on sustainability within our institutions.
In addition to working in this field in Leeds, I have been involved in a national consultation on ESD in higher education. This
year I participated at the HEA Education for Sustainable Development Guidance Document Consultation Event in Birmingham
and the HEFCE Sustainable Development Framework Consultation in Leeds. I have also attended conferences on the new tool
NETpositive and the NUS We Are the Change conference, with a view to ensuring that ESD becomes a fundamental component in all higher education in the next ten years. In the coming months I will continue this work by hosting a webinar for theEnvironmental Association for Universities and Colleges on education and sustainability in the wider community.

Madison VORVA • United States of America
National Youth Leader, Roots & Shoots;
Co-founder, Project ORANGS;
Author, Change Starts with a Passion
In 2007, I co-founded Project ORANGS, asking Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA) to adopt a palm oil policy for theircookies. I had learned that unsustainable palm oil is linked to deforestation, carbon emissions, species endangerment, and human rights abuses. I mobilized over 140,000 consumers through petitions, including
my hero, UN Messenger of Peace, Dr. Jane Goodall. I’ve educated millions of consumers through interviewsin The Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, and on NPR, CBS, and ABC World News. I designed an educational ‘Rainforest Hero’ badge with the Philadelphia Zoo, which hundreds of Scouts have earned.
In 2011, GSUSA announced a palm oil policy, the first policy change driven by the efforts of girls in the organization’s 101-year history.
In 2014, we pressured Kellogg, a Girl Scout Cookie baker, to adopt a deforestation-free palm oil policy for its entire product line.
As a United Nation’s North American Forest Hero, I’ve spoken at the UN about youth advocacy and sustainable development manytimes. As a member of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots National Youth Leadership Council, I’ve executed national campaigns andrepresented the organization at the UN Youth Assembly. I’ve worked with Youth-Leader, a UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development project, to design educational palm oil activities and tools that have been distributed in classrooms worldwide. In
Myanmar, I attended the Women’s Forum on the Economy and Society as an ANNPower Global Delegate with Vital Voices, reminding
attendees that women’s rights are closely linked to environmental justice and education. I’ve met with leaders, including Lisa Jackson,
Melanne Verveer, Senators, Congressmen, Food Security staff at the State Department, and USAID officials at the US Embassies inColombia and Cambodia, to speak about the politics of the global palm oil industry and youth empowerment. I’ve also inspired
hundreds of students through presentations and my youth empowerment/advocacy program changestartswithapassion.org.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES

Latin America & the Caribbean
Zahnela CLAXTON • Saint Kitts and Nevis
Coordinator of Youth Development, Nevis Island Administration;
Government Liaison and Counselor, Reach Hamilton Community GroupI recently returned to Nevis (a 36 square mile island) after spending several years obtaining my degrees. I was appointed as the Coordinator of Youth Development with the island’s local government in
September 2014. Since then, I have worked with several young people and youth groups.
ESD in the area of health/lifestyle change. My department partnered with the local HIV and Health
Promotion Unit to stage a Health Fair. During this Fair, young people were exposed to:• Male and female condom application demonstrations.
• HIV/AIDS information: Preventions, signs and symptoms, and treatment of the disease.
• Proper nutrition: using local fruits and vegetables for snacks as opposed to processed foods. Also, proper portion control.
• Youth were educated on STIs and non-communicable diseases.
• Youth were given blood pressure and sugar checks and then educated on the importance of doing these as young people.
ESD in the area of environment:• Young people attended a camp where they visited the hot spring on Nevis and learned about its importance. They also learned
about keeping the spring and its environs clean.
• Young people were involved in a massive garbage clean-up campaign after they were educated on volunteerism and keeping
our island clean.
• A partnership was established with Reach Hamilton Community Group which focuses on recycling materials to make new ones.
The group has focused on making bags and purses out of paper, plastic and tyre tubes. In this group, the young people source
the materials for making the bags and then spend time making the bags.

