Capacity Development for ESD
(Cluster coordinated by Akpezi Ogbuigwe; Head of Education, UNEP, Nairobi; International Advisory Group for the World Conference)
If ESD is to become a central aspect of all education, supporting structures at the global,national and local levels are required. Among other things, this implies political frameworks that enable the inclusion of sustainable development issues and principles into all areas of teaching and learning. The active involvement of civil society is equally key to introducing a broad concept such as ESD into education. Finally, ESD implementation itself must be a learning experience. Monitoring and evaluating progress must therefore be an important concern for all stakeholders.
The following workshops addressed capacities for the successful implementation of ESD:
Workshop 14: The role of Civil Society in ESD
Workshop 15: From the margins into the center: Establishing ESD in education plans and curricula
Workshop 16: Teacher Education to address sustainability
Workshop 13: Global responsibilities and local realities to foster ESD through institutional frameworks
Time: 2 April: 9.00-13.00h
Place: Federal Press Office (No. 7 on map)
Organizer: Ministry for Communications, Science and Technology and National University, Lesotho; Michel Ricard, member of the International Advisory Group of the World Conference
Documents: Background Document; Workshop Report
Abstract to follow shortly
Tsepo Mokuku
National University of Lesotho
Tsepo Mokuku is currently a senior lecturer and researcher at the National University of Lesotho. He holds an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Environmental Education. Mr. Mokuku’s research experience encompasses curriculum development and community development work on environment and sustainability. His publications cover environmental education, participatory action research and biodiversity conservation, some of which have been published in the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education and the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education. He has co-initiated a number of research projects in environment and sustainability, and presently coordinates the DelPHE project on Education for Sustainable Development, funded by the British Council. He is also an advisory editor of Southern African Journal of Environmental Education and Social Sciences Advisor for International Foundation for Science.
‘Masaqobela Williams
Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Lesotho
Ms. Williams is currently working in the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Lesotho. As Director of the Department of Science and Technology, she is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies that will promote the development of Science and Technology and create an enabling environment in which technological development will make a meaningful contribution to national goals and objectives. She is member of several National Committees on Science and Technology issues in Lesotho, member of the Lesotho UNESCO Commission on Natural Sciences in the Ministry of Education and also member of the United Nations Commission for Science and Technology Development with a national Focal Point for Lesotho. She holds an MPhil. in Science and Technology Studies and an MSc. in Agriculture.
Michel Ricard
International Advisory Group of the World Conference,
Former Chairman of the French Committee for the DESD
Michel Ricard, University Professor, Doctor in Sciences, is former chairman of the French national committee of the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, president of the French national Council on sustainable development. Michel Ricard has carried out scientific research on biology and ecology of natural and modified subtropical and temperate freshwater and marine ecosystems. He was responsible for several scientific French, European and international programs on environment and management of natural resources. Michel Ricard’s teaching activities primarily focus on freshwater and marine ecology, pollution monitoring with bio-indicators, eco-management and relationship between man and eco-engineering. Responsible for several international conferences and meetings on ecology, biology and sustainable development, he is the organizer of two recent international conferences on sustainable development: the annual conference of European sustainable development councils - EEAC) (Bordeaux, 8-11 October 2008) and the international conference on Education on Sustainable Development (Bordeaux, 27-29 October 2008).
Workshop 14: The role of Civil Society in ESD
Time: 2 April: 9.00-13.00h
Place: Haus der Geschichte (No. 9 on map)
Organizer: Sosten Chiotha, University of Malawi; Zabariah Matali, UNESCO Reference Group
Documents: Background Document; Workshop Report
Sustainable development is a complex and evolving concept requiring learning of the relevant knowledge, tools, skills and attitudes. Such capacity building is not a monopoly of formal academic institutions only. This workshop engaged the participants in discussions on the pivotal role of civil society in ESD. The workshop challenged the participants to critically reflect on the role of civil society in capacity building for all age groups through formal, non-formal and informal learning arrangements. Civil society has embarked on ESD on its own or in partnership with other sectors. Much more importantly civil society can use its championing and advocacy capacity to influence progress on ESD in all sectors involved in capacity building.
