Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

and in a selected country in Africa/Asia, and a final national workshop toreport outcomes of projects.Recently, the training programmes have been engaging an ‘institutionalteam’ including a participant, a co-participant and theirsupervisor. This has meant that, rather than simply developing thecapacity of an individual, the institution itself is strengthened. Thisorientation to social change has been found to be very effective insupporting the post-training impact and application of new actions,practices and learning within the participating institutions.Regular workshops for alumni of the training programmes are alsoorganized in order to keep the ESD ITP network going and to followup and mainstream the Change Project implementation. By sharingand analysing experiences, participants are better equipped to initiateand support change in the field of ESD in formal education. Thealumni workshops serve as extensions of the training programme andas such, are often linked to international ESD conferences to enableparticipants to interact with ESD practitioners from all over the world.In line with the UNESCO recognition that ESD will take manyforms, as it plays out in local contexts, the training programmeshave been designed to create space for participants to share andexplore their locally responsive practices within the global contextof the DESD. This approach requires a high level of participationfrom everyone involved, as they need to share experiences fromtheir contexts and analyse presentations for activities and insightsthat could enhance their work. By organizing part of the scheduledprogramme in the African and Asian regions, a focus is given tolocally relevant ESD practices, whilst also enhancing opportunitiesfor regional networking, interaction and learning.The planning and implementation of the training programmes havebeen collaborative processes from the outset. This has been achievedthrough partnering with regional or local institutions and organizations,supporting participants to define their areas of interest and focus, andby designing the programmes in such a way that the sharing of knowledgeand creative ideas is optimized among the participants. The ITPprogrammes also make sure that analysis and reflection or monitoringand evaluation are given ample time so as to refine and strengthen theprogrammes and future courses. Such techniques also enable participantsto review and strengthen their work through reflexive processesthat bring about meaningful and effective changes within and throughouttheir institutions.Change Project implementationFollow-up on Change Projects in the regions has revealed manyremarkable outputs, as can be seen in these examples from Africa:In Lesotho, the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture has setup Eco Schools, while the Lesotho College of Education has mainstreamedESD into the teacher education curriculum through the use of OutdoorLearning Activities. The Ministry of Education is also working towardsintroducing a bio digester as a sustainable energy source at school level.In Namibia, Hochland High School developed a booklet called Mycarbon footprint and Liina Nantinda, an ITP participant, was invited by thePrime Minister of Namibia to present the resource at the COP15 summitin Copenhagen in December 2009. The Minister of Education has alsoasked the school to assist in sharing this resource and associated climatechange activities in other schools across Namibia. The Namibian NationalInstitute for Educational Development (NIED) has developed an EE/ESDElectronic Portal and guidelines for integration of environmental learning/educationacross the curriculum. The portal is used extensively by theNamibia Environmental Education Network across Namibia and furtherafield. The University of Namibia (UNAM) has also developeda Curriculum of EE/ESD and an EE/ESD InformationKiosk, which is being integrated into the University’s formalcurriculum for undergraduate studies.In Tanzania, the National Environmental ManagementCouncil (NEMC) has developed a resource entitled:‘Young farmers – safe use and handling of pesticidesand application of alternative methods of pest control, aguide for primary schools’. At Chumbe Island Coral Park,a Ranger Teaching Pack has been developed and is oneof the most comprehensive packs available in supportof coastal education and poverty alleviation in poorerregions of Tanzania. The Tanzania Education Institute isdeveloping innovative ‘fuel-wood’ replacement techniquesthrough recycling in a Change Project called ‘Waste papermanagement and development of paper coal’.In Asia, the ITP Change Projects have brought aboutimmense innovation in experimenting and researchingESD in formal education.In Bangladesh, an ITP 2009 Change Project, ‘Creationof students’ elected council in 100 project schools’has supported the establishment of student councilsthat will become the major decision-making mechanismalong with teachers and the School ManagementCommittee (SMC), especially by ensuring participatoryprocesses inside and outside the curriculum.In Sri Lanka, the ITP institutional team from the NationalCommission for UNESCO worked with over 10 ASPnet 6schools towards integrating the principles and values ofESD, not just in the teaching and learning in school, but inschool management, policies, systems and even the buildingsand campus in general. Two of the project schoolsreceived global recognition for ‘Best Practice in the Regiontowards achieving MDGs through ESD’.In China, ITP participants from the CompulsoryEducation Office of the Education Department in ShandongProvince developed a Change Project titled ‘Project forimplementing environmental education and sustainabledevelopment education in the primary and secondaryschools in Shandong Province’. This project became theformal EE and ESD policy in Shandong in April 2008.In India, an experimental Change Project in 2007titled ‘A/V-based teaching-learning materials’, supportingteachers who have to teach more than one grade ata time, was inspired by the teaching-learning principlesand values of ESD. The initiative, now supported byUNICEF and called ‘Saral Shiksha’ (easy education), iscurrently in 100 schools in the state of Gujarat and willbe implemented in over 7,000 more in the coming years.Some key learnings from the programme• Policy and practice are dynamic processes, whichenhance each other: policy alone is not a sufficientinstrument for change, but must be interpreted andimplemented, so that lessons learned are applied inthe policy formulation process• An understanding of different educational traditionsis essential for understanding the challenges andbarriers to implementation of ESD[ 90 ]