Kerstin FORSBERG • Peru
Director, Planeta Océano
I founded Planeta Océano (PO) in 2007 with my undergraduate research on sea turtles, a project thatengaged over 100 local volunteers in northern Peru. PO has now grown as a non-profit organizationcommitted to educating and empowering communities in Peru to sustainably manage their coastal
and marine environments. Through this, I’ve led multiple projects:• Research: Participatory investigations on environments, communities, coastal and marine species inorder to generate information for sustainable management. More than 200 local volunteers have taken
protagonist roles as citizen scientists, positively influencing resource management. For example, we
engage artisanal fishermen to monitor mobulid fisheries, and the information is used to influence environmental policy. Also,
we worked with school students to research sea turtles, leading them to discover the first evidence of the nesting of green sea
turtles in the country.
• Environmental Education: Formal and informal marine education programs: training teachers, raising awareness in children &youth (preK-12), educating fishermen and authorities. To date, we’ve reached over 200,000 people, delivered hundreds of workshops and trained over 300 teachers. We’ve integrated more than 50 schools in a Marine Educators Network, a self-governed
network that is currently expanding to 3 new regions of Peru. Our innovative, interdisciplinary marine curriculum has improved
school subject delivery, as we teach through dynamic games, experiments and hands-on learning.
• Promoting Sustainable Development: Empowering environmental leaders and fostering environmentally-friendly economic
activities. To date, we’ve empowered over 20 community-led environmental projects, including mangrove reforestation and recycling, led mainly by youth. These project incubators benefit thousands of people and generate multiplier effects for marine
conservation. Currently, we’re working to empower artisanal fishermen to develop their own ecotourism businesses for manta
ray conservation. Fishermen have shown great interest in this additional livelihood, and are now willing to protect these species
as valuable tourism resources!

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, Japan

Marcello HERNANDEZ • Costa Rica
International Youth Coordinator, Earth Charter International Secretariat / Earth Charter
Center for Education for Sustainable Development
I work closely with young individuals and groups all over the world to implement the Earth Charter
principles in their communities, schools, and universities, and in their daily lives.
Our priority at Earth Charter International is to provide education to young people that can give them
the tools and knowledge needed to get them inspired and engaged in sustainability initiatives. Principle
14b of the Earth Charter says: “Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities
that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development”.
In collaboration with the University for Peace and UNESCO, we coordinate an UNESCO Chair on ESD and the Earth Charter, and inorder to implement this chair we created the Earth Charter Center for ESD, where I provide both online and face-to-face courses
using a different approach in education, making systems thinking a core concept, allowing future young leaders to have the skills
to ‘connect the dots’ of complex social and environmental issues.
As part of this integral approach to education, I also incorporate an experimental component in all of our education programmes.
For example, we teach about many environmental topics, and in order to have a more profound impact on young people, we doactivities with them in the forest, providing them clues about the topics that we want them to learn but without giving them all
the answers, so they can discover these answers by themselves.
Currently we are working on a consultation process in Latin America to gather the perspectives of young people on how theywant to be involved in ESD and its Global Action Programme, as well as to discuss the type of education that they want, to allow
them to acquire the skills that they need to address the challenges of sustainable development.

