Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

Collaborative links within an RCESource: UNU-IASappropriate, flexible and innovative actions rather than rigidly formulatednorms for what should be done and achieved. Criteria for RCEacknowledgement give local stakeholders the opportunity to designan institutional mechanism for mobilization, coordination and learningthat best fits the regional realities and ambitions.While the geographical scope of RCE operations is defined by thestakeholders, it has to satisfy a requirement of being large enough toallow diversity and significance in the number of participating partnersbut small enough to allow face-to-face interaction among them.With rare exceptions, RCEs operate within sub-national territoriessuch as Saskatchewan (Canada), Wales (UK), Crete (Greece), Cebu(Philippines) and KwaZulu Natal (South Africa).Having local/regional educational and research actions as their primaryconcern, RCEs contribute to the development of the Global LearningSpace (GLS) through exchange of experiences, collaborative research andeducational projects within and outside the RCE community.In 2006, the Ubuntu Alliance – the consortium of leading internationalorganizations representing educational and researchinstitutions – established the Committee of Peers for RCEs. TheCommittee reviews applications for new RCEs and provides recommendationsto the UNU during the RCE acknowledgement process.Advice from organizations that are considered leaders in the areasof science, technology and ESD facilitates alignment of the RCEs’goals with the broader DESD agenda and strategic implementationof these goals.In order to join the global RCE community, a network of localstakeholders of ESD needs to address the following essentialelements of an RCE:• Governance: establishment of governance principles and coordinationmechanism among the partners• Collaboration: engagement of both formal and non-formaleducation organizations and a diverse array of partners, so thatthe RCE addresses all three dimensions of sustainable development(environment, economy and society) as a network• Research and Development (R&D): incorporation of R&D activitiesto enhance ESD practices and to address capacity-buildingfor sustainability challenges in the region• Transformative Education: awareness raising, training, andreorientation of existing education for transition towardssustainability.Evolution of the RCE communityFive years after the launch of the first RCEs, the RCEcommunity has achieved results that are significant,innovative and often unanticipated by the developersof the concept. With growing membership – thecommunity is 77 members strong and growing – thegeographic, thematic and operational partnerships ofRCEs have been established.Collaboration at the continental level was the firstform of inter-RCE engagement that emerged in avariety of forms in the Americas, Europe, Africa andAsia-Pacific. North American RCEs exchange informationand align their activities through regulartelephone conferences hosted, until recently, byEnvironment Canada. African RCEs plan their subregionalcoordinating meetings in conjunction withother ESD events, such as those organized by theWildlife Society of South Africa (WESSA). The recentconsultation among African RCEs revealed the needfor an additional online communication platform thatwould assist experience exchange between the meetingsand connect RCEs in various regions of Africa.European and Asia-Pacific RCEs meet at the annualface-to-face meetings hosted, in turn, by individualRCEs. Communication across continents occursduring the annual International RCE conferencesorganized by the United Nations University Instituteof Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), through the use ofICT tools and projects and thematic activities.The operational activities of RCEs are centredaround issues like fundraising, communication andassessment. Working groups on each of these topicscomprise RCE representatives who bring into discussionperspectives, concerns and lessons from theirregions. The annual meeting of RCEs provides anopportunity to develop elements of operational strategiesthat are later acted upon by the Global RCE ServiceCentre at UNU-IAS and by the RCEs that have takenon the responsibility of implementation. The topicof assessment, in particular, has sparked the interestof RCEs and those interested in their performance.In-depth discussion among the partners has led tothe understanding that complex, dynamic and diversenetworks of RCEs would need a flexible and enablingassessment system. Such a system, grounded in thenotions of self-assessment, networking, participation,progressive learning and the importance of differentdimensions of sustainability, has been designed and iscurrently being tested by RCEs.Thematic collaboration among RCEs is guided bygenerically defined topics such as biodiversity, health,climate, sustainable production and consumption,poverty, youth, e-learning, teacher training for ESDand institutions of higher education. RCEs are primarilyresponsible for defining priorities for actions and modusoperandi in each of the themes. Working with thematicareas is not seen as compartmentalization of ESD but asa way to understand and pursue a particular challenge,for example health, in the context of ESD. It is also a[ 139 ]