RCE Contributions to aMore Sustainable World:
Celebrating Five Years ofInnovative Projects on
Education for Sustainable
Development (2015–2019)

Editors:
Philip Vaughter
Nancy Pham

Table of Contents

Foreword  2
Featured RCE Award-Winning
Projects  4
Editorial  6This document should be cited as:
RCE Contributions to a More Sustainable World:
Celebrating Five Years of Innovative Projects on
Education for Sustainable Development (2015–2019)
UNU-IAS, Tokyo, Japan, 2020

Technical editing and coordination:
Nancy Pham, Communications Coordinator, UNU-IAS
Design and layout:
martinbrombacher.de

Cultivating Pathways
to Sutainability
RCE Greater Burlington(Americas)  12

Asia-Pacific SDG Youth
Challenge 2018
RCE Greater Western Sydney
and RCE Yogyakarta(Asia-Pacific)  30

Community Mobile Solar
Powered Tech Classrooms
RCE Kano (Africa)  48

Promoting ESD through Food,
Agriculture, and Environment
in Rural Communities in
Cambodia
RCE Greater Phnom Penh
(Asia-Pacific)  24

Email: rceservicecentre@unu.edu
Web: www.rcenetwork.org/portal

Noah Silliman | unsplash

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the
publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNU-IAS concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its
authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.

2

Chapter Prosperity  46

Addressing SDG 4.7: Values
and Learning for Sustainability
in Initial Teacher Education
RCE Scotland (Europe)  20

© United Nations University Institute for the
Advanced Study of Sustainability 2020
Published by:United Nations University, Institute for the
Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)
5-53-70, Jingumae, Shibuya
Tokyo 150-8925, Japan

Print ISBN: 978-92-808-4647-8
e-ISBN: 978-92-808-4597-6

Chapter Planet  28

School Empowerment andNutritional Supplementation
through Agriculture
RCE Minna (Africa)  16

Editing:
Dr. Philip Vaughter, Research Fellow, UNU-IAS

The contributing authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of thefacts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which
are not necessarily those of UNU or UNU-IAS and do not commit either the
University or the Institute.

Chapter People  10

Thread Counts
RCE Severn (Europe)  52
Coastal Institute for
Sustainability
Leadership (CISL)RCE Georgetown (Americas)  34

Green Go! Promoting the Roleof Green Infrastructure in
Sustainable Developmentof Non-Urban Areas
RCE Warsaw Metropolitan(Europe)  38

Lake Victoria Catchment
Environmental Education
Project
RCE Greater Masaka(Africa)  42

Improving a Public
Transport System in Inje
RCE Inje (Asia-Pacific)  56

Sustainable
Entrepreneurship in Schools
RCE Curitiba-Paraná(Americas)  60

Next Steps  65
List of Abbreviations  68
GAP Priority Action Areas  68
References and Contacts  691

Foreword

Foreword

But how could these overarching principles andgoals be implemented globally, and what may be
the unique contribution of RCEs in this universal
effort? The case studies comprising this publication
show a diversity of examples and stories of successfrom different parts of the world.
The RCE concept is based on the participation ofa wide range of actors, who share their interestin sustainability transformation of their region.
As demonstrated here, not only students andteachers (some in training) and youth may be
involved, but also local communities, governments
and municipality representatives, business andagricultural stakeholders, or those working with
ESD in the context of the city (museums, firefighter’s
unions, women’s associations). Each RCE mustfind a common ground for dialogue, coordinate
processes of learning between actors, and addresspressing local issues in a participatory way, to2

initiate concrete improvements in its concernedarea of activities. The projects and practices
demonstrated in these case studies mostly have along-term impact (such as raising literacy, mapping
green infrastructure and developing an interactive
geoportal, improving public transport), or may
serve as inspiring events for others. All of theshowcased initiatives are anchored in education,
employing knowledge to generate transition – thisoften requires an innovative approach and leads
to a shift in educational discourse. New methods
are introduced, such as the global peer-to-peer
model and role play simulations, field work andexperiential learning, project work and engagement
workshops.
The RCE network is a tool to build social capital in ageographically defined region, promote bottom-up
initiatives on this basis, and develop projects thatdraw upon local resources and possibilities. This is a
way to shape global sustainability processes from a
local starting point, and implement the Sustainable
Development Goals in a context-specific way.
Learning processes initiated by RCEs not only raisesustainability knowledge and awareness among
citizens, they also empower a wide range of actors
to inspire or lead others, thus shaping the society of
the future. The great contribution of this publicationis that it presents case studies in a structured way,
making its messages comparable and accessible ina diversity of contexts.
Dr. Jana Dlouhá
Advisory Board Member
COPERNICUS Alliance – European Network on
Higher Education for Sustainable Development
March 2020

Perry Grone | unsplash

The Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
Network was launched in 2005, the same year
the UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (DESD) officially began, with theaim to demonstrate that ESD principles can workin practice. The Decade is finished and also its
follow-up – the UNESCO Global Action
Programme (GAP) on ESD – which has now
been replaced by the Education 2030 Agenda.
The RCE founding principles remain and the
network continues to grow, while the Global
RCE Service Centre remains to initiate discussions
at local, regional and global levels, bringing new
perspectives on ESD: its goals, learning processes
and quality in general.

RCE Scotland

RCE Greater Burlington
RCE Severn

RCE Warsaw Metropolitan

RCE Inje

RCE Georgetown

Featured
RCE Award-Winning
Projects

RCE Greater Phnom Penh

RCE Kano
RCE Minna

RCE Greater Masaka
RCE Yogyakarta

A Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) is a network of existing formal, nonformal and informal organisations that facilitate education for sustainable
development (ESD) in local and regional communities. An RCE can involve
local school systems, higher education institutions, environmental NGOs,
museums, zoos, botanical gardens, local governments, local enterprises,
volunteer groups, media, civic associations and/or individuals who work inthe spheres of sustainable development such as economic growth, social
development, and environmental protection.

RCE Curitiba-Paraná

RCE Greater Western Sydney

The RCE Awards were created to provide recognition to RCEs thathave provided outstanding service to implement the United Nations’Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through education at the local
and regional level, which draw transformative learning to implement
sustainable development. The projects featured in this publication have allreceived the RCE Award during the five years of the GAP (2015-2019).

RCEs Worldwide
As of April 2020, 175 RCEs have officially been acknowledged by the United Nations University.

Africa & Middle East
Cameroon:• BueaEgypt:• CairoEswatini:• Eswatini
Ghana:• Ghana
Jordan:• JordanKenya:• Central Kenya• Greater Nairobi• Greater Pwani• Kakamega-Western
Kenya• Mau Ecosystem
Complex• Mount Kenya• North Rift

• Nyanza• South Rift
Lesotho:• Lesotho
Malawi:• ZombaMozambique:• Maputo
Namibia:• Khomas-Erongo
Nigeria:• Greater Yenagoa• Ilorin• Kano• Lagos• Minna• Ogun• Port Harcourt• Zaria

EuropeSenegal:• Senegal
South Africa:• Gauteng• KwaZulu-Natal• Makana andRural Eastern Cape
Tanzania:• Dar es Salaam
Uganda:• Greater Eastern
Uganda• Greater Kampala• Greater Masaka• Greater Mbarara
Zambia:• Lusaka
Zimbabwe:• Harare• MutareAlbania:• Middle Albania
Austria:• Graz-Styria• Vienna
Belarus:• Belarus
Czech Republic:• Czechia
Denmark:• DenmarkFinland:• Helsinki Metropolitan
France:• Bordeaux Aquitaine• Brittany• Paris Seine
Germany:• Hamburg• Munich• Nuremberg• Oldenburger
Münsterland

The Americas• Ostwürttemberg• Ruhr• Southern Black Forest• Stettiner Haff
Greece:• Central Macedonia• CreteIreland:• Dublin
Italy:• Euroregion Tyrol
Lithuania:• Vilnius
Poland:• Warsaw Metropolitan
Portugal:• Açores• Creias-Oeste• Porto Metropolitan
Area
Regional:• Rhine Meuse

Russia:• Nizhny Novgorod• Samara
Serbia:• Vojvodina
Spain:• Galicia
Sweden:• North Sweden• Skane• Uppsala-Gotland• West Sweden
United Kingdom:• East Midlands• Greater Manchester• London• North East
• Scotland• Severn• Wales• Yorkshire & Humberside

Argentina:• Chaco• Cuenca del Plata
Brazil:• Curitiba-Parana• Rio de Janeiro• Sao Paulo
Canada:• British Columbia• Greater Sudbury• Mauricie/Centredu-Quebec• PeterboroughKawarthaHaliburton• Saskatchewan• Tantramar
Colombia:• Bogota
Guatemala:• Guatemala

Asia-Pacific
Mexico:• Borderlands
Mexico-USA• Western Jalisco
Peru:• Lima-Callao
Puerto Rico:• Puerto Rico
United Statesof America:• Georgetown• Grand Rapids• Greater Atlanta• Greater Burlington• Greater Portland• North Texas• Salisbury• Shenandoah Valley
Venezuela:• Gran Caracas

Australia:• Gippsland• Greater Western
Sydney• Murray-Darling• Tasmania• Western Australia
Bangladesh:• Greater Dhaka• Sundarbans
Cambodia:• Greater Phnom
Penh
China:• Anji• Beijing• Greater Shangri-la• Hangzhou• Hohhot• Kunming• Qingdao• Tianjin

India:• Bengaluru• Chandigarh• Chennai• Delhi• East Arunachal
Pradesh• Goa• Guwahati• Jammu• Kodagu• Kozhikode• Lucknow• Mumbai• Pune• Srinagar• Thiruvananthapuram• Tirupati
Indonesia:• Bogor• East Kalimantan• Yogyakarta

Japan:• Chubu• Greater Sendai• Hokkaido Central• Hyogo-Kobe• Kitakyushu• Okayama• Omuta• Yokohama
Kyrgyzstan:• Kyrgyzstan
Malaysia:• Central
Semenanjung• Greater Gombak• Iskandar• Kuching• Penang
New Zealand:• Otago• WaikatoPhilippines:• Bohol• Cebu• Ilocos• Northern Mindanao
Regional:• Pacific Island
Countries
Republic of Korea:• Changwon• Dobong-gu• Incheon• Inje• Tongyeong• UljuThailand:• Cha-am• Maha Sarakham• Sakon Nakhon• Trang
Vietnam:• Southern Vietnam 5

Editorial

Education for the Implementationof Sustainable Development
Dr. Philip Vaughter, Research Fellow, UNU-IAS

What is human development? If you ask asociologist, an ecologist, and an educator, you may
get three completely different answers. Humandevelopment can mean many different things
to different people, but for the United Nations(UN) system, it is measured using the Human
Development Index (HDI). The HDI is a composite
index of life expectancy, education, and per capita
income indicators for the citizenry of a given nation,
which was developed by economists Mahbub ul
Haq and Amartya Sen in order to give the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) an
objective measurement for these parametersof human well-being. A nation scores higher in
HDI when: the lifespan of the average citizen in a
population is longer; the education level obtainedby the average number of citizens is higher; and,the gross domestic products (GDP) per capita ishigher. It’s important to note that the HDI is anindex of potential human development – themaximum level of human development that could
be achieved if there were no inequalities within agiven nation (UNDP 2010).
If we are to keep this definition of humandevelopment in mind, humanity has madetremendous progress during the latter half of thetwentieth century and into the first decades of
the twenty-first. Indeed, between 2000 and 2015
– the period of time for the implementation of
the UN’s Millennium Development Goals – hugechanges were witnessed in these traditional
spheres of human development. Trends towards
better health and longer lives were seen in mostregions of the globe, as was better access to food6and potable water in most regions. Millions werelifted out of poverty, with reduced poverty rates
especially salient in China, Latin America, and manysmall island states. Furthermore, more children arebeing educated in school systems than ever before,
with the numbers of boys and girls in attendance
reaching closer to gender parity than ever before inmany regions.
However, our patterns of development havecaused problems that threaten to undo the great
progress that has been made. While significant gains
have been made in the spheres of human health,education, and economic prosperity, the current
development trends do not benefit all of us, withmillions still struggling to have these basic needs
met. Furthermore, our consumption of material
resources in pursuit of these development gains
threatens the very environmental systems that
we are dependent on for our survival. If we are tocontinue to make progress in human development –or indeed to maintain what progress we have made– humanity will have to pioneer a new approach todevelopment that makes environmental, social, andeconomic systems not only more fair and equitable,
but also more sustainable.
In response to this imperative, the United Nations
launched the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in September of 2015 – a set of 17 Goals
that were sourced from the ground-up from
communities around the world, and that challenge
societies around the world about how to safeguard
human development gains while setting the world
on a more sustainable path to development.

