Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

Change for a better world:assessing the contribution of the DESDProfessor Daniella Tilbury, Chair of the UNESCO DESD Monitoring andEvaluation Expert Group and Director of Sustainability at the University of Gloucestershire, UKThe scope of the United Nations Decade of Eductaion forSustainable Development (DESD) is broad and its potentialeffects are far-reaching. If it is successful, the DESDcould transform not only education but also the quality of lifefor many people across the globe. 1 Acknowledging the potentialimpact of the DESD, UNESCO established a Monitoring andEvaluation Expert Group (MEEG) in 2007 to advise on appropriatemonitoring mechanisms to assess global progress, andUNESCO’s contribution to the implementation of the DESD.After its first meeting in 2007, the MEEG recommended thatUNESCO publish three DESD implementation reports during thelife of the Decade:• 2009: Focusing on the context and structure of work for ESD• 2011: Focusing on processes and learning related to ESD• 2015: Focusing on impacts and outcomes of the DESD.The DESD International Implementation Scheme (UNESCO 2005)sets out the main trajectory of ESD as well as global milestones forthe ten-year period, to provide the basis for reporting. The Schemeidentifies monitoring and evaluation as part of the implementationstrategy and recommends the development of indicators atall levels.The 2009 DESD Monitoring and Evaluation Report 2 informeddialogue and reflections at Bonn as well as the UNESCO strategy forthe second half of the DESD (UNESCO 2010). To prepare the 2011Sustainable livelihoods: a solution to help populations to reduce povertyImage: © UNESCO/Georges Malempréreport, and in keeping with previous experience of theimplementation process of Phase I of the DESD monitoringand evaluation process, UNESCO commissioned aPhase II framework. 3Several components underpin the Phase II frameworkin its attempt to capture the diversity of policy andpractice and to assess their contribution to the attainmentof sustainable development. The cluster of datasources proposed includes an authoritative review ofliterature in ESD to clarify the types of learning processesthat are most clearly aligned with ESD, 4 as well asthe contributions of ESD learning activities to sustainabledevelopment.Assessing the contribution of education and learningto sustainable developmentTwo key premises are embedded within the core ESDliterature. The first is that at this time, no country inthe world is living sustainably. As Prescott Allen notesin his book, Wellbeing of Nations, there is no roadmapor recipe for success and therefore we have to learn ourway towards more sustainable futures. 5 This notion alsounderpins the UNESCO literature, which recognizesthe international consensus that achieving sustainabledevelopment is essentially a process of learning. 6The second premise is that sustainable developmentrequires a shift in the mental models that frame ourthinking and inform our decisions and actions. 7 Thisis reflected in national and international policies fromaround the globe as well as the goals of specific nationaland regional programmes. 8This combined understanding of sustainable developmentprovides the foundation for ESD efforts andinforms the intended contributions of ESD activities tosustainable development. The ESD literature has onlyrecently begun to feature evaluative studies that mapthe outcomes of ESD projects and programmes. Forthis reason, several case studies were written to informPhase II of the DESD evaluation. 9 These studies provideimportant opportunities to assess these types of contributionsin greater detail than is possible from studyingthe experiences documented in the existing literature.An analysis of the case studies reveals that changes arebeing nurtured at several levels: social, economic, environmentaland educational. Although the effects and[ 146 ]