Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

levels of education, taking part in both formal and non-formaleducation, are aware of the imperatives of sustainable development.The signatories of the Ubuntu Declaration are jointly workingtowards:• Strengthening the role of educators in the Commission onSustainable Development process as one of the majorstakeholders• Promoting communication and collaboration among scientific,technological and educational organizations by frequentexchange of information and views on their activities• Facilitating the review and revision process of educationalprogrammes and curricula at all levels of education for integratingthe latest scientific and technological knowledge forsustainable development into educational programmes andcurricula, and to develop mechanisms to continuously informteachers and update programmes• Promoting efforts to attract young people to the teachingprofession• Emphasizing the importance of ethical issues in education forbuilding a sustainable and peaceful global society in the21st century• Promoting knowledge transfers in innovative ways to speed upthe process of bridging gaps and inequalities in knowledge• Working towards a new global learning space on educationand sustainability that promotes cooperation and exchange ineducation at all levels and among all sectors of education aroundthe world. This space must be developed on the basis of internationalnetworks of institutions and the creation of regionalcentres of excellence, which bring together universities, polytechnics,and institutions of secondary education andprimary schools.To develop the curricula and courseware needed – and regularlyupdate these – and to inform teacher training and re-training ineffective ways, the Ubuntu Declaration Group, the Ubuntu Alliance,aims at an inclusive and flexible process, mobilizing all who havesomething to contribute in primary, secondary and tertiary (includinghigher) education. Specific attention will be given to onlinelearning and contributions of the media. The Johannesburg Planof Implementation will give guidance with regard to the issues tofocus on in particular, such as: water, energy, health, agriculture andbiodiversity (WEHAB) and, of course, the Millennium DevelopmentGoals. The Earth Charter, too, gives important perspectives andconcepts to build upon while constructing curricula and trainingteachers. 6The signatories of the Ubuntu Declaration have worked closelywith UNESCO to promote the DESD, and have contributed to thedraft framework of the International Implementation Scheme.In that process they have also decided to choose as their mostimportant concrete project the development of the global learningspace, based on regional centres of expertise (rather thanexcellence), which include NGOs, public authorities, museums,botanical gardens and companies that were prepared to contributeto ESD projects in their region.RCEs: an innovative initiativeRegions include parts of countries like Bretagne, Tohoku orCatalunya. The regional centres should include institutions ofprimary, secondary and tertiary education, researchinstitutions, science museums, non-formal education,zoos, parks, etc. Prizes could be awarded forinnovative, joint projects of two or more institutionsfrom different sectors. The regional centres of expertisemight be identified in a comparable way to themonuments on the cultural heritage list, by a peergroup established by the Ubuntu Alliance. This hasthe distinct advantage that local/regional conditionscan be fully taken into account. The RCEs wouldcontribute to location-specific knowledge. SuccessfulRCEs would run a portfolio of highly attractive andeffective ESD projects, each of these run by two ormore member institutions coming from differentsectors of society.The initiative of the Ubuntu Alliance has alreadyreceived much positive global response. The goodadvice and strong support for new RCE initiatives,given by the staff of the Global Service Centre locatedat UNU-IAS in Yokohama, has been crucial for thesuccessful creation of RCEs and ultimately, the envisagedGlobal Learning Space on ESD. By the springof 2010 the Group of Peers of the Ubuntu Alliancehad officially acknowledged 74 RCEs, of which 12are located in Africa, 28 in Asia and the Pacific, 23 inEurope and the Middle East, and 11 in the Americas.In different ways, the RCEs have also started to shapethe global learning space by developing joint projectsand sub-networks. In May 2010 the RCE Curitibaorganized the Fifth International RCE conference, andin December 2009 the RCE Graz-Styria organized theThird European RCE meeting and the RCEs of Asiaand the Pacific met at an event organized by the RCEDelhi and TERI at the TERI University.These regional centres of expertise will produce avisible output as a global network. In the process, itwill be possible to mobilize many people, learn fromtheir creative ideas, build on diversity and promoteinternational cooperation in ESD. The regional centresand their mutual relations form the global learningspace for sustainable development; the major tangibleoutcome of the DESD.Participants in an office productivity training programme, partof the RCE Cebu-APFED sponsored KnowledgeNetworkImage: UNU-Institute for Advanced Studies,Yokohama, RCE-Bulletin[ 31 ]