The idea of sustainable development has a longand nuanced history in many of the world’s
cultures, but within the United Nations system,
the operational definition comes from the 1987
Brundtland Commission, stating that sustainable
development is:“Meeting the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.”
With this definition in mind, the questions
became – how do we develop sustainability?
Humanity has long used our ability to learn inorder to adapt our behaviour to the situation wefind ourselves in. Our ability to educate and learn
from others is critical for this adaptive behaviour,as the exchange of knowledge and skills throughteaching and learning allows for us to create aknowledge base that is not individual, but societal,
where the innovations and expertise of individuals
can be transferred to the masses through formal,
non-formal, and informal education channels.
Because education allows for the swift uptakeof knowledge and practices at the societal
level, Education for Sustainable Development(ESD) is an especially compelling mechanism
for the implementation of sustainable
development. While ESD encompasses manydifferent components and can be highly context
dependent in regards to how it is implemented on
different topics, one helpful way to think about itin contrast to conventional formal education is toillustrate which key competencies it emphasises.
Wiek et al (2011) describe these key competencies
as follows:• Systems Thinking Competence: the ability
to analyse complex systems across different
domains (including environmental, social,and economic);• Anticipatory Competence: the ability toforecast a future using sustainable
development principles;• Normative Competence: the ability to assessthe (un)sustainability of current and/or
futures of socio-ecological systems and thento collectively create a sustainable vision
through negotiation of values, principles,
goals, and targets;• Interpersonal Competence: the ability tofacilitate collaborative and participatory
problem-solving on sustainable
development issues; and• Strategic Competence: the ability to translateknowledge and strategy into action onsustainability.
These key competencies allow for learners to go
beyond a banking method of education whereknowledge is retained but not applied, andstresses a holistic approach to applied problem
solving for the sustainable development ofsocio-ecological systems.
With this tremendous potential in mind, theGovernment of Japan proposed an initiativearound ESD at the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development. Three years later,
the United Nations General Assembly issued aresolution that between 2005 and 2014, there
would be a Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (DESD) that would begin to
integrate the principles, values, and practicesof sustainable development into all aspects ofeducation and learning (MOFA 2007).
In response to this initiative, United Nations
University Institute for the Advanced Studyof Sustainability (UNU-IAS) launched its own
initiative to link the United Nations Sustainable
Development Agenda to education institutions
operating in communities around the world– the Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on
Education for Sustainable Development. An RCE
7

Editorial

is a network of existing formal (including primaryschools, secondary schools, vocational training
institutions, and universities) and non-formal(including local governments, NGOs, museums,
botanical gardens, zoos, and parks) education
organisations that facilitate education forsustainable development within local and/or
regional communities. Because of this uniquesynthesis of actors from different sectors, an RCE
can access a pool of experts from different fields
to respond to different sustainable development
challenges. This pool of experts are then able tobetter support and facilitate needed changes
through innovative educational approaches.
With the first RCEs acknowledged in 2005, by
the end of the DESD in 2014 there were over 120
RCEs worldwide. The RCE Awards were launchedin 2014 at the end of the DESD to showcase theinnovative ESD projects that RCEs had piloted
over the preceding decade.
Because of the great enthusiasm for ESD, theUN General Assembly announced a second
commitment period to the topic – the Global
Action Programme (GAP) on ESD – between
2015 and 2019. The main objectives of the GAP
were to reorient existing education and learning
toward ESD, while simultaneously strengthening
education and learning in all agendas,
programmes, and activities that promotesustainable development (UNESCO 2015).
Since the launch of the GAP in 2015, the RCEAwards have become an annual showcase
for ESD projects conducted over a one-year
period. With the launch of the SDGs the same
year, the categories for the awards were chosen
to correspond to the 17 Goals, in order todemonstrate how education and learning canbe utilised for the implementation of the entire
sustainable development agenda.
In order to be eligible, a given ESD project must:8• Be a partnership between at least two
different stakeholders within a given RCE;
• Have been implemented within theprevious 12 months;• Be submitted by all of the stakeholders
involved in the given project; and• Not be previously recognised for an RCEAward – even for successful projects thatrun over successive years.
Eligible ESD projects are reviewed by a poolof ESD scholars and practitioners from the
Ubuntu Committee of Peers to the RCEs
(including experts from UNU-IAS, UNESCO,UNEP, IAU, and the Copernicus Alliance), as well
as Regional Advisers to the RCEs. The projects
are assessed on a range of criteria, including
the contextualisation of the sustainable
development challenges in the region, thedemonstration of transformative learning, thecoordination among the project partners, thescale of engagement with the community,
and its engagement with any existing or
proposed policies relating to education and/or
sustainable development.
With the conclusion of the GAP and theannouncement that the next commitment
period for ESD within the United Nations will
be ESD for 2030, now is an excellent time totake a retrospective of some of the outstanding
projects that have received the RCE Awardduring the five years of the GAP. Within thisoverview, you will see projects from educators
across the globe working on a wide variety
of sustainable development challenges
spanning the 17 SDGs, through teaching andlearning. We have tried to pull a representative
sampling from across the three domains ofsustainable development; people, representing
outstanding contributions from education
projects that seek to make social systems
more sustainable and equitable; prosperity,
representing some truly amazing education

projects that seek to shift our economic systems
towards more sustainable modes of operation;and planet, showcasing some inspiring projects
that seek to use teaching and learning to protect
the earth’s ecosystems.
However, throughout the projects featured
here, it becomes clear that any project related
to education for sustainable development is
not a siloed effort that addresses one of the
key competencies for ESD nor just one domain
or one goal in relation to sustainability. Whilean RCE will typically use a given Sustainable
Development Goal as a starting place for a
project, other domains, goals, and themes are
woven into a project with a number of different
competencies to give the learners an experiencein using systems thinking so critical to education
for sustainable development.
RCE Minna and RCE Greater Phnom Penh bothfocus in on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), but theseprojects on teaching sustainable agriculture
practices also address the need to learn
about sustainable models of consumption
and production (SDG 12) and the role of the
farming sector in regards to climate action (SDG
13) and protecting life on land (SDG 15). RCE
Severn frames a project on sustainable design
through SDG 12 (sustainable consumption andproduction), but also addresses how students
and small business owners can take thisknowledge and apply it for decent work andeconomic growth (SDG 8).
RCE Curitiba-Parana and RCE Scotland bothstress the importance of normative competence
in taking stock of the current state of sustainable
development in their regions, and training
teachers as well as students to develop
curriculum that allows for learners to create
visions of what local sustainability looks like.
Both of these projects showcase that ESD – with
its ability to engage with the socio-ecologicalsystems human societies are embedded in – iscritical for relevant and quality education (SDG 4)
to be achieved across the world’s school systems.
RCE Inje and RCE Georgetown stress the use of
education for both anticipatory and interpersonal
competence. These RCEs bring diverse
stakeholders together across their communities
to strategise what their cities will look like inrelation to climate change and how their cities can
respond to climate change through climate action(SDG 13), either through mitigating greenhousegas emissions by learning to use a mass transit
system, or through educating about adapting withmanaged coastal retreat to sea level rise. Indeed,
RCEs all explicitly use interpersonal competencestressed in ESD in all of their education activities,
as RCEs bring together school systems, universities,
city government, and many other stakeholders
in partnership to address the sustainable
development challenges facing their regions
through education, training, and public awareness.
Within this publication, a preview of how
education can contribute to a variety ofsustainable development issues is offeredacross all of the projects, which stress using
strategic competence to actionable and concrete
results. The projects feature not only classroom
curriculums within formal school systems, but
training and public awareness initiatives that
seek to engage learners beyond school pupils –including parents, teachers, and communities atlarge. We are never truly done learning, and if weare to truly address the sustainable development
challenges facing us with the urgency required,modalities of engaging adult and senior learners– like the ones offered here – need to go hand inhand with what we are educating youth with informal education. It is hoped the award-winning
projects featured in this publication can inspireother educators to craft their own initiatives andrespond to global sustainability challenges withconcrete actions for learning within their own
communities.
9ChapterPeopleCultivating Pathways
to Sustainability
RCE Greater Burlington (Americas)  12

School Empowerment andNutritional Supplementation
through Agriculture
RCE Minna (Africa)  16

Elaine Casap | unsplash

Addressing SDG 4.7: Values and Learning
for Sustainability in Initial Teacher Education
RCE Scotland (Europe)  20

Promoting ESD through Food, Agriculture, andEnvironment in Rural Communities in Cambodia
RCE Greater Phnom Penh
(Asia-Pacific)  24

11

Sarah M. Webb, Shelburne Farms

Near East Bay Park, Georgetown, SC.

support of RCE Greater Burlington network members, theteams prioritise the 17 SDGs according to which ones they
feel are most critical to creating a sustainable future. They
then work with educators to provide professional learning,
formulate local or school-based projects and implement
them throughout the academic year. Near the end of theschool year, the teams regather to report back to one
another on their work throughout the previous year, sharestrategies and plan for the next year.
Activities/Practices
Educators from within RCE Greater Burlington’s partnerorganisations partnered with students and teachers in
the region’s secondary schools to integrate the SDGs into
middle and high school curriculum and projects. RCE
educators from outside of the school system (including
Shelburne Farms, the University of Vermont, and UP for
Learning) provided coaching on SDG topics and themes,
as well as how the SDGs present themselves in the local
area. Formulating ideas and opportunities for student
voices and projects in addressing these global goals at the
local level is at the heart of this project. Student projects
have ranged across the state to include efforts to address
mental health and gender equity through restorative
justice/practices, to a student-run business focused onsustainable products. Students have also engaged a wide
variety of community partners and school-based leaders
to implement projects including local conservationgroups for the development of a solar installation

Students arriving at Shelburne Farms to kick off the Cultivating Pathways program.

Chapter People

Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability
RCE Greater Burlington

12

Vermont’s Agency of Education with the work theworld requires to ensure life on the planet.
Objectives
Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability (CPS)
was started to support educators and students inpairing Vermont’s Agency of Education goals andinitiatives with the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and to form a learning
programme in which students create year-longprojects to address the SDGs. Projects focus onbuilding a socially, economically, and ecologicallyjust community at a variety of levels - school, town,
region or globally.
Schools form teams of youth and adults, and thoseteams gather to participate in a day-long kick-off
event at the start of their school year. With theStudents, part of the Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability program,discuss and prioritise SDGs for local projects.
Sarah M. Webb, Shelburne Farms

Rationale
RCE Greater Burlington and its partners recognisethat Pre-K-12 education is an essential factor
in moving communities toward sustainability.
Educators and students play a key role in learningand advancing community knowledge andcompetencies in justice-centred practices, climate
education, and place-based innovations. Whileschools are a place for learning about the past tounderstand our present day issues, they are also
important places for future thinking and building
the skills and mindsets necessary to create morejust and healthy communities. Educators and theirstudents are burdened with decades worth ofcurriculum in just thirteen years and need support
in integrating skills, content, and relevant reallife issues. Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability
was born out of the desire to help educatorsand students do the necessary work outlined by

RCE Greater Burlington

Region:Americas		
Country:

United States
4

SDG(s):
Quality Education
Theme(s):Youth, Curriculum
Development
Target audience(s):Secondary
Ecosystem(s):Urban/Peri-Urban, Suburban,
Rural, Lake, Mountain

GAP Priority Action Area(s): 5
Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• University of Vermont• Shelburne Farms• City of Burlington
Year awarded RCE Award:
2018

PEOPLE RCE Greater Burlington // Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability

Each of the various partners has increased
their knowledge and understanding of ESD,
the SDGs, and how student voice is a powerful
agent of change in schools and communities.
Educators have deepened their capacity
to integrate sustainability issues into theircurriculum and address personalised learning
goals with students. Additionally, teachers havegrown leadership capacities in their schools
and districts as leaders in ESD. Students haveincreased their capacity for self-directed learning,action planning to effect change in schools andcommunities, and an overall increase in selfefficacy and civic engagement. Organisations
have developed capacities in serving middle
and high schools, further understanding
age-appropriate activities to engage youth
in sustainability issues relevant to theirorganisations and contextualised to their local
contexts.

Results
Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability has resulted
in an overall increase in student and teacher
engagement in using the SDGs to inform
curriculum and student projects in the region.
The project has led to tools and resources being
developed for both educators and students todevelop action plans and projects related toaddressing the SDGs at the local level. Anotherpractice that has emerged is for students tocommunicate across the region about sustainable
development using an online platform. Students
share projects, local challenges, and the outcomesof their work both online and in person at theend of the programme. Additionally, there havebeen videos created to document their efforts
including a student-run business Cougar Co-op,
and Projects for Hope, both community-based
projects. To date, more than 100 student projects
have been created addressing sustainability

Sarah M. Webb, Shelburne Farms

in one community. Another group worked
within their own school and held a Cultivating
Pathways to Sustainability programme for theschool community thereby scaling the effort
to reach hundreds more students. There havebeen wonderful connections between students
and network members, further expanding andstrengthening ESD activities in the Greater
Burlington region.

Middle school students gather to engage in project planning for
year-long community-based projects addressing the SDGs.

Lessons Learned
The programme model is transferable across culturesand countries as it addresses the UN SDGs and offers
an opportunity for global student-led projects. Alreadystudents have been connecting with programmes inAfrica; specifically, Kenya and Rwanda through oneof the RCE network partners. RCE Greater Burlington
believe this programme could be shared globally
through the RCE Network and would welcome thechance to do this in partnership with other RCEs.
The biggest challenge the network partners face iscapacity. One of the benefits of the programme is an
opportunity for students and educators to network in
the region, learn from each other, and connect virtually.
However as the programme has grown over the past
three years, it has become harder to keep the size ofthe launch event and the sharing/closing event to areasonable size to accommodate the aforementioned
goals.

Programme Modelissues in schools and communities in the Greater
Burlington region, two events have been heldeach year of the project for student-educatorgatherings to launch new projects and share theresults of completed ones, and there has been ageneral increase in student-led workshops andpresentations on sustainability in general and theSDGs in particular throughout the region.

Schools form teams ofyouth and adults

Kick-off event – teams choose aselection of SDGs to focus on

Sarah M. Webb, Shelburne Farms

A middle school student engages in a group 'chalk-talk' where they 'talk' with other students about issues that are important to them and their communities.