Stefan KNIGHTS • Guyana
Special Envoy on Small Island Developing States, Caribbean Youth Environment
Network (CYEN);
Youth Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, UNEP-TUNZA Youth Network
My engagement in ESD is both formal and non-formal. I have been actively educating people on aplethora of environmental concerns in Latin America and the Caribbean. My work, however, is not restricted to environmental matters, but extends to issues relating to human rights, culture, health, trade,and law.
With respect to formal education, I have written a number of research papers relating to sustainable development under theguidance of my law professors. For instance, I have written papers on the nexus between climate change and human rights, theeffects of freedom of movement of persons on economic development in my region, and the importance of access to watersupply and water quality to the development of Guyana. Also, through the CYEN I am involved in a project which is coordinatedby the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, which targets secondary schools.
With respect to non-formal education, I have been able to attract the attention of youth in my region through social media. On
these platforms, I create and share videos, articles and information on a myriad of issues relating to sustainable development.
Also, I regularly organise or participate in youth workshops and consultations in Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago
through CYEN, which has national chapters in these countries.
I have been involved in a myriad of successful and inspiring initiatives throughout my region. My latest task, to organise theprimary concerns for youth from Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) for the 2014 International Conference on SIDS,
has been very inspiring for me. I feel a sense of euphoria and achievement because I have been able to engage a lot of young
people on their primary concerns and also explain to them why SIDS are a special case for sustainable development due to ourvulnerabilities.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILES
Jodykay MAXWELL • Jamaica
Long Range Planning Consultant, St. Elizabeth Parish Development Committee
As the Long Range Planning Consultant with the St. Elizabeth Parish Development Committee, my main
responsibility was to write and coordinate the activities leading up to the development of phase oneof the St. Elizabeth Sustainable Development policy plan. The plan utilized a bottom-up, participatory
approach (engaging local community members in all aspects of the plan’s development) to finalize thegoals, visions, objective and policy for growth in four thematic areas—the environment, built infrastructure, economic and social development issues. Participatory planning was done through community
consultations, demonstration workshops, surveys, information sessions, regular school visits, and shortterm internship placements. I was charged with leading demonstration projects and information sessions with young people andadults on the impact of climate change on coastal communities. I led community meetings on the repercussions of destroying themangrove ecosystem, and held visioning sessions for each community, which led to the development of individual sustainablecommunity visions.
Other initiatives that I led included monthly visits to early childhood institutions, primary schools and high schools to discusssustainable development issues affecting the community. I highlighted the role young people must play in order to enable thelivelihoods of future generations. Additionally, I coordinated and led a three-day urban design forum with young high school
students, local government representatives and community members in an effort to design and suggest ideas to retrofit the town
center and recreational parks utilizing green infrastructure, such as green roofs, and other sustainable principles. This forum led tothe development of four sustainable urban designs and a successful high school art competition. Some of the major achievements
garnered from my initiatives were:
•
•
•
•
•

The delineation of a no-fishing zone.
Sustainable urban design for the town of Black River, St. Elizabeth.
Greater awareness of climate change and disaster risk reduction strategies.
Holland Bamboo Reforestation Programme.
Ongoing recycling projects in schools.

Manus McCAFFERY • Ecuador, United States of America
Environmental Risk and Global Climate Change Specialist, Sun Mountain International
My engagement in education for sustainable development began when I was living in New Orleans,Louisiana at the time when Hurricane Katrina struck and left 80% of New Orleans under water, including
my home. As a witness to what unsustainable growth and unsound environmental policies can lead to,
I used this personal experience as the first of many stepping-stones that have led me down the path ofsustainability as a career. I graduated from Stanford University in 2010 with a focus on environmental
policy and human rights. I then moved to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where I spent the following three
years working on shaping the country’s energy and environmental policies by working directly withgovernment ministers, parliament members, and national and international experts. My focus was on nuclear energy policy—inparticular, how to sustainably mine uranium and increase international security. In this position, I was a visiting researcher at
the University of Tokyo’s (Todai) department of nuclear engineering, as well as a visiting lecturer to PhD students for a Seoul
National University and Todai summer school on multilateral energy cooperation. I also served as advisor to the director of thelargest university in Western Mongolia where, among other things, I trained professors on Western research methodology. Thisis a position I still hold.
In 2011, I was in Kyoto at a nuclear conference when the Fukushima Daiichi disaster struck. Over the next few years I worked
through the instability caused by the disaster before completing my responsibilities and deciding to return to my home countryof Ecuador. Today, I work as a professional in environmental sustainability, in particular through environmental risk management, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation efforts for USAID and USAID-funded projects. My work here hasbrought me to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in disaster risk management for ADRA International, to Haiti, El Salvador,and Paraguay as an organizer/trainer in USAID environmental compliance workshops, to Washington DC for USAID strategicplannings, and to Honduras to research and author a country biodiversity assessment. In addition to this work, I own a strawberry
farm in Ecuador that I wish to use to promote agricultural best practices and climate change adaptation. To this end, I am developing plans with the local municipal government to open an on-site training center for Ecuadorians.