Sosten Chiotha
University of Malawi
Sosten Chiotha graduated from the University of Malawi with a Bachelor of Education (BEd.), from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with a Masters in Medical Parasitology and from the University of Maryland with PhD in Environmental Science. He briefly taught Biology and Physical Science at Secondary School before joining the Biology Department at Chancellor College, University of Malawi where he lectured for many years. He has been working for LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development) since 1997. LEAD is a global network promoting sustainable development through capacity building and action projects. He is a member of MESA (Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities), a programme being coordinated by UNESCO and UNEP in collaboration with Association of African Universities. His extensive publication list includes lifelong learning, and learning from sustainable practices by farmers. He is currently involved in a project on Building capacity for climate change in West Africa (Mali and Senegal) and Southern Africa (Malawi).
Zabariah Matali
Islamic Information Centre, Malaysia
As Chief Executive Officer of the Islamic Information Centre, Zabariah Haji Matali is helping to achieve the Centre’s vision and mission of promoting a better understanding of the ideals, principles, values and universality of Islam. She presented papers at national and international events on topics relating to community development and community participation. She was responsible for initiating a Civil Society Dialogue, among non-governmental and community-based organizations in Sarawak. Zabariah Matali is collaborating closely with UNESCO in the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development through knowledge and information sharing especially with the media and civil-society organizations. She was responsible for coordinating and facilitating the workshop on Media and Sustainable Development with UNESCO at the 4th International Conference on Environmental Education in Ahmedabad, India.
Workshop 15: From the margins into the center: Establishing ESD in education plans and curricula
Time: 2 April: 9.00-13.00h
Place: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Filmsaal (No. 8 on map)
Organizer: Mr Hannes Siege, German Standing Conference of the Education Ministers; Alejandrina Mata, Vice-Minister for Education, Costa Rica
Documents: Background Document; Wokshop Report
The workshop aimed at establishing criteria for good practices in ESD as far as education plans and curricula are concerned. In the case of education plans, the workshop tried to provide examples of how policy, regulatory and operational frameworks should be designed to support ESD and the capacity to implement ESD programmes. Regarding curricula, the workshop provided an insight in mainstreaming of ESD themes across the relevant subjects and programs. It also addressed the issue of competency based teaching in regards to the pillars of sustainable development, the economic, social and environmental dimension.
Hannes Siege
Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in Germany
After getting his masters in sociology and economics at the University of Frankfurt in Germany, Hannes Siege became a teacher and later teacher trainer and curriculum developer with the State Institute of Education in Hessen. In 1989 he left Germany for Malawi, where he stayed for almost 10 years, in the end coordinating the education sector programme of GTZ. For this assignment he was seconded to GTZ by the Ministry of Education in Hessen. From 1998 to 2003 he was back in Hessen as head of department "Controlling and Evaluation" at the State Institute, responsible for financial controlling, quality assurance and the introduction of SAP R/3 as education management and budgeting software. From 2003 up to now, Hannes Siege is again on secondment, this time to InWEnt in Bonn. There he works at the Division of Education and the Division of Development Education. His projects are: managing a school award scheme on ESD for the President of Germany, and, as a consultant, managing the MECOFIBU capacity building programme on education budgeting and finance for the SADC region and for Malawi. He is lecturing in education finance at the University of Cologne in Germany and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. From 2003 he has been appointed expert for education for sustainable development at the Standing Conference of the Education Ministers of Germany. He is one of the authors and editor of the “Curriculum Framework for ESD” of the Standing Conference of the Education Ministers.
Alejandrina Mata
Vice-Minister of Education, Costa Rica
For 13 years, Alejandrina Mata Segreda was a preschool teacher in a public school in Costa Rica. Due to her academic background, which included preschool education, counseling, adult education, and compared education, she continued her professional development at the University of Costa Rica where she was a professor, the Dean of the Faculty of Education and the Vice President of Student Affairs over a course of 22 years. At the present time, she is the Vice Minister of Education of Costa Rica. Among her publications and research projects, one of her main interests for research is the field of Environmental Education, whose introduction she has promoted in professional training. She was part of the group that promoted the national agreement with the Earth Charter and with the Sustainable Education Decade. Some of her publications in this area are on “Dimensión ambiental. Estrategias innovadoras para la formación docente”, “Estrategias innovadoras para la formación inicial de educadores en el campo ambiental”, “Educación ambiental, una dimensión en la formación docente”, “Portfolios as Alternative Assessment Strategy for environmental Education in Pre-Service Teaching Education at University Level”, “La transformación de la cultura ambiental mediante la docencia universitaria”.