Formulation of local orschool-based projects

Implementation of student projects and teacher
professional learning throughout the year

Meeting for teams to report back on work
conducted, to share strategies, and to planfor the next year

1415

RCE Minna, SENSA Project 2018

RCE Minna

pedagogy and practice around school gardens
and environmental protection. Each of the 15
boarding schools participating in the project set
out to create teaching and learning based aroundthe development and care for a school vegetablegarden with at least five crop varieties, which
would supplement students’ nutrition during
meals. Additionally, each of the participating
schools also created teaching and learning
activities based on the planting and care of fruitand shade trees which supplemented nutritionand provided additional ecosystem services to theschool area.

A disabled student planting his seedling.

Chapter People

Country:

Nigeria2

SDG(s):
Zero Hunger
Theme(s):Agriculture, Forests/Trees

School Empowerment
and Nutrition through
Agriculture
RCE Minna

Students practicing the methods of planting seedlings.

Target audience(s):Secondary, Teacher Education
Ecosystem(s):Agricultural
GAP Priority Action Area(s):2, 4Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• Association of Female
Appointees and Wives of
Niger State Officials(AFAWNSO)• Niger State Urban
Development Board –Ministry of Lands and Housing• Development Initiative ofWest Africa (DIWA)
Year awarded RCE Award:
2018

Activities/Practices
Each of the participating schools created a school
garden and a stand of trees that were actively
tended by students with the supervision of facultyand experts from RCE Minna. Lessons learned in
the classroom were applied within the garden on
soil fertility, water conservation, and the nutrients

Rationale
Minna is the capital city of Niger State in west-central Nigeria,
approximately 150 kilometres from the capital of Nigeria in
Abuja. While Minna lies close to the bustling capital, the primaryeconomic activities around Minna consist of farming and informal
commercial activities. Despite an economy focused around foodproduction, many students in formal schooling lack awarenessof agricultural practices. Furthermore, quality nutrition remains aparamount concern for youth in the region. To tackle these issues
simultaneously, RCE Minna designed a programme to revive
school-gardening practices in the region, focusing on sustainablehorticulture and the planting of orchards and other trees.

RCE Minna, SENSA Project 2018

Region:Africathat each of the vegetable and fruit crops yield.
This presented an applied way for students toincorporate lessons from chemistry, geography,
and human health into their school day. Some of
the crops planted can be harvested up to threetimes during a school year, and were incorporated
into cooking lessons for the students for theirmeals. During school breaks, the vegetables were
harvested and sold to the surrounding community
to avoid waste. This not only created a small
fund for care and maintenance of the plants, but
can offer the students lessons on micro-financeand basic economic principles such as supply
and demand. Most critically, teachers used theday-to-day care of the gardens and tree stands toshowcase the impact humanity – both collectively
and as individuals – can have on the surrounding
environment. Students saw firsthand the resultsof stewardship vs. negligence, and could gain an
appreciation for the complexity of the interactions
within nature.

Objectives
The primary objectives of the project were to ensure thatboarding schools in the area were developing awarenessand commitment among their students on agriculture andenvironmental stewardship through the establishment of17

Tree planting practice for secondary schools.

Students of Government Girls College Tegina, weeding their
SENSA vegetable garden.

Results
Currently, over 2,000 trees have been planted andhave survived as of the end of 2018. In addition
to the thriving vegetable gardens, the landscapesaround the schools have started to change, witha pleasant micro-climate that provides shade andhabitat. A video of the project has been developed
to share the concept of the project widely with thehope that other RCEs and educational organisations
will develop similar concepts to encourage the useof school gardens and tree plantings as educational
tools that can improve lives. Understanding andreplicating this idea of using education as a means
to care for the environment while simultaneously
enhancing nutrition is a worthy goal for any
education programme.

Lessons Learned
This project has succeeded in improving theskills of school teachers and their students
in the best practices for planting and care oftrees and vegetables. Practical demonstrations
from experts from RCE Minna were critical to
showcase the faculty's best practices so thatthey could in turn demonstrate these to theirstudents. This was especially critical aroundissues related to the depth required whenplanting tree saplings, the construction ofgarden beds, and how to safely transplant. It was
critical to educate teachers so they had the best
knowledge to ensure a high survival rate among
seedlings. In addition, other workshops were
offered to both teachers and students from

RCE Minna, SENSA Project 2018

RCE Minna, SENSA Project 2018

RCE Minna, SENSA Project 2018

PEOPLE RCE Minna // School Empowerment and Nutrition through Agriculture

SENSA Sensitization visit to a secondary school by RCE Minna, focusing on the importance of trees to the environment.

RCE Minna to supplement the regular course
curriculum, so teachers would have the skills
necessary to create lessons around basic businessand financial literacy, conflict management,
and environmental awareness and sustainable

15

boarding schools haveparticipated in the project.

RCE Minna, SENSA Project 2018

Advocacy visit and distribution of tree seedlings by RCE Minna officials.

18

Lessons in the classroom areapplied within the garden on:

development in relation to the horticulture activities
they were engaged with. These supplementarytrainings for teachers provided by RCE Minna
were critical to the success of the project andits continuation.

2,000
Over

trees have been planted.

• Soil fertility• Water conservation• Nutrition

19

Betsy King

RCE Scotland

University of the West of Scotland ESD workshop.

Chapter People

Addressing SDG 4.7: Values andLearning for Sustainability in Initial
Teacher Education
RCE Scotland

Rationale
Scotland is a country within the United Kingdom
with a population of approximately 5.4 million. The
natural environment of the region is diverse; fromlarge urban areas to uninhabitable islands, and fromhighlands to lochs (lakes) and lowlands. However,even in very urban areas, there is an appreciation
for the region’s natural beauty with the majority
of inhabitants directly exposed to the naturalenvironment regularly. This exposure is likely tocontribute to a general appreciation for and desire
to preserve natural resources, embedded within the
Scottish psyche.
Scotland has partial self-government within the UKwith devolved legislative powers over matters suchas education, health and transport, as specified in
the Scotland Acts 1998 and 2012.
20

The policy framework in place in Scotland to address
SDG 4.7 and ESD in general is embedded within
Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence. The General
Teaching Council for Scotland's (GTCS) Professional
Standards for teachers require that they demonstrate
ESD in their practice. However implementation inschools requires that all educators are able to address
sustainability in their practice. This starts with theteacher educators in universities who are responsible
for programmes for trainee teachers. This strategic
project convened by RCE Scotland aimed to promotecollaboration that would support the embedding of
ESD across all teacher education programmes in all
the eight universities responsible for teacher training,
thereby having a positive impact on both the skills
and knowledge of teachers and ultimately on young
people.

The project contributes to the Global Action Programmeon Education for Sustainable Development – Objective 1“to reorient education and learning so that everyone has
the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills, values andattitudes that empower them to contribute to sustainable
development”, with a focus on Priority Action Area 3:‘Building capacities of educators and trainers’.
Objectives
The aim of this project was to help teacher educators in
Scotland’s universities to work together to respond to
the imperative to address ESD in all their courses andprogrammes, as a contribution to SDG 4.7, thereby having
a positive impact on the values, skills and knowledge ofteachers and ultimately on the young people they teach.
By promoting collaboration between all eight universities
involved in initial teacher education (ITE) in Scotland, thisproject focused on supporting teacher educators to embed
Values and Learning for Sustainability in their ITE courses
and programmes. In the third year of the project a group of
newly qualified teachers from each of the ITE institutions
were supported to develop a school-based Practitioner
Enquiry around a values and learning for sustainability
theme. The aim was to help them to interrogate andimprove their practice to have a positive impact on thelearning of their students.
Activities/Practices
Collaboration between partners (GTCS, educators from theeight initial teacher education universities, and teachers)
developed and piloted a reflection and development toolthat is fit for purpose, and built universities’ commitment to
its use. Collaboration has led to the development of interuniversity research and conference papers (Colucci-Gray, L.
et al., eds. 2019).
Teachers were supported through webinars, online
collaboration, and a seminar to develop an ESD practitioner
enquiry in the classroom, demonstrating the positive
impact of university course programmes on practice andlearner outcomes.

Region:Europe			Country:

Scotland,
United Kingdom
4

SDG(s):
Quality Education
Theme(s):Curriculum Development
Target audience(s):Higher Education, Primary,Secondary, Teacher Education
Ecosystem(s):Grassland, Wetlands, Forest,
Fresh Water, Urban/Peri-urban

GAP Priority Action Area(s): 3
Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• General Teaching Council
for Scotland• University of Aberdeen• University of Dundee• University of Edinburgh• University of Glasgow• University of the Highlands
and Islands• University of Strathclyde• University of Stirling• University of West Scotland
Linkages to education and/or
sustainable development
policies:
National:• Scottish Government Learning
for Sustainability Vision 2030+
Report 2017 and Action Plan 2019
• General Teaching Council
for Scotland Professional
Standards for Educators• How Good is Our School
Self-Evaluation Framework(Version 4) – Scotland
Year awarded RCE Award:
2018

PEOPLE RCE Scotland // Addressing SDG 4.7: Values and Learning for Sustainability in Initial Teacher Education

693,251 students( 4,292 from 2017)

6,823 special

2,502 schools

50,099 teachers( 636 from 2017)

1,883 special

Primary
SecondarySpecialSchools( 12 from 2017)

133 special
357 secondary

3,000
2,500
2,000

155
365

149
364

145
362

144
361

141
359

135
360

133
357

2,064

2,056

2,048

2,039

2,031

2,019

2,012

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

6,953

6,956

6,940

6,871

6,668

6,654

6,823

293,562

289,164

284,762

281,939

280,983

281,993

286,152

370,680

377,382

385,212391,148396,697

400,312400,276

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2,026

2,020

1,974

1,911

1,869

1,836

1,883

23,98023,69523,401

23,05922,95723,15023,317

22,68522,90522,96023,42523,92024,477

24,899

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

1,500
286,152 secondary

23,317 secondary

400,276 primary

24,899 primary(Source: Summary Statistics for Schools in
Scotland No. 9: 2018 Edition, Chapter 2,
Scottish Government).

(Source: Summary Statistics for Schools in
Scotland No. 9: 2018 Edition, Chapter 2,
Scottish Government).

Results
The impact of the project has been:
1. Initial Teacher Education Courses
and Programmes:
The Reflection and Development Tool microsite
on the GTCS website is an ongoing significant
support to all of Scotland’s ITE institutions.
During the period of the project there has been
an increased integration of Values and ESD inuniversity courses and programmes that havebeen submitted for GTCS accreditation.
2. University Staff:
There has been an increased level of collaborative
thinking and discussions on Values Educationand ESD within and across the ITE institutions
sharing approaches and practice. This has
resulted in a research focused publication andongoing collaboration.
3. Student Teachers:
Student teachers are being inspired to address
the values and Learning for Sustainability
requirements of the GTCS Professional Standards
and those involved in practitioner enquiries
reported considerable positive benefits for theirstudents.
4. Scottish Education System:
We expect Values and Learning for Sustainability
to be strengthened in the upcoming review of
the Professional Standards and further support
22

1,000
2,012 primary

500(Source: Summary Statistics for Schools in
Scotland No. 9: 2018 Edition, Chapter 2,
Scottish Government).

13.6

Student – Teacher ratio(same as 2017)0

Pupils800,000
700,000
600,000
500,000
400,000

Student figure comprises of Primary, Secondary, and Special categories.
Teacher figure comprises of Primary, Secondary, Special, and Centrally
employed (school) categories. (Source: Summary Statistics for Schools in
Scotland No. 9: 2018 Edition, Chapter 2, Scottish Government).

300,000
200,000
100,000
0

for ESD has also been included in the Scottish
		Government Vision 2030+ Learning for
Sustainability Action Plan (2019).
Lessons Learned
It is evident that leadership is required in theteacher training universities to ensure that the
principles and practices of ESD are embedded in all
courses and programmes. The project engaged both‘champions’ of ESD and senior managers to ensure
success. Teacher educators are potentially powerful
agents of change in the educational response
to sustainable development, but themselves
require considerable support in acquiring thenecessary knowledge, skills, values, motivation andcommitment to introduce ESD into their teaching
and institutions.

Teachers
60,00050,00040,00030,00020,00010,0000(Source: Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland No. 9: 2018 Edition, Chapter 2, Scottish Government).

More information
Learning for Sustainability Microsite
Learning for Sustainability Scotland
23

PLANET // RCE Award Winners Projects Publication

Objectives
This ESD project has the following three objectives:
1) To build the capacity of agricultural extension
officers and other staff in the Provincial
Department of Agriculture, Forestry, andFisheries (PDAFF) and the District Officeof Agriculture (DOA) in regards to thedissemination of skills, knowledge, and facilities
for a cyclic use of natural resources in farming;2) To use education for sustainable development
to promote sustainable farming practices tolocal farmers; and3) To use education for sustainable development
to promote conditions for the sale of agricultural
products with low chemical inputs.

RCE Greater Phnom Penh
ERECON

1) Capacity building for agricultural extension
officers through technical trainings in Cambodia
and Thailand, and through publishing a series ofguidebooks on sustainable farming with cyclicuse of natural resources with the RCE members;2) Building collaboration among universities, local
government, and farmers through workshops andtrainings facilitated by the RCE;
3) Establishing Centres within local government
for promoting sustainable agriculture througheducation and training;
4) Promoting sustainable farming practices basedon cyclic use of natural resources throughagricultural extension services provided to local
Activities/Practices
farmers; andBased on the project’s objectives, through5) Promoting conditions for sales of agricultural
education for sustainable development, improved
products with low chemical inputs through public
farming conditions based on sustainable agriculture
information campaigns.
were set up in the project areas. The following are

Farmers attend a workshop on sustainable agricultural practices.