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7 November 2014 • Okayama, JapanDavid MONTERO JALIL • Colombia
Sustainable Cities Expert, La Ciudad Verde & Findeter
La Ciudad Verde is a citizen and academic-led think-do tank that works to create awareness about theimportance of implementing specific solutions to create more sustainable cities. We do this by transforming academic knowledge into creative citizen actions, working together with private companies,
NGOs and local governments to create multi-sectorial agreements and actions. Our main goal is topromote a cultural mindset based on sustainability principles shaped by endless physical development
and social behaviors.
Among many activities, we organize educational events in which our internal team or guest academic
experts from the government, private sector or NGOs provide knowledge to citizens about specific urban sustainability topics. At
the end, round tables are held to generate citizen proposals to promote sustainable development in their cities. Afterwards, theseparticipatory proposals are shown to the local authorities, and community activities are implemented such as enhancement ofpublic spaces with artistic tools and creative citizen ideas, awareness campaigns about the importance of sustainable modes oftransportation, cycle-lanes construction, tree planting and many others. By doing this we also achieve social inclusiveness andcommon ownership of public assets. Also, the citizens and urban experts from La Ciudad Verde launched in 2014 the first Urban
Sustainability Award of Colombia with the support of international cooperation organizations, universities, private companies
and NGOs, to celebrate the most outstanding practices in Colombian cities towards sustainability.
I am also part of a group of young Colombian social leaders that created the national citizen movement Everybody for Education(Todos por la Educación). We articulate and promote the Great National Agreement for Education, to make education become
the main state policy of Colombia. So far, more than 8,000 citizens, dozens of private companies and national politicians havejoined the movement and our agreement. I am also a consultant in the sustainable cities program of the Colombian development bank Findeter. In this position I give technical advice to local governments for implementing best urban sustainability
practices and projects in their cities.

Isis Paola NUNEZ FERRERA • Honduras
Associate and Training Workshop Coordinator, Architecture Sans Frontieres – United
Kingdom
I have been actively engaged in ESD since 2009, as teaching assistant and studio tutor at various universities developing new pedagogic methods for sustainable urban interventions; and since 2010, as an
associate of Architecture Sans Frontieres - United Kingdom (ASF-UK). My main accomplishment in ESD
has been my contribution to the development and dissemination of the ‘Change by Design’ training
programme at ASF-UK. During its 4 years this programme has achieved:• Over 100 students and young professionals from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, trained in innovative methods for inclusive neighbourhood upgrading and sustainable urban development, through action-research workshops
in Brazil, Ecuador, Kenya and the United Kingdom.
• Publication of 2 books in English and 1 in Spanish, summarising the Change by Design methodology and the findings of each
workshop.
• Implementation of training events on sustainable urbanisation and inclusive city building, at the UN-Habitat World Urban Forumin Naples, 2012, engaging over 100 participants from different backgrounds.
• Capacity-building support for grassroots organisations and local NGOs on how to engage residents, particularly women andyoung people, more effectively in the improvement of their neighbourhoods and cities. For this purpose we have produced
toolkits and video-based training manuals.
• Dissemination and sharing of the methodology through seminars and lectures in different geographical contexts and advocacy
platforms, including in the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Honduras.

In my various capacities as lecturer, studio tutor and workshop facilitator, I have been in charge of organising and deliveringinternational conferences, student field trips and capacity-building events, while also undertaking innovative research tasks indifferent contexts, including India, Turkey, Brazil, Kenya, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia and the United Kingdom. I also have arecord of transforming findings from these educational and research events into tangible products, including advocacy materials,
policy recommendations, practitioner toolkits, and action plans.