Workshop 16: Teacher Education in the DESD: Review and Directions
Time: 2 April: 9.00-13.00h
Place: Federal Network Agency (No. 5 on map)
Organizer: Lorna Down, University of the West Indies, member of the International Advisory Group of the World Conference; John Fien, RMIT University, Australia
Documents: Background Document; Workshop Report
In this workshop on Teacher Education we sought to address ways in which we could build capacity for the wider and successful implementation of ESD through initial pre-service and continuing in-service teacher education. The workshop reviewed the initiatives of the first half of the DESD, assessed the contributions of the DESD to these, identified enabling and challenging factors for enhancing the contributions of the DESD in the next 5 years, and made recommendations for enhancing the quality, relevance and up-take of UNESCO guidelines on teacher education for ESD. The reorientation of teacher education to address sustainability has been identified as one of the most effective ways to promote ESD in educational institutions. Through teacher education institution’s work with pre-service and in-service teachers, the potential to reach the world’s estimated sixty million teachers is maximised. Teacher education is, therefore, one of main vehicles through which capacity for implementing ESD can be built.
Thus, the purpose of the workshop was to address ways in which we could build capacity for a wider and successful implementation of ESD through initial per-service and continuing in-service teacher education.
Lorna Down
University of the West Indies, Jamaica
Lorna Down (PhD) is a lecturer in The Institute of Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica. Her areas of specialisation are Language Arts Education (language, literacy and literature) and teacher education. She teaches the course: ‘Literature and Education for Sustainable Development’, a course she designed for graduate students at the University of the West Indies. She is a member of the UNITWIN/UNESCO International Network of Teacher-Education Institutions and co-chair of the Caribbean Network of Teacher Educators for ESD. Her publications include: articles on literature and ESD, literature and HIV/AIDS, violence in schools, and language text books for primary and secondary schools.
John Fien
RMIT University, Australia
John Fien is Professor of Sustainabilit at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and Director of the Learning Cities Programme of the RMIT Global Cities Institute. He has an interdisciplinary background in teacher education, community development, natural resource management, public participation and education for sustainable development. John Fien has completed 20 funded research projects and published over 100 papers on education, training and capacity building for sustainability. He is the lead author of UNESCO’s multimedia teacher education programmes, Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future (see www.unesco.org/tlsf). He has also planned and facilitated workshops for OECD, WWF, UNEP, UNESCO and IGES in Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Maldives, Philippines and South Africa. He is a member of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO and of the International Reference Group for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. In 2007, he chaired the UNESCO Working Group on Water Education for Sustainable Development.
Workshop 17: Monitoring and Evaluation of ESD during the DESD
Time: 2 April: 9.00-13.00h
Place: Deutsche Welle, Room Brussels (No. 3 on map)
Organizer: Daniella Tilbury, University of Gloucestershire, UNESCO Monitoring and Evaluation Group
Documents: Background Document; Workshop Report
This workshop provided opportunities for participants to be actively engaged in issues associated with monitoring and evaluating of ESD during the DESD. They were asked to engage in a scenario planning situation and fish bowl exercises as well as in group discussions and analysis. The workshop activities confirmed the importance of M&E; contextualized the realities, issues and limitations of monitoring and evaluation of ESD given the current lack of established monitoring systems for ESD; discussed possibilities for evidence based evaluation; explored mechanisms for multi-stakeholder participation and, sought new insights and perspectives on how to improve and develop better data collection systems in ESD.
The interactive workshop also provided opportunities for capacity building as various ESD indicators types were explored and group activities helped develop new skills for the establishment of M&E systems.
Daniella Tilbury
University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Daniella Tilbury is Chair in Sustainability, at the University of Gloucestershire, UK and Director of its International Research Institute in Sustainability (IRIS). She is a Marie Curie Fellow in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (2009-2011). Daniella Tilbury is internationally recognized for her research in ESD. Her book ‘Engaging People in Sustainability’ (IUCN 2004) is one of the most cited publications in the field. She has expertise in monitoring and evaluation of ESD and has assessed strategic initiatives for government agencies; conducted participatory evaluations for EU programmes and evaluated field projects in Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, China, Hungary, Vietnam, Australia, Spain, Tunisia, and Italy. Daniella Tilbury chairs the UN Decade's Global Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group. She co-led the UNESCO-IUCN Asia Pacific Indicators Project in ESD (2004-07) and was the IUCN Global Leader in ESD (2000-2005).