Region:Asia-PacificCountry:

Cambodia4
12

SDG(s):
Zero Hunger
Quality Education
Responsible Consumption
and Production
Theme(s):Agriculture, Plants and Animals

Chapter People

Promoting ESD through Food,
Agriculture, and Environment
in Rural Communities in
Cambodia
RCE Greater Phnom Penh

Target audience(s):Community, District and Provincial

Farmers learn and try to make bio-pesticides from plants.

Ecosystem(s):Agricultural
GAP Priority Action Area(s): 5
Language of project:English, Khmer
Contributing organisation(s):• Institute of Environmental
Rehabilitation and Conservation(ERECON), Southeast Asia Office• Provincial Department ofAgriculture, Forestry, andFisheries (PDAFF) – Kampong
Cham• Kampong Cham National
Institute of Agriculture (KNIA)• Royal University of Agriculture Cambodia• Tokyo University of Agriculture Japan
Year awarded RCE Award:
2015

Rationale
In Cambodia, the usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides
has significantly increased to promote agricultural productivity.
However, due to the inappropriate use of agro-chemicals such as
overuse and application without sufficient knowledge, especiallyby small-scale farmers, this practice has caused various problems
to both human and environmental health. Although agricultural
productivity has increased temporarily, environmental issues suchas soil degradation, water contamination from agro-chemicals,
and water degradation through eutrophication have occurred.

ERECON2

the practices employed by the project to meet its
objectives:

Although many farmers realise the adverse impacts of agrochemicals to human and environmental systems, they lackknowledge related to sustainable or alternative farming systems.
Meanwhile, agricultural extension officials who are responsible forenhancing farmers’ knowledge are simply not enough in number
compared to any one assigned area. Hence, the intervention fromthe RCE and its partners such as NGOs and education institutes totackle this problem is indispensable.
25

ERECONPEOPLE RCE Greater Phnom Penh // Promoting ESD through Food, Agriculture, and Environment in Rural Communities in Cambodia

Vegetable farm and paddy field that was applied with compost and bio-pesticide.

After more than five hundred compost boxes
were set in the project area, farmers started tomake compost and apply it in their farmlandcontinuously. Moreover, after received training on
making bio-pesticides from plants, farmers haveapplied bio-pesticides instead of chemical ones.
Through the participatory training, farmers feedback their ideas to the project team to revise media
and focus more on demonstration and practicerather than lecture.

officials to farmers. Farmers were asked to attend
meetings or workshops arranged by the agricultural
office for the given district. Due to the limited
number of extension official staff, the scope of
education was not only one-way, but also very
limited.

Results
Through the series of activities of this five-year
project, agricultural extension officers andfarmers gained more knowledge of sustainable
farming systems and have changed their practices
from conventional ones, which rely heavily on
agricultural chemicals, to sustainable farming
practices that have led to responsible consumption
and production, as well as healthy producers,
consumers, and a healthier environment.

After two years of the project implementation, it
was observed that the knowledge disseminationfrom agricultural extension officials to District
Model Farmers and district farmers to generalfarmers in the project area is well practiced.
District Model Farmers have become the centreof knowledge dissemination to farmers in nearby
communities. Through this type of education,knowledge dissemination has become a two-way
communication. Farmer’s feedback to the project’s
curriculum outputs, such as posters and handouts,
led to the improvement of both the curriculum
and the outreach practices to make messages onsustainable agriculture easier to understand.

Before the project was started, agricultural
knowledge dissemination was a one-way
communication from agricultural extension

The capacity of agricultural extension officers
has been greatly enhanced through technicaltraining and practice in giving lectures to farmers,

26

especially for junior officers. Moreover, due tothe multi-stakeholder approaches, more projectstakeholders participated in the evaluation andmonitoring process at regular intervals. This gives
an opportunity for farmers to feed back theirknowledge and practices learnt from the project’s
activities. Interestingly, some farms of District Model
Farmers in the project have become a learningplace for agricultural students from Kampong ChamNational Institute of Agriculture (KNIA). Farmers
shared their knowledge and sustainable practices
to students in addition to farmers from nearby
communities who regularly visited their farm tolearn and exchange experiences of sustainableagriculture practices.
The project also contributes to the Agricultural
Extension Policy in Cambodia in the aspect ofimproving human resource capacity and capability
in delivering extension services in response to local
needs by building capacity of agricultural extension
officers through a series of trainings. The project
has also contributed to the provincial and district
agricultural strategic plans by promoting farmers in
the province to produce low agro-chemical input
or organic products to local markets. Moreover,the project also has enhanced food security at thehousehold and community level through increased
crop diversity and productivity.

Lessons Learned
As a result of the multi-stakeholder approach
employed in the project, relevant agencies such
as NGOs and educational institutes can play avital role in promoting sustainable agricultural
practices by partnering with local government
agricultural extension services. The outcomes ofthe project can be taken into consideration by the
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,
at the national or sub-national level to involve
more stakeholders and to implement moresustainable agriculture activities.
This is an ongoing project, but the challenges thatwere faced during the project implementation
include the low literacy level of farmers. This has
challenged the RCE to modify its conventional
outreach material – such as pamphlets or
handouts – into demonstrations, which canengage more farmers and make them understandthe content and message of the curriculum
more clearly. Encouraging farmers to monitor
their resource use as well as reciprocal farm
visits to learn from other farmers are some of thepractices that encourage farmers to practice moresustainable agriculture practices.

Crops that farmers have been able to grow sustainably in the project areas include:• Rice• Chilli• Tomato• Lettuce• Lemongrass (in one particular commune)• Mango• Dragon fruit

27

Chapter

PlanetAsia-Pacific SDG Youth
Challenge 2018
RCE Greater Western Sydney
and RCE Yogyakarta(Asia-Pacific)  30

Coastal Institute for Sustainability
Leadership (CISL)RCE Georgetown (Americas)  34

Tom Ohlin | unsplash

Green Go! Promoting the Roleof Green Infrastructure in
Sustainable Developmentof Non-Urban Areas
RCE Warsaw Metropolitan (Europe)  38

Lake Victoria Catchment
Environmental Education
Project
RCE Greater Masaka(Africa)  42

29

RCE Yogyakarta

the Sustainable Development Goals', specifically
Goal 13 (Climate Action) and Goal 14 (Life Below Water).
RCE Greater Western Sydney and RCE Yogyakarta invited
all youth among the Asia-Pacific RCE Youth Network andbeyond to get involved to make a difference in their local
community with on-the-ground projects that address theircommunity needs, the stated Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), and that involved and inspired youth.
Objectives
The main goal of the project was to inspire youth to
make a practical, on-the-ground change in their local
communities through ESD while involving as many
youth as they could around the SDGs relating to climate
action or protecting the world’s marine environments.
The uniqueness of the SDG Youth Challenge gave
young individuals the chance to create their own
projects/programme that were relevant and importantto their region which is critical when engaging withsustainability. An additional goal was for youth to better
connect with their 'parent' RCEs and get involved in the
network more generally.

Nguyen Tan Phat

Near East Bay Park, Georgetown, SC.

Youth-led ocean clean-up event on local beach in Vietnam.

Chapter Planet

Asia-Pacific SDG Youth Challenge 2018

Indian school girls sharing messages about greening communities in India.
Ajay Kumar

RCE Greater Western Sydney and RCE Yogyakarta

Rationale
The Asia-Pacific region is huge – stretching fromTurkey and Caucasus in the west to the islands ofMicronesia and Polynesia in the east. It also faces awide range of Sustainable Development challenges,
varying significantly from country to country.
This project sought an international approach toplace-based education, taking a theme that was
important to youth across the region and designingeducational content around these themes andtailoring it for local audiences. The focus of thisproject was on Climate Change and Life Below
Water – SDGs 13 & 14. Both of these themes are
areas of great concern for youth in the region andhave profound effects on one another.
30

Today is a critical time for youth. Not only do young
people face extraordinary global challenges but
they also possess many powerful tools to solve these
problems, especially with technology and social
media. Youth are often pressured to make changes,
yet very often are not given the chance to do so ina meaningful way. This project used a global peerto-peer model whereby youth shared information
about ESD and SDG 13/14 with other youth in theirregion (and beyond) on issues that mattered most tothem and their communities. Led by the Asia-Pacific
RCE Regional Youth Leaders, the first preliminary
Asia-Pacific Youth SDG Challenge commenced
in February 2018 and focused on 'Youth for

RCE Greater Western Sydney

Region:Asia-Pacific			
Countries:

Australia & Indonesia(Secretariat)
4
13
14

SDG(s):
Quality Education
Climate Action
Life Below Water
Theme(s):Climate Change/
Life Below Water
Target audience(s):Primary, Secondary, Higher,
Community, Youth (Informal)
Ecosystem(s):Urban/Peri-urban
GAP Priority Action Area(s):4&5Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• RCE Bogota• RCE Cebu
• RCE Central Semenanjung• RCE Delhi• RCE Gippsland• RCE Greater Pwani• RCE Greater Western Sydney• RCE Penang• RCE Tasmania• RCE Thiruvananthapuram• RCE Tongyeong• UNESCO ESD Youth Leader,
Vietnam• World Youth Foundation,
MalaysiaYear awarded RCE Award:
2018

PLANET RCE Greater Western Sydney and RCE Yogyakarta // Asia-Pacific SDG Youth Challenge 2018

Results
Collectively as of June 2018, the projects haveengaged with approximately 8,000 youth acrossthe globe. Twenty youth-led projects in Malaysia,
Vietnam, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Colombia,
and Australia have been worked on. After final
project reports for each project were submitted forthe e-publication, it is estimated that the numberof youth engaged indirectly by these ESD projects
is over 34,000 – over four times the amount ofyouth who directly participated as facilitators. The
presentations and final project reports have beenreleased as an e-publication as of 2018. It has beenso successful that the Asia-Pacific RCE Community
will be hosting a 2020 SDG Youth Challenge withthree new goals as the areas of focus.

Hana Syarifah

Activities/Practices
Commencing in February, the SDG Youth Challenge
had expressions of interest from 32 youth-led
projects across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as
one from South America and one from Africa. Witha follow-up in May, 20 youth-led projects wereselected by the organising RCEs from the mixtureof proposed projects from RCEs and UNESCO ESD
partnerships. The Challenge projects varied in
activities from bottle top lid art installations, beachclean ups, conservation camps, youth summits, andschool-based workshops – all on either SDG 13 or
14 – and all with an educational focus. Following
the completion of the Challenge, a half-day virtual
youth summit was held in conjunction with theAsia-Pacific RCE Regional Meeting to celebrate theseprojects and to give youth a voice. Presentations
from nine youth representatives were featured,
including from Australia (RCE Greater Western
Sydney, RCE Gippsland, and RCE Tasmania), India(RCE Delhi), Malaysia (RCE Central Semenanjung
and the World Youth Foundation), Indonesia(RCE Yogyakarta), South Korea (RCE Tongyeong),
and Vietnam (UNESCO ESD Youth Leader).

Mangrove replanting in coastal area as part of 2-day youth environmental camp in Indonesia.

all reported that this was a great learning exercise
for them. Lessons learned from the coordinatingteam for this project include the need to take thetime to work individually with each project, so thatproviding assistance and support is relevant andcontextualized. It is also necessary to motivateand encourage, which was done virtually via

Lessons Learned
Lessons learned from this project from feedback
from the participants is that projects often evolveand change - many found that their original ideas
couldn't/wouldn't work and had to come up with
innovative teaching techniques and other ways
around the obstacles they encountered. However,WhatsApp and social media. While this can be atime-intensive task, it is well worth the end result.
Working internationally was not as hard as expectedwith regular video-conference meetings and withparticipating members for the most part beingin time zones where the working day overlappedsomewhat.

The projects have engaged
with approximately

Tanya Notley

Western Sydney University communication students documenting the impact of climate change with local environmental leaders in Vanuatu.

8,000
youth across the globe.

South
Korea

India
Colombia

Vietnam
Malaysia

Indonesia

Estimated over

34,000youth engaged indirectly by these
ESD projects – over 4x the amountof youth who directly participatedas facilitators.

Australia

Twenty youth-led projects from Malaysia,
Vietnam, South Korea, India, Indonesia,
Colombia, and Australia.

More information
Asia-Pacific SDG Youth Challenge: 2018 Final Report
32

33

PLANET // RCE Award Winners Projects Publication

Pamela Martin

RCE Georgetown

Objectives
The Coastal Institute of Sustainability Leadership(CISL) is an experiential learning class that covers
aspects of people, planet, and economies as well as
the local and global policies that shape sustainable
development around the planet. The Institutewas designed by RCE Georgetown to integrate
university student learning and young people inthe community into both UN processes and thecounty community. The class was based on Front
Street, the main street of the county seat in theCity of Georgetown, and included guest lecturesfrom policy makers and government officials on thetheme that the RCE selected as significant: sea level
rise and flooding.

Near East Bay Park, Georgetown, South Carolina.