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PARTICIPANT PROFILESNarayan SILVA • Brazil
Programme Organizer and Facilitator, China Green Student Forum2007-2008 - Worked in Auroville (an international ecovillage in India) and joined various ESD initiatives
there;
2008-2011 - Co-founded and led REI Rio (International Students Network), a social enterprise focusedon cultural exchange and non-formal ESD that is now present in 5 cities in Brazil. It has involved hundreds of volunteers and benefited thousands of people through programs such as classes for children
in slums, numerous integration trips and support of local NGO projects;
2009 - Volunteered at the Earthchild Project, an NGO with focus on ESD in South Africa;
2009 - Joined the Innovation and Sustainability Lab, a project by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro that teaches Ecological
Footprint in schools of local poor communities;
2010 - Volunteered at Ute Bock, an NGO that provides support for asylum-seekers in Austria;
2011 - Completed the international ESD program Gaia Education in Rio de Janeiro;
2013 - Graduated cum laude the MSc in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability in Sweden, with a thesis on strategic andtransformative ESD. We researched 6 of the most innovative and transformative programs in Europe to find out what are the key
elements of transformative education, in order to give strategic guidance for designing new transformative ESD programs;
2013 - Volunteered at AYA Volunteer in Russia as an ESD facilitator;
2013 - Worked at the YES Network, an incubator for early-stage social enterprises in Hong Kong as an ESD facilitator and consultant;
2014 - Currently in Beijing, working at the China Green Student Forum. Facilitating workshops and conversations, and designingand hosting a new transformative ESD and leadership program for university students and young professionals. Also expanding
the research that started in Sweden on transformative ESD, which will become a book/toolkit to support people and organisations who want to improve or design new transformative ESD programs. Finally, co-designing a collaboration platform for youngchange makers from BRICS countries who are passionate about participatory leadership and transformative ESD.

Daniela ZALLOCCO • Argentina
Project Coordinator of UNESCO Associated Schools in Argentina (ASPnet), Argentina
National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO
I have been the ASPnet National Coordinator since 2013. Our network has 120 schools all over Argentina,
which represent different levels and areas of education. In 2013, the main focus of ASP net’s activity was
to connect national standards for education with ASPnet study areas and projects around sustainable
development. Based on that objective, I collaborated in the design and implementation of a contest to
celebrate ASPnet’s 60th anniversary together with Argentina’s celebration of 30 years of democracy. The
contest’s main objective was to recollect and reflect on the way students in ASPnet schools in Argentina
think about democracy. The contest was divided into three categories—photography, essay and video—and three age groups.
As supporting material, we sent to each member school an educational kit developed by the National Ministry of Education. The
best six projects were selected by a National Committee and the winners were invited, with their ASPnet school coordinator, toparticipate in a meeting with others to share their experience and receive their prize. To conclude the activity, an online publication with the winning projects was uploaded to the National Commission’s website.
As this year’s topic for ASPnet, we have selected World Heritage and Sustainable Development. The main focus this year will be toprovide material and training for teachers and students in different ASPnet schools in Argentina regarding UNESCO´s Convention
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and how World Heritage can be dealt with in the classroom
from a cross-curricular perspective. We are also preparing to launch a photography contest inviting ASPnet students to reflect
their local heritage and share it with the world.

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Acknowledgements
Facilitators: Chie Aikawa, Augusto Cuginotti, Hazuki Dwyer, Daisuke Kimura,
Yuko Mishiro, Miho Suzuki, Taiju Suzuki, Keisuke Tanaka, Madoka Tatsuno
Note-takers: Jenny Anne Catembung, Jun Collado, Miho Fukuda, Marino Kaneko,
Tsubasa Kondo, Ryosuke Kusano, Yuka Lee, Leyton Procter
Volunteers: Mayumi Aoyama, Michiyo Fujimoto, Takaya Iida, Koki Inoue,
Ryosuke Kakuyama, Marina Kawaue, Shiho Kinoshita, Hozumi Kumazawa,
Mai Kurosawa, Ryomei Maki, Ayumi Maruyama, Kanako Miyake, Syota Mizuno,
Yuko Morishita, Kayo Nomura, Maiko Okuda, Natsumi Sadakane, Kana Sakamoto,
Junki Shimizu, Kantaro Tabiraki, Akiko Taga, Hibiki Takeda, Tatsuro Yoshimura

YC