Country:

United States
13

SDG(s):
Climate Action
Theme(s):Disaster Risk Reduction,
Curriculum Development
Target audience(s):Higher Education,
Community
Ecosystem(s):Wetlands, Marine,
Urban/Peri-urban
GAP Priority Action Area(s): 5
Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• Carolina Coastal University• National Estuarine Research
Reserve• The Bunnelle Foundation
Year awarded RCE Award:
2017

Chapter Planet

Coastal Institute for
Sustainability
Leadership (CISL)

Activities/Practices
This class examined sea level rise, flooding, andclimate change policy culminating in a community
engagement role play simulation of a fictitious town
in New England to gauge community awarenessand readiness for climate change mitigation andadaptation policy on the coast. Students combined
science and policy skills within a framework of the
UN Sustainable Development Goals, using systems
thinking and cultural and historical analysis. The RCE
used the Institute as a platform to test the viabilityof a) a student institute on the SDGs in Georgetown
and b) the development of role play simulation casestudies on sea level rise and flooding developed

RCE Georgetown

Rationale
Georgetown County, South Carolina, is located along the Grand
Strand area of the Atlantic Coastline of the United States and ispart of the Intra-Coastal Waterway. It houses part of the UN Man
and Biosphere Reserve along the Atlantic Coast and has some of
the most pristine waters along it. The population of the County
increased 20.5% between 1990 and 2000 to 60,158. It is predicted
to increase by 17% by 2030 (Georgetown County South Carolina
Government 2016). The county has a rich history and culture of
Gullah Geechee ancestors who were slaves from West Africa. It
is now part of a National Heritage Corridor for this unique anddiverse population. Compared to all but one of the neighbouring
counties, Georgetown has lower average income and higher
poverty rates that disproportionately affect the African-American
residents in the county. RCE Georgetown is a joint effort among
public and private stakeholders to collectively impact change inthe county through the utilisation of the UN SDGs as a framework
toward comprehensive and strategic planning for the future.

Results
At the end of the CISL, citizens voted to move
forward through RCE Georgetown to apply for a
United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) grant to produce role play
simulations specific to the county with localised
downscaled data. The RCE, led by Pamela Martinof Coastal Carolina University, applied for andFront Street Georgetown, South Carolina.
Marsh Deane

Region:Americasfor Georgetown County, rather than using ones
based in New England. Student evaluations
demonstrated a desire for further institutes onsustainable development in Georgetown County
and a new understanding of the interactionof social, economic, and environmental issues
that face the county. It should be noted that theCity of Georgetown is located to the south of
the university campus by almost one hour andstudents infrequently travel here. Thus, a course
such as this could have presented a challenge,
but instead presented a new opportunity fortransformative learning. At the end of the Coastal
Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL),
students facilitated a community engagement
workshop using the role play simulations with
about 20 local citizens. For two hours, people inthe county discussed solutions to sea level rise andflooding problems that the county has faced for
decades, but that of which has greatly increased in
the last three years.

35

PLANET RCE Georgetown // Coastal Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

No. of properties at high risk* fromflooding in the Georgetown, SC,
USA area in the next 15 years

Commercial

Flooded homes in Georgetown, South Carolina.

* A property is considered at risk if at least 3% of its area,or 10% of the roads in a 1/10th of a mile around it, areprojected to flood. (Source: FloodiQ.com).

received a $100,000 NOAA Grant with co-sponsors
and lead investigators Michelle LaRocco (now ofGeorgetown County) and Maeve Snyder from the
National Estuarine Research Reserve to engage
the community in conversations about sea level

rise and flooding, integrate local scientific, social,and economic data into a modeling simulation,and produce role play case studies on the issue
to contribute to the county’s comprehensiveplanning process.

Georgetown Climate Adaptation Project Downscaled Climate Data
Indicator

Historical

Projected(1976-2005)

Short term
(2010-2039)

Medium term
(2040-2069)

Long term(2070-2099)

51.5

53.3

53.8

53.9

Pamela Martin

17.8% 60%
Pamela Martin

Pamela Martin

Residential

Role play simulation at Coastal Carolina University.

Role play simulation in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

Lessons Learned
The CISL was a great first step in integratingclimate science and policy into a course designed
for university students that can also be accessible
to and serve community members. While it was afruitful start, RCE Georgetown plans to enhance
the course by adding interdisciplinary field
experiences beyond climate science and politicalscience, including a field team with professors
from the marine science department, archaeology
department, and business department. This way,
students will gain multiple skills and an appreciation
for different tools in understanding how to build
resilience into coastal communities in the face ofclimate change.

Precipitation (inches)
Average annual precipitation
Storms (events per year)
1'' in 24 hours

10.4

11.3

11.6

12.1

2'' in 48 hours

6.5

7.4

8.1

8.7

Between
1.9 and 2.13

Between
3.58 and 4.3

Between
8.66 and 10.6

Sea Level Rise (feet)
Increase compared to the year 2000

Note: The pink column includes real data – measurements that were taken between 1976 and 2005 and then averaged over that
period. The projected numbers are in the orange columns. They assume that the Earth will continue to warm because of greenhousegases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. These numbers assume humans will continue to use fossil fuels at the ratecurrently being used, or even increase that usage (thus, the “worst case” scenario). Source: Georgetown Climate Adaptation Project(GCAP), NOAA, produced by the University of South Carolina Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, Dr. Greg Carbone and
Dr. Kirsten Down.
36

0.84 mGlobal mean sea levels areprojected to rise between
0.43 m and 0.84 m by 21001.

0.43 m1

The figures in this projection are
based on a minimum between
0.29–0.59 m (likely range, RCP
2.6), and 0.61–1.10 m (likely
range, RCP 8.5), relative to
1986-2005. (Source: Special
Report on the Ocean and
Cryosphere in a Changing
Climate, IPCC).

Sea level forecasts in
Georgetown, SC, USA

6.2 in.
4 in.

1.9 in.
5 Years

10 Years

15 Years(Source: US Army Corps of Engineers, FloodiQ.com).
37

UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre

Objectives
The main goal of the project was to increase ecologicalawareness within the recipients of the lessons. In
particular, the project aspired to:Young people investigating in-field woodland with the use of a mobile map application.

Chapter Planet

Green Go! Promoting the Role ofGreen Infrastructure in Sustainable
Development of Non-Urban Areas
RCE Warsaw Metropolitan

Rationale
One of the huge challenges of our time is to stop
the loss of biodiversity and preserve the world’s
natural and semi-natural ecosystems in goodcondition. Many of these ecosystems are criticalin fighting climate change through sequestering
carbon in vegetation and soil, as well as beinga critical habitat for biodiversity. But how canthis be done in areas where the need for foodproduction seems to contradict the protectionof nature and landscape values? One solution
is to maintain and develop green infrastructure(GI) – infrastructure that builds with nature anduses existing components of landscapes for storm
water management, climate change mitigation,
biodiversity protection, and food production. The
38‘GreenGo!’ project was launched as a response to
the need for broadening both the local municipal
governments’ and the general public’s knowledge
about the role and methods of sustainable
development used in green infrastructure in rural
areas. It was also linked to the need for better
recognition of the value of local natural resources
and the need for joint actions to protect anddevelop elements of green infrastructure at the
local scale. Therefore, RCE Warsaw Metropolitan
decided to cover quite a broad audience of learners
for this ESD project, including representativesof local authorities, young people (aged 12-19) particularly those attending agricultural schools
who are farmers-to-be, and local community
members as its target groups.

1. Broaden the target groups’ knowledge about therole of green infrastructure in rural areas, showing
practical examples of ecosystem services provided
within the local ecosystems, and also to educate
the target groups on the importance of local
ecosystem services in the context of climate change
adaptation;
2. Educate the target groups on how to collectinformation about existing green infrastructureusing geo-information tools, and how to plan forthe maintenance and development of new green
infrastructure in a sustainable way;
3. Change the attitudes of the target groups towards
green infrastructure, proving that taking careof nature means also saving money for both
municipalities and also individual farmers.
Activities/Practices
During the course of the ESD project, the project
team developed a GreenGo! portal with aninteractive ‘knowledge base’ including a wide range
of information resources on green infrastructure.
In addition, a series of trainings, workshops anddemonstration lessons were organised for students,
employees of local governments, and membersof Local Action Groups who were interested in the
topic of shaping green infrastructure in rural areas(about 700 participants in total). The project teamalso proposed a competition for young people called
GreenGo! We are mapping green infrastructure!, withthe goal of preparing a local database on green
infrastructure elements in the area, using modern
tools that would facilitate the management of thenatural, landscape, and cultural resources of therural communities. To further this objective, theproject team developed an interactive geoportal
application supporting inventory and mapping ofgreen infrastructure elements which was used by allparticipants of the project. All activities were designed

RCE Warsaw Metropolitan

Region:Europe		Country:

Poland15

SDG(s):
Life on Land
Theme(s):Traditional Knowledge, 		Agriculture, Forests & Trees,
Plants & Animals
Target audience(s):Youth, Community
Ecosystem(s):Agricultural, Fresh Water, 		Grassland, Urban/Peri-urban,
Wetlands
GAP Priority Action 		
Area(s): 2, 3, 4, 5
Language of project:
PolishContributing organisation(s):• UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre(leader)• Mazovian Agricultural Advisory
Centre in Warsaw• Municipalities from
Mazowieckie and Lubelskie
Voivodeship regions
Year awarded RCE Award:
2019

Analysis of the green infrastructure database on the GreenGo! geoportal.

UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre

inventory with information about the location of
specific landscape elements and ecosystem services(results of the extended fieldwork), as well as afull report presented on the portal, including anassessment of the current status and role of green
infrastructure in each community. Furthermore,
there are also suggestions included on how tomaintain and develop green infrastructure in thearea to help provide ecosystem services in the mostcomprehensive way possible. All GI Databases areavailable online.

UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre

Complex of Community Schools in Frampol

PLANET RCE Warsaw Metropolitan // Green Go! Promoting the Role of Green Infrastructure in Sustainable Development of Non-Urban Areas

Identification of different tree species in rural area.

Water quality analyses – are the green buffer zones
protecting a pond from contamination?

a broader audience than just participants so thatthe people involved feel that their engagement
really matters. Critically, young people should be
invited into discussions about project design andimplementation as fully active members – thecreativity and potential expressed by younger
generations can propose solutions that otherproject members would never have thought of.

to foster the integration of local communities andthe cooperation of young people, employees ofmunicipalities, farmers, and representatives of nongovernmental organisations, with experts for thesustainable development of green infrastructure.
In some communities, many people got involvedin the competition mentioned above, helping
students to collect the needed information.
Finally, the project team also organised a series of
educational picnics for local community members
to further disseminate the findings of the project.

These amazing local outputs are the result of thecommon work of approximately 180 young people(very often future farmers), local governments,
farmers, foresters, and experts from Centres ofAgricultural Advisory Services. These GI Databases
are the proof that sometimes only a little support
is needed to make big change for sustainable
development on the local level. These outputs
represent changes in the level of knowledge, skills,
and attitudes of the project's participants and areavailable as an inspiration for all other communities.

be set up in a local context so people can ‘feel the
topic’. Additionally, local resources should be used
to create the educational content – knowledge
and expertise of community members and experts
who have been living in the area for a long time
are invaluable resources. Another lesson learned isthat any results from a project must be visible to the
public, meaning that work done gets presented to

Results
The main result of the project has been that about
15 local Green Infrastructure Databases havebeen developed. All of the databases include a
Geographic Information System (GIS) dataset, anLessons Learned
Through implementation of the ‘GreenGo!’
project, RCE members have learned that to reallyengage people in a discussion about sustainable
development in their local area, activities need to1Winners of
the Contest:2

2nd place:
Agricultural School
in Jabłoń
UNEP/GRID-Warsaw Centre

Assessment of the role of green infrastructure elements in the rural landscape.

40

1st place:
Community School
Complex in Frampol

3

3rd place:
Public School Complex
in Mroków

Schools involved in the project
Public School Complex in Mysiadło
John Paul II Public Gymnasium in Świercze
School Complex in Michałówka
School Complex in Samogoszcz
Gymnasium in Kazimierz Górski School Complex in Wierzbica
John Paul II Public School Complex in ŁazyWładysław Reymont Public Gymnasium in Stoczek
Władysław Reymont Agricultural School in Sokołów Podlaski
John Paul II Public Gymnasium in Wieliszew
Queen Jadwiga School Complex in Czerwińsk
Antoni Kwiatkowski School Complex in Bychawa
Agricultural School in Wola Osowińska
Agricultural School in Siennica Różana
Agricultural School in Okszów
41

RCE Greater Masaka

Region:AfricaCountry:

Lake Victoria Catchment
Environmental Education
Project
RCE Greater Masaka

Uganda15

Lake Victoria Catchment Environmental Education Programme (LVCEEP) group training.

SDG(s):
Life on Land
Theme(s):Agriculture,
Traditional Knowledge
Target audience(s):Primary, Community
Ecosystem(s):Wetlands, Forests
GAP Priority Action Area(s): 5
Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• Uganda Martyrs University –Nkozi• National Environment
Management Authority(NEMA) – Uganda• Ministry of Water andEnvironment – Uganda• Nature Uganda• Swedish International
Development
Cooperation Agency, Sida
• World Wide Fund for
Nature (WWF)• Uganda National
Commission for UNESCO• Uganda National Associationof Community andOccupational Health (UNACOH)
Year awarded RCE Award:
2017

Br. BYARUHANGA Aloysius

Chapter Planet

Rationale
RCE Greater Masaka is a network that covers the lower catchmentof the Lake Victoria Basin, which is south of the equator. The
catchment region covers the districts of Lwengo, Kalungu,
Bukomansimbi, Lyantonde, Sembabule, Rakai, Gomba, Kalangala,and Masaka itself. While the Lake Victoria Basin has provided
resources for the inhabitants of the catchment for countless
generations, a fast-growing population in the region is stressing
the natural resource bases around the lake. If the population of thecatchment region is to develop sustainably, the people need tobe equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary for leading
healthy and productive lives in harmony with nature, and therefore
moving away from over-exploiting it. This will enable the pursuit ofUganda’s vision statement of “A Transformed Ugandan Society froma Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years”(National Planning Authority 2013).
Objectives
The main goal of the Lake Victoria Catchment Environmental
Education Programme (LVCEEP) is to secure the ecological integrityof the Lake Victoria Catchment Area through the application of
Education for Sustainable Development – for the improvement of
the inhabitants’ livelihoods and the conservation of the biologicaldiversity found within the area. It has a two-pronged approach,targeting both children in formal schooling (primary and secondary
school students) as well as community members through nonformal education and capacity-building activities, paying special
attention to gender balance in both teachers and members of
the community. The primary objective of the project was forparticipants to acquire the knowledge, motivation, and ability to

pursue the sustainable use and management of
natural resources within the catchment area by theend of the programme.
Activities/Practices
RCE Greater Masaka used a number of activities andapproaches for empowering participants during theimplementation of the project as detailed below:
I. The Whole School Approach:The programme used a variety of ESD pedagogicalapproaches and activities to build the capacity ofteachers, students, youth groups, and communities
in order to promote sound environmental
management and the conservation of natural
resources. These included: onsite training of teachers
and non-teaching staff in thirty of the region’s
primary and secondary schools; and a combinationof seminars, workshops, and meetings to trainteachers and non-teaching staff (such as cooks andschool caretakers) on how to embrace ESD pedagogy
and model sustainability activities through theirduties on campus. In addition, teachers and staff
were trained to develop programmes and events tolink their school’s sustainability activities with thesurrounding community.
II. Model Village Approach:The programme also worked with a wide variety ofcommunity members to incorporate ESD into their
daily lives, including working with local governments

to develop policies and curricula on ESD at theschool board level and training youth throughnon-formal green entrepreneurship projects suchas bee keeping, preparation of tree nurseries,
fish-farming, and planting orchards.
III. Holistic Approach for Community
Participation:
Communities participated in decision-making
processes through regular meetings to plan
for actions and initiatives that needed to beundertaken. Governance structures (election ofmembers of ESD villages to provide leadership)
were put in place, and communities took steps
to develop tools for good governance. Throughthese, a democratic and transparent culture
for decision–making was developed, as wasparticipatory implementation and assessment of
ESD activities.
IV. Education and Learning Approach:Through this approach, communities were able
to reflect, rethink and reform through formal,
non-formal, and informal education. Theydeveloped the capacity to assess the needs andpossibilities within different groups and acrossthe groups to learn, interact, and achieve supportand innovations needed to promote sustainable
development. It also ensured that all community
members could engage in defining problems andsearching for solutions.
43

PLANET RCE Greater Masaka // Lake Victoria Catchment Environmental Education ProjectFrancis Ssematimba

have taken on the responsibility of managing theirnatural resources, which has also improved theirlivelihoods.

St. Maria Goretti Mpugwe Primary School Demonstration
School gardens.

Results
Twenty-six of the thirty schools within thecatchment area have developed a structured
routine for incorporating ESD into school
curriculum (including activities around rainwater
harvesting, wetlands conservation, hands-on
agriculture, and ethno-botanical knowledgetransmitted through field visits) with thesupport of their respective School Management
Committees; and, twenty of these schools now
have policies mandating ESD be a core subject
taught in their schools. In these targeted schools,
the learning on sustainable development
has increased significantly and the grounds
and compounds have turned into learning
environments.
Increased knowledge and awareness has also
helped to reduce destruction of forests in thecatchment area. Soil conservation measures havehelped to improve farming practices and increasedfood security at the household level. Better
farming practices have also reduced pressures
on wetlands, as villages surrounded by wetlands
have turned into ESD villages with sustainablecommunities. These sustainable communities
44

There has been remarkable improvement in the
management and conservation of the biodiversity,soil, water, and other natural resources in thecatchment. Longer term sustainability perspectives
are being used to guide decisions regarding
production, management, and consumption,
incorporating principles of sustainable land use,sustainable production and consumption, including
initiatives for zero carbon and waste.
School-community partnerships as well as
external partner cooperation has proliferated
around sustainable development activities withschools participating in community cleaning
days to help collect and sort waste and outreachprogrammes where schools sensitise communities
to undertaking different conservation efforts. A
number of demonstration gardens have also been
added to school campuses, showcasing resource
efficient ways to grow crops sustainably, as wellas educational gardens that demonstrate to thestudents and community members how to care forand protect endangered plants in the region.
In addition, creative and participatory processes
are now encouraged where Indigenous and new
knowledge and thinking meet in new ways to findsolutions with a long-term perspective. Locally
relevant solutions to challenges, such as waste
management, housing, mobility and food, have also
been explored to meet present and future needs.
This project involved school pupils, teachers,
community members and leaders in the Lake
Victoria catchment area in the Greater Masaka
region. These groups are able to see the reciprocal
influence of poverty and environmental destruction
and degradation in the catchment and themitigating impacts of the Environmental Education
project.

In target schools, the learning on sustainable
development has increased significantly and thegrounds have turned into learning environments.
Improved knowledge and awareness of thealternative school and household energy
resources such as biogas and solar energy has
helped to reduce destruction of forests in theregion.
Lessons Learned
While working with individual schools is agreat way to engage directly with teachers andstaff, RCE Greater Masaka has learned that it isimportant to prioritise policy and curriculum
review to ensure that ESD is mainstreamed into
school systems rather than just in individual
schools. It is also recommended that schools try
to work closely with the surrounding community
Twenty-six of the thirtyschools in the area havedeveloped a structured
routine for incorporating
ESD into school curriculum

26

and local government in order to create sustainedinterest on the topic within the community andnot just among the students.
It is also recommended that ESD programmes
should embrace themes that are vital to given
communities. For Greater Masaka, food security
is of paramount importance to families in thecatchment area, and so there are many existing
school programmes on food that could beenhanced with an ESD perspective. And while
the majority of the population of the region
by and large speaks English, it would also berecommended to produce future publications inlocal languages such as Rutooro and Luganda inorder to enable all stakeholders to understandmore easily the concept of ESD, and interpret it intheir own linguistic and cultural contexts.

20

Twenty of these schools
now have a policy
mandating ESD be a corecompetency taught inthe school

Whole School
Approach

Model Village
Approach

Holistic Approachfor Community
Participation

Education and Learning
Approach• Trained teachersand staff on site

• Worked with local
governments todevelop policies andcurricula on ESD
at the schoolboard level• Communities
participated indecision-making
processes throughregular meetings• Communities
developed capacities
to assess needs andpossibilities throughformal, non-formal,
and informal education• Seminars, workshops,
and meetings on
ESD pedagogy• Training provided todevelop programmes
and events to linkschool sustainability
activities withthe community• Trained youth on
non-formal green
entrepreneurshipprojects• Participatory
implementation
through thedevelopmentof governance tools
by communities• Provided opportunities
for community
engagement in
defining problems anddeveloping solutions

More information
Lake Victoria Catchment Environmental Education Programme (LVCEEP) video
45

Chapter

Prosperity

Community Mobile Solar
Powered Tech Classrooms
RCE Kano (Africa)  48

Thread Counts
RCE Severn (Europe)  52

Alan Ko | unsplash

Improving a Public Transport System in Inje
RCE Inje (Asia-Pacific)  56

Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Schools
RCE Curitiba-Paraná(Americas)  60

47

CREACC-NG

minutes and is easy to transport; a whole classroom
could be carried conveniently by a pack animal. The
EdTents model is 2.8 x 3.5 metres in area and 2.5 metresin height with a mixture of galvanized metal pole, acrossed guy-line, a black board, collapsible chair, a rug,and is equipped with visual teaching aids. The classroom
has space for twenty to thirty children, which makes it
significantly cheaper to construct than a conventionalclassroom. Each EdTent is meant to provide a formal
learning space for children from nomadic communities in
the region, with curriculums that operate over different
time scales.

Children during one of the outdoor exercises.

Chapter Prosperity

Community Mobile Solar
Powered Tech Classrooms
RCE Kano

Rationale
Nomads in Africa are largely overlooked byhumanitarian aid organisations, because they are
hard to find and hard to help, as they are frequently
moving in search of adequate pasture. As a result,formal schooling for children in these communities
becomes very challenging. In Nigeria alone, “out of
the 9.4 million nomads in Nigeria, 3.3 million arechildren of school age”, with a literacy rate ranging
between 0.2% to 2.9%, according to the Federal
Ministry of Education in Nigeria as of July 2018
(National Commission for Nomadic Education 2018).
48

Objectives
In order to solve the challenge of access to formal
education for the most marginalised and hard toreach communities in Nigeria, the partners within
RCE Kano under the leadership of the Centre for
Renewable Energy and Action on Climate Change
created EdTents – digital solar powered techclassrooms. EdTents are inventively designed tofunction as mobile classrooms in order to help
roaming nomads’ communities gain access to
education. Each tent uses a collapsible setting thatcan be assembled or disassembled within twenty

Activities/Practices
Teaching in an EdTent means teaching for multiple gradelevels in order to ensure that all of the school-aged
children in the community benefit. The establishedmobile solar classrooms focused on basic literacy andnumeracy skills for children between the ages of seven to
twelve. Each solar classroom houses a mobile classroom
teacher who is sourced and selected by the community
or neighbouring communities. The teacher continues
to live and move with the community and provide
continuous education for pastoralist children. As a result,children can attend secular lessons for two hours in thelate afternoon and two hours in the night after they aredone with herding for the day. The EdTents have adopted
both traditional classroom teaching methods as well as
outdoor exercises, and presented curriculum throughgamification and online platforms. For example, MIT’s
Fishbanks: A Renewable Resource Management Simulation
game was introduced to the children, and certain
responsibilities were shared among them while tacklingsustainability issues in their communities in order to test
their leadership skills. The teachers also initiated othersimulation methods during outdoor time to sharpen thechildren’s minds and rejuvenate them, including throughmeditation times among the students.
When conducting needs assessments during outreachactivities, the RCE included Fulani traditional rulers andreligious leaders to inform them of the importance of
education, especially of the benefits children gain if
they are able to read and write. This has helped greatly

RCE Kano

Region:Africa			Country:

Nigeria4
9

SDG(s):
Quality Education
Industry, Innovation
and Infrastructure
Target audience(s):Primary, Community
Ecosystem(s):Grasslands
GAP Priority Action Area(s): 5
Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• Centre for Renewable Energy
and Action on Climate
Change• Bayero University Kano
• Economic Security Initiative(EcoSec)• Partnership and Child Welfare
for Sustainable Development• National Television
Authority Kano
Year awarded RCE Award:
2017

CREACC-NG
CREACC-NG

PROSPERITY RCE Kano // Community Mobile Solar Powered Tech Classrooms

Cross-section of children after classes.

in both enrolment and retention of school pupils.
The children enrolled during the first year of the
programme got other children motivated to join
the classes, including some that came uninvited.
RCE members had to meet their parents to get
permission for their children to become enrolled.
Results
In the communities where mobile classrooms werestarted, a formal school system had never existed;children in those communities have never hadaccess to a formal education system. Every threemonths, the children were assessed based on what
they were taught in terms of basic literacy andnumeracy skills. Almost all of the children were able
to read and write at the appropriate grade level by
the end of the school year. Each grade has carried 30
50

children per class, and four sets have graduated as ofAugust 2019, totalling 120 children graduating fromprimary school with critical literacy and numeracy
skills. The happiness and pride on their faces tells
a lot, because before the EdTents initiative, thesechildren had never had access to the opportunities
that education has opened up for them.
Lessons Learned
Although it can be difficult to deal with traditionalrulers in rural areas, RCE Kano found that it was
helpful to involve religious leaders as well as local
government authorities before conducting aneeds assessment. These people were critical inencouraging the nomadic communities to enrol theirchildren in classes. Another lesson learned is thatthe teachers in mobile classrooms must be properly

incentivised for them to continue their work. Bothparents and governments often assume teachingitself is its own reward, but appropriate incentives
must be in place and neither parents nor local

government should put too much burden for childrearing onto teachers themselves. Furthermore, it isimperative to build trust with the local communities
to guard against the theft of equipment.

9.4 million nomads in Nigeria

3.3 million
are childrenof school age

1

Literacy rate ranging between

0.2% to 2.9%

1

National Commission for Nomadic Education (As of July 2018).
51

University of Gloucestershire, RCE Severn

RCE SevernRegion:EuropeCountry:

Objectives
region so they are able to learn about and
The Thread Counts project was developed toapply sustainable and ethical principles in theiraddress some of these big problems in the fashioncommercial practice.
industry. The project aims to engage businesses andfashion designers across the region to reduce textile
waste by supporting peer-to-peer learning, research 2. Research development: Driving a national andinternational agenda for sustainable production
and development, and industry partnerships toand consumption through the use of ethicalmake a local impact. Through a series of events anddesigns among community partners.
activities, Thread Counts aims to connect people sothey can share skills, develop sustainable business3. Education and learning: Facilitating a platform forpractices, and create projects that will enable thediscussion and developing pedagogic frameworks
fashion designers of the region to drive a wider
for ESD in relation to fashion design and textiles.
change effort in the fashion industry.
The Thread Counts project has four key aims:
1. Business engagement: Supporting andcollaborating with fashion businesses in the

A practical workshop at the launch event.

England,United Kingdom
SDG(s):
Responsible Consumption
and Production
Theme(s):Waste

Thread Counts
RCE SevernTarget audience(s):Primary, Community
Ecosystem(s):Urban/Peri-urban
GAP Priority Action Area(s): 5
Language of project:EnglishContributing organisation(s):• University of Gloucestershire• Stroud International Textiles• Atelier StroudYear awarded RCE Award:
2017

Student exhibition titled 'We need to talk about clothes'.

Chapter Prosperity
University of Gloucestershire, RCE Severn

12

4. Community Impact: Raising awareness of ethicaltextiles and sustainable fashion, promoting
engagement, and creating a network fordiscussion, skill-sharing, and collaboration.

Rationale
RCE Severn provides a platform for ESD partners across theWest Midlands and South West of England to work together
in developing and implementing innovative projects andprogrammes related to learning for sustainability. Like many
areas in high income economies, this region has seen an
explosion of fast fashion and disposable textiles over the lasttwenty years, due to new technologies and a rise in offshore
manufacturing that have led to cheaper clothing. As a result,an estimated 300,000 tonnes of used clothing is thrown away
across the United Kingdom each year (WRAP 2020).
53

PROSPERITY RCE Severn // Thread Counts

University of Gloucestershire, RCE Severn

3. Research developments – research is now being
explored between the fashion design group in
the University’s School of Arts, and the marketing
and retail group in the Business School that areinterested in the retail behaviour and consumption
patterns of fashion with a view to new projects.

Lessons Learned
As a project with little capital resource, thesuccesses of Thread Counts are under-pinned
by its strategic connectedness with the
Fashion Design Curriculum and Education for
Sustainability programmes of the University.
By working closely with these programmes
4. Curriculum development – sustainability
and with other RCE projects, impact is scaling
principles continue to be embedded in the fashion and regional partners are making connections
curriculum at the University of Gloucestershire. In
through education with wider responsible
2019, students entered their work into the Radical consumption and production issues in the
Sustainability competition run through the RCE,
region.
with one student achieving a highly commended
award for her work to address textiles waste frommilitary clothing.

Student learning.

Activities/Practices
Year 1 of Thread Counts in 2017 worked at threelevels to facilitate education and learning aroundthe consumption and disposal of household
textiles:
1. Community event – the launch event centred
on a practical workshop to engage local andregional communities and businesses in
discussion and practice around the challengesof the consumption and disposal of household
textiles including clothing. The event also
included an exhibition of work from students andcreatives.

3. Academic professional development – a
conference presentation engaged industry andshared good practice in sustainability education
around responsible consumption and productionof textiles.

£140 million
worth of clothing goes into landfill each year

Source: WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). 2020.
Household Waste Prevention Hub: Clothing.

Results
The success to date can be observed in four mainareas:

1. New schools partnership and wider reach –the profile and mission of Thread Counts has
attracted attention from the local schools
partnership who will run educational workshops
2. Student curriculum brief – a curriculum-linked
that help children to understand the principles
brief ‘we need to talk about clothes’ developedof the circular economy and build skills in thestudents’ practical and professional insights into
repair and upcycling of textiles over the next 12sustainable fashion and textiles. Students createdmonths.
an exhibition to engage in partnership with
community and business stakeholders, bringing 2. Community interest – there is growing evidence
to life the principles experienced throughof requests for community clothes swaps andthe Education for Sustainability focus of theirrepair initiatives in the local region built fromcurriculum.
links through Thread Counts.
54

In the UK:

Carbon footprint of clothing in use in the UK
in million tonnes CO2e:
CO2e

25
20

336,000
In the UK:1024,000,000 t

26,200,000 t

2012

2016

Source: WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). 2017.
Valuing Our Clothes: the cost of UK fashion.

tonnes of used clothing is thrown away each year.
Source: WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). 2020.
Why Love Your Clothes?

55

UNESCO Biosphere Reservation Area, as well as South Korea's
first Ramsar Wetland site – the High Moor, Yongneup of Mount
Daeam. Also in the area is the preserved area within the DMZ,
as well as the Wondaeri Birch Forest.

RCE Inje

The public transportation of Inje County is very inconvenientand very uncomfortable. The majority of the one million
tourists who visit Inje County annually, in addition to the
local residents, use private vehicles as their main sourceof transportation because public transit is expensive andinconvenient. In addition, there are not many routes for
public transportation in Inje County, making access to manyof its natural wonders difficult, and when public transit
routes do exist, transfer rates are not applied. Inje County
has been paying over 1 billion South Korean won (KRW) in
transportation income loss to guarantee the profit of a private
bus company, but the service provided remains unsatisfactory.
By improving the public transportation system used by local
residents (including students, seniors, women, soldiers) andvisitors, Inje County can improve accessibility to its many
natural wonders, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and other environmental pollutants – and all while
making the cost of public transit more affordable.

Civic Forum.

Chapter Prosperity

Improving a Public Transport
System in Inje

Objectives
The objective of this project was to teach residents about
usage of as well as participation in the design of a mass transit
system within Inje. The short-term objective was to educate
the citizens of Inje about the route plan and fare structure forthe new transit routes. Over the long-term, the project aims
to educate tourists on access to the transit system as well as
educate the area’s citizens on improving and expanding route
coverage.

RCE Inje56

its constituent geography and ecology. It is anarea of South Korea with a population of only 20
people per square kilometre, and still holds many
characteristics of the mountain villages that havebeen present in the region since antiquity.

Joint commitment signing ceremony for Inje County transit project.

The area is becoming an eco-tourism hot spot due
in part to the high quality of its water and air, in
addition to a number of natural wonders. Morethan 1 million tourists visit the area annually tovisit the natural environment. Attractions in thearea include Soraksan National Park – Korea's first

Region:Asia-Pacific			
Country:South Korea
911

SDG(s):
Industry, Innovation
and Infrastructure, Sustainable
Cities and Communities
Theme(s):Eco-tourism, Waste
Target audience(s):Community
Ecosystem(s):Urban/Peri-urban, Mountains
GAP Priority Action Area(s): 2
Language of project:
KoreanContributing organisation(s):• Inje Local Tour• Inje Cheonryul Gil• Inje Life Society Practice• Yeonganj Association• Inje Prosperity Council• Military Council• Aging Council• Women’s Association Council• Farmer’s Association• Multiple Student Councils• Multiple Regional Newspapers
Year awarded RCE Award:
2018

RCE Inje

Rationale
Inje County was a battlefield during the Korean
War from 1950 to 1953, and is still a relatively
disconnected area due to its history of war andconfrontation in the middle of the demilitarised
zone. Inje County is located at the intersectionof Baekdudaegan mountain range – which runs
through most of the length of the Korean peninsula– and the de-militarised zone (DMZ). The area has
both the best ecosystem diversity and abundancein Korea due to limited development activities
because of its proximity to the DMZ, as well as

RCE Inje

PROSPERITY RCE Inje // Improving a Public Transport System in Inje

The committee’s first order of business was toeducate the local residents on the problems withthe current transit system. Teams from RCE Inje
visited many of the county’s villages and addressed
many of the organisations that are part of RCE Inje
(such as the Women’s Association Council and theFarmer’s Association) as well as those that wereoutside of the RCE (the Firefighter’s Union). After
educating local residents about the shortcomings
and possible ways to improve the public transit
system, RCE Inje carried out a residents’ signature
campaign to improve the local public transit system.
Through forums and seminars, RCE Inje invited the
local government and county lawyers to inform
residents about the current traffic policy, andencouraged residents to reflect on current policies
and brainstorm solutions for new policies with public
officials who were present. Approximately 5,000
residents (one-sixth of the county’s population)
participated in the education sessions and signed apetition for a new transit system which was delivered
to local government.

Proposed Circular Transit Route in Inje County
Seoul PyeongchangSouth Korea
WontongHigh School

Wontong
Traditional Market

Military

Wontong Bus
Terminal

Military

Hangye Temple
Hankyerung

Livingstone Bridge
Inje Middle School

Hapgangjeong
Pavilion

Inje County OfficePublic Health Centre

Spa

Inje High School
Inje Bus Terminal
Military

Inje Sport Centre

Military
Hachu Rural
Experience Village

Military
38 Bridge

Sunshine Village
Birch Forest
Birch Forest

Social organisation education.

Military
Daeseung Waterfall

Wontong Elementary School

RCE Inje

Activities/Practices
RCE Inje organised a committee with local residents
to discuss the situation of public transit within
Inje County and how it could be improved upon.
A committee with a representative from each of
the constituent organisations within RCE Inje wascreated to develop a plan to improve the public
transportation system both in the short-term andover the long-term.

Military

Results
As a result, the local government confirmed
the implementation of a new fare structure andadditional routes to accommodate both tourists
and local residents and improve fuel efficiency.
Thanks to the broad base engagement witheducation and co-learning facilitated by RCE Inje,
the initiative had overwhelming public support,
and the local government was able to save costs,
decrease pollution from transit emissions, andimprove access to both local residents and tourists.
Lessons Learned
The smaller the city, the greater the influencea group of well-educated citizens can make on
local government. In order to improve the transit
system within Inje County, it was important toeducate the residents and create a centre point
where citizens could participate in the design andimplementation of a new system, using their new
and existing knowledge in order to express their
voices.
In the initial education and training sessions, it
was discovered that many local residents were
not aware that the public transit situation could
be improved, making it more convenient and lesspolluting. This indicates that citizens’ awareness ofthe problem was not high, despite the hardshipthis system inflicted on students, soldiers, and theelderly.
Furthermore, by promoting public transit rather
than private vehicles for tourists, Inje is now able
to promote food and lodging along bus routes,
promoting local business while decreasing thenumber of cars on the road.
59

be, as these students will inherit the country in
the future. The project aims at transforming boththe thinking and behaviour of school children in
regards to rejecting a status quo of inequality andnon-sustainable communities and economies, withthe adaptation of other forms of teaching/learningand the greater participation of the children in
the classroom. The objective is to shorten the
distance between concepts and knowledge fromthe development of abilities and attitudes, inaddition to increasing the students’ autonomy andprotagonism.

RCE Curitiba-Paraná

Region:Americas
Country:

85Theme(s):Arts, Curriculum 		
Development
Target audience(s):Primary, Community,
Teacher Education
Ecosystem(s):Urban/Peri-urban

The 'II Sustainable Entrepreneurship Fair' (second edition), held in December 2019.

Chapter Prosperity

Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Schools
RCE Curitiba-Paraná

GAP Priority Action 		
Area(s): 2, 3, 4
Language of project:
Portuguese
Contributing organisation(s):• Margarida Dalagassa
Municipal School• Cátedra Ozires Silva• ISAE (ISAE Business School)• UFPR (Federal Universityof Paraná)• UTFPR (Federal Universityof Technology - Paraná)Year awarded RCE Award:
2019

The project is currently held at the Municipal School
Margarida Dallagassa, but the idea is to amplify the
network to other schools in poverty-stricken areas
around the region.
Objectives
The objective of this ESD project was to create amethodology for teaching about the Sustainable
Development Goals in primary schools that would
frame school children as the protagonist in the
struggle for sustainable development. The idea

SDG panel opening in March 2019. After the exhibition of the panel, each class presented how they would work with their chosen SDG.
Josué Sander

4

SDG(s):
Quality Education, Gender
Equality, Decent Work andEconomic Growth

Sandra Mendes

BrazilThis initiative started in 2018, when thecoordination team of the Municipal School asked
for the RCE’s help to develop a project addressing
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which
led to the creation of a project on Sustainable
Entrepreneurship in Schools that covered not only
the education of students, but also teachers andstaff in the school during the second half of theyear. At the start of the school year, each class chosean SDG to learn about and work with, addressing
challenges in relation to it in their community.
However, everyone realised that even whenchoosing a specific goal to work with in the class,there will always be the need for the integrationof everyone in solving problems relating to thedifferent situations that may arise. Courses werestructured so that students could identify the needs
and define priorities for their community in relation
to the goal, together looking for mechanisms andstrategies to reach a favourable result. At the endof the academic year, there was a fair with thepresentation of what the students learned as wellas the solutions they proposed both for their peers
as well as for their parents and community. Children
work with the SDG while learning science, math,Portuguese, and other issues contained within thescholar curriculum.

RationaleBrazil is a country of great inequality, with some families
living in great wealth while many families live in poverty.
Additionally, much of the wealth in Brazil comes from nonsustainable practices with many impoverished households andcommunities under the belief that they have no choice but tocontribute to an unequal and non-sustainable system in orderto survive.
With these facts in mind, this project was created to change
school childrens’ perception and attitude about what the
future of entrepreneurship and agency in the country could
61

Maria Cecilia Araújo

PROSPERITY RCE Curitiba-Paraná // Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Schools

Alignment meeting with the teachers in September 2018.

was to use school curriculum with the SDGs as areference point for discussing social, economic,
and environmental issues within the community.
Students were presented other developmental
paradigms for reference, but the focus was put onsustainable development to expand the repertoire
on what could be, rather than what was. This wasdone to encourage students to seek solutions
to local problems through an entrepreneurial
approach of taking agency, and in the processcreating sustainable development pathways for thecommunity. Once the methodology was developed,
the idea was to use it to create curriculum for eachsubject matter – not a special subject, so that that
content would transverse all content during theschool day.
Activities/Practices
Activities employed for the project centred on
making the student the protagonist in her or his
own learning. All of the classes used a ‘flippedclassroom’ style of learning, where one student
or a group of students would educate the rest of
the class about the topic they were investigatingin relation to sustainable development. Students
also used more applied learning activities suchas creating newspapers or radio programmes
to disseminate information about sustainable
development to the wider community – these62

activities came to contribute to the practice ofreading, writing and improving public speaking
skills. They also learned to tend vegetable gardens
to help supplement nutrition and to compostin order to reduce waste. Field classes were also
employed to give students practical experience
with the various actors working in sustainable
development at the city level, including visits
to the Museum of Life, Paraná State Legislature,
Mananciais da Serra, and the Paraná State
Federation of Industries FabLab. For teachers,
regular meetings were held with RCE members andteachers and school administrators at the school
to provide assistance on creating lesson plans andpedagogical instruction for the project.
Results
At the beginning of the 2018 school year, theproject was in the pilot phase. From the start of the2019 school year, the project ran until the end of
the year. In 2019, a questionnaire was developed
to direct the redesign of actions and students'
understanding of the SDGs and sustainability
in general, and to verify if there was any kind of
attitude change by the students and their families.
The instrument was applied at the beginning of2019 and will be applied again at the beginningof 2020 to identify any gaps that remain. Also, the2019 questionnaire clarified issues important to thecommunity to be incorporated into the project,such as the excessive use of straws and plasticbags in the region. Both the teachers’ and students’
perceptions of their work has been overwhelmingly
positive in regards to implementing moresustainable behaviours. Teachers have said thatstudents have become more participatory andinterested in classes. Students have expressed they
have become more confident and some of them
have managed to change their family’s routines.
There has also been an impact on the wider
community through activities such as doing a
blitz against river pollution, a Mother's Day SDG
presentation, seed delivery (incorporating SDGs
2, 6, and 15), and the development of games
for Children's Day, with these games printed by
the school and offered as gifts for families in thecommunity.

Testimonials from teachersand coordinators:
The school has grown together with the community andcurrently plays a very important role for these families.
Ensuring quality education means empowering students
and employees to face the constant challenges theyneed to face. For us, the school must be an institutionthat allows positive changes, inside and outside its walls,
inside and outside everyone who is part of it.
- Maria Cecília Araújo & Sandra Mendes

Working with the SDG project is something new andchallenging... it gives us as teachers much more than wewere used to developing in the classroom. This challenge
led us to research on the subject so as to become aware of
the goals to be achieved, and more than that... it createdin us a restlessness, led us to move in a new direction. I
realised the size of our reality as educators to lead ourstudents to become protagonists in their own lives.
- Sandra Neres

Lessons Learned
The main challenge in a project such as this is
to keep people (including teachers, students,
and community) believing in the ideology of the
project. To do this, building a support network
for the project with out-of-school experts fromthe RCE is critical to help it evolve. While project
development is done jointly, it is important forteachers to have the autonomy to decide how
they wanted to teach the content about SDGs
and entrepreneurship, and it is important thestudents have the autonomy to choose theSDG they wanted to study. This has generated
greater engagement and interest.
Also, it is advisable to create a network between
the school and various sectors of the community
to share and learn sustainable entrepreneurial
practices. This helps in awakening theconsciousness that we can all be transformers.
Working with this project made us change ourperspective on what is important. Assisting in thelearning process and providing conditions for thedevelopment of sustainable protagonism is the way totransform a society. - Maira Ruggi & Josué SanderWith the project, I realised that the students developed
more autonomy. We have developed a solidarity
campaign and the idea came from the children – mostof the ideas come from them. It is the second year that
I have followed this class and it is noticeable that they
speak with more ownership of the subject, have morearguments to discuss. The children say that SDG 1 – No
Poverty is very important. At the parent meeting, theparents ask about the SDGs and want to know more
about them. Others say their children talk about thecontent discussed in class.
The SDGs enriched my way of teaching. We think it isdifficult, but if everyone holds together, doing their part,
we will see these children shining in the future.
- Bruna Paula Vieira de Brito Kurzydlowski

63Next Steps

Dr. Philip Vaughter, Research Fellow, UNU-IAS

UNU-IAS

The projects that are featured here are just asmall cross-section of the work RCEs around theplanet have been engaged with during the Global
Action Progamme on Education for Sustainable
Development and the first five years of the
Sustainable Development Goals. But this is notwhere the work of RCEs begins or ends. RCEs havebeen working with innovative multi-stakeholder
education initiatives for sustainable development
since 2005, and will continue on into the future.
Anywhere teaching and learning can contribute to
the development of a more sustainable world – andthis is everywhere – RCEs will have a role to play.

A community involved in a river bank afforestation project at Sambainsa, Zomba, Malawi.
64

Humanity has used its ability to teach and learn
in order to adapt to our environment since thebeginning of our history. The recent large-scale
proliferation of formal schooling systems since
the onset of the industrial revolution has meantthat more children than ever before have becomecompetent in literacy, numeracy, and many otherskills, carrying these skills into their adulthood.
However, the proliferation of formal schooling has
also lulled many into a false sense that learningends after a given graduation date. In reality,
learning is life-long, and as many of the projects
featured here show, learning done in the classroom
needs to be translated into learning done within acommunity at large in order to leverage actionablechange for more sustainable living.

RCE Greater Western Sydney and RCE Yogyakarta’s
SDG Youth Challenge features a combination of
initiatives where youth – many of who are students– have taken the initiative to act as educators notjust to their peers but to their elders and to theirwhole communities on meaningful actions to taketo mitigate and adapt to climate change. This is also
showcased in RCE Greater Masaka and RCE Curitiba’s
projects, where school students have started toeducate their parents and their neighbourhoods
about the conservation of biodiversity andsustainable consumption and production systems,
showcasing why education should not stop atteacher to student in the classroom.
This is one of the critical reasons ESD is so relevant
to sustainable development going forward. The
social conventions and technologies that haveproliferated since industrialisation and globalisation
have brought about many gains for conventional
measures of human well-being, such as longer
lives, more education, and greater wealth for many,though certainly not all. However, these same
patterns of development have brought about many
unintended consequences, and for this reason it isimperative to not rest on past laurels or rely solely
on 20th century conventions of progress. ESD, with
its focus on systems thinking, coalition building,and actionable solutions offers a way forwardfrom education that focuses on siloed expertise,65

Next Steps

NGOs, and the private sector also play in creating,innovating, and maintaining learning initiatives
that can link to curriculum in formal schooling
For many societies around the world, ESD is nothing systems but can also reach community members
new, and may indeed be seen as back to basics
who are not in formal education systems. The
for many traditional knowledge systems. It isrole of continuous training and public awarenessimperative that these societies are recognised for
efforts through informal education is paramount intheir sustainability practices and the teaching andadvancing sustainable development, and for this tolearning associated with them. Learning from these be successful many societies are going to have tosocieties will be a critical piece in maintaining what expand their definition for who the target audience
progress has been made while trying to undo thefor education for sustainable development is.
damage to the world’s social and ecological systems
that has been done.
RCEs –with their multi-stakeholder platform andtheir explicit commitment to engage with bothWith this in mind, it becomes critical to reformal and non-formal education initiatives – offer aemphasise that education is a life-long necessity
working model on how to do this. The projects thatfor everyone. The multi-stakeholder nature of RCEs
are highlighted here offer a glimpse at how formal
represent the critical role that local governments,
education institutions can partner with each other

Steve Body

individual learning, and banking knowledge, andinstead uses it to implement action.

Aboriginal cultural talk at Brewongle Environmental Education Centre, New South Wales, Australia, as part of a field trip during
the 11th Asia-Pacific RCE Regional Meeting.

RCE delegates gather to learn about youth engagement and leadership addressing the SDGs at the 8th Americas RCE Meeting,held in Vermont, USA.

Sarah M. Webb, Shelburne Farms

and also non-formal education actors to increase
both the quality of the learning they are providing,but also expand the audience they reach. By
working together in an RCE, educators –both those working in formal education andthose working with informal education – reduce
duplicate efforts, increase resilience, and expand
their reach.

66

The award-winning projects featured here arehighlighted not only to celebrate the successes ofthese RCEs, but to also offer a view of what needs
to come next in order to use teaching and learning
as a mechanism for implementing sustainable
development across a number of different areas.
It is hoped that these projects can inspire othereducators and education policy makers to take aserious look at the need for partnership and action
within their own communities as they address any
number of sustainable development challenges
that they are facing. Any of the ESD projects
featured here are worthy of replicating andscaling up, and the global RCE community invites

readers to consider this for your own communities
and regions. Education is such a powerful tool
because it is exponential in nature – one good ideafrom one talented educator can inspire dozens,hundreds, even thousands to view the world in a
new light and change their actions in it.
To learn more about other ESD projects within the
RCE community, or to learn about how educators
within your own city or community can become
recognised as an RCE, please visit the portal for the
Global RCE Network at:https://www.rcenetwork.org/portal/
This site provides all of the most up-to-date
information about activities and resources
within the RCE community, and serves as alearning space and archive for educators from
RCEs around the world to share their successes,
challenges, and innovations for working with
ESD at the community-wide level across a wide
range of topics, themes, and audiences related tosustainable development.
67

List of Abbreviations

References and Contacts

List of Abbreviations

References

AFAWNSO

Association of Female Appointees andWives of Niger State Officials

LVCEEP

Lake Victoria Catchment Environmental
Education Programme

CISL

Coastal Institute for Sustainability Leadership

NEMA

National Environment Management
Authority – Uganda

CPS

Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability

NGO

Non-Governmental Organisation

DESD

Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development

NOAA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration

DIWA

Development Initiative of West Africa

PDAFF

DMZ

De-Militarised Zone

Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry,
and Fisheries – Kampong Cham

DOA

District Office of Agriculture

RCE

Regional Centre of Expertise on Educationfor Sustainable Development

ERECON

Institute of Environmental Rehabilitation

SC

South Carolina

and Conservation
ESD

Education for Sustainable Development

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

GAP

Global Action Programme (on Educationfor Sustainable Development)

SENSA

School Empowerment and Nutritional
Supplementation through Agriculture

GCAP

Georgetown Climate Adaptation Project

UFPR

Federal University of Paraná

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

UK

United Kingdom

GI

Green InfrastructureUN

United Nations

GIS

Geographic Information System

UNACOH

GTCS

General Teaching Council for Scotland

Uganda National Association of Communityand Occupational Health

HDI

Human Development Index

IAU

International Association of Universities

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNEP

United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization

ISAE

ISAE Business School

ITE

Initial Teacher Education

UNU-IAS

KNIA

Kampong Cham National Institute ofAgriculture

United Nations University Institute for the
Advanced Study of Sustainability

UTFPR

Federal University of Technology - ParanáSouth Korean Won

WWF

World Wide Fund for NatureKRW

GAP Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1

Advancing policy

Priority Action Area 2

Transforming learning and training environments

Priority Action Area 3

Building capacities of educators and trainers

Priority Action Area 4

Empowering and mobilizing youth

Priority Action Area 5

Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level

68

EDITORIAL
Education for the Implementationof Sustainable Development(Dr. Philip Vaughter, Research Fellow, UNU-IAS)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan. 2007.
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (DESD). Retrieved fromhttps://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/
environment/desd.html

PLANET
Coastal Institute for Sustainability Leadership(CISL) (RCE Georgetown)
Georgetown County South Carolina Government.
2016. Population Projections, S.C. Budget andControl Board, in Population Element ofComprehensive Plan, table 2.15. Retrieved fromhttp://www.georgetowncountysc.org/Planning/docs/popelement2-5-2016.pdf

United Nations Development Progamme (UNDP).
2010. The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to
Human Development. Retrieved fromhttp://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/270/
hdr_2010_en_complete_reprint.pdf

Lake Victoria Catchment Environmental Education
Project (RCE Greater Masaka)
National Planning Authority. 2013. Uganda Vision
2040. Retrieved from http://www.npa.go.ug/
uganda-vision-2040/

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). 2015. Global Action
Programme on Education for Sustainable
Development (2015-2019): Goals and Objectives.
Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/gap/goals
Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. 2011.
Key Competencies in Sustainability: A Reference
Framework for Academic Program Development.
Sustainability Science, 6(2), 203-218.
PEOPLE
Addressing SDG 4.7: Values and Learning for
Sustainability in Initial Teacher Education(RCE Scotland)
Colucci-Gray, L., Cassidy, C., Nicol, R. and King, B.
(Eds.). 2019. Scottish Educational Review. Special
Issue, Scottish Educational Review, 51(1). Retrieved
from https://www.scotedreview.org.uk/
online-content/2019/511/

PROSPERITY
Community Mobile Solar Powered
Tech Classrooms (RCE Kano)
National Commission for Nomadic Education. 2018.
About Us – National Commission for Nomadic
Education. Retrieved from http://www.ncne.gov.ng/
about-us/Thread Counts (RCE Severn)
WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme).
2020. Why Love Your Clothes? Retrieved fromhttps://www.loveyourclothes.org.uk/about/why-love-your-clothes

Contacts
For more information about RCEs or how to become a member, please contact the Global RCE Service
Centre, Education for Sustainable Development Programme, UNU-IAS, rceservicecentre@unu.edu.
69