"Education for Sustainable Development for 2030" Ms. Won Jung Byun, Senior Project Officer, UNESCO 10th African Regional RCE Meeting 1 & 15 September, 2020

1. UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR
10th African RCE
Conference, 1 Sept. 2020
Ms Won J. Byun
Senior project officer, Section of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO
Education for Sustainable
Development for 2030

2. Table of contents
1. Key contexts: UNESCO’s work on ESD
2. Sustainable Development Goals and post-2019 framework
on ESD : ESD for 2030
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030

3. Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
1. Key contexts: UNESCO’s work on ESD

4. As the leading UN agency on ESD, UNESCO:
 Builds global momentum for ESD
• Coordinates the implementation of ESD for 2030, the global
framework on ESD
• Provides support to Member States and other stakeholders
 Harnesses partnerships
• through Partner Networks on key priority areas
 Fosters a global community of practice
• ESD Clearinghouse
• UNESCO-Japan ESD Prize
 Offers guidance on integrating ESD and SDGs
• Education for the SDGs: Learning objectives
UNESCO’s work on ESD
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030

5. 2015- 2019: Global Action Programme on ESD
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
• Follow-up to the UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014),
acknowledged by the UN General Assembly
• Objective: to generate and scale up ESD action
to accelerate progress towards sustainable development
Advancing policy
Transforming learning and training environments
Building capacity of educators and trainers
Empowering and mobilizing youth
Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level
• 5 Priority Action Areas of GAP

6. Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
2. Sustainable Development Goals
and ESD for 2030 (2020-2030)
2. Sustainable Development Goals and post-2019
framework on ESD
“Education for Sustainable Development : Towards achieving the SDGs
(ESD for 2030)”

7. “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire
the knowledge and skills needed to
promote sustainable development,
including, among others, through education
for sustainable development and
sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender
equality, promotion of a culture of peace
and non‐violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of
culture’s contribution to sustainable
development.”
SDG Target 4.7
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030

8. • UN General Assembly Resolution 72/222
“Education for sustainable development in the
framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development”
 Reaffirms UNESCO as the lead agency for ESD
 Affirms that ESD is “an integral element of
the Sustainable Development Goal on quality
education and a key enabler of all the other
Sustainable Development Goals”
 Call for ESD to address SDGs more concretely and directly
UN General Assembly resolution on ESD
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030

9. ESD for 2030
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
ESD’s contribution to the achievement of SDGs
1. All ESD activities contribute to the achievement
of the SDGs, even without explicit reference
2. ESD can enhance the understanding on
sustainable development through
communication and advocacy in educational
settings on SDGs
3. ESD can promote critical and contextualized
understanding of the SDGs by raising questions
on the inter-linkages and tensions among
different SDGs

10. Key reflections of ESD for 2030: Transformative Action
Transformative action – how it
happens?
• Knowledge
• Critical thinking
• Exposure to realities to form empathy
• Relevance to one’s life/tipping
moments leading to solidarity and
compassion
10
Students take part in a global protest against climate
change in Cape Town, South Africa, March 15, 2019.
REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
 Importance of not only formal, but also non-formal and informal education
 Importance of not only cognitive, but also socio-emotional, behavioural learning
 Importance of community/citizenship education

11. Key reflections of ESD for 2030: Structural changes
Structural changes
• Adapt to the changes, while respecting the values of conservation,
sufficiency, moderation and solidarity
• ‘ESD in action is citizenship in action’
ESD in extreme poverty
• Critically relevant, but little room for individuals to show interest
• Focus on relevant life skills and skills for sustainable livelihoods
• Renewed focus on human dignity and right to live decently
11
https://sustainabilityguide.eu/sustainability/circular-economy/

12. Key reflections of ESD for 2030: Technological advances
• Solutions for “old” problems
• New problems caused by solutions
• Illusion that problems have been solved
• ESD can accelerate the transition to green technologies through equipping
people with the required green skills.
• Critical mindset becoming more important
• More need to link with the business, manufacturing and enterprise sectors
12
– Requires critical thinking
– Need for media and information
literacy
– Deal with complexity

13. UNESCO EDUCATION SECTOR 13
Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the
SDGs (ESD for 2030)
• Vision
ESD for 2030 aims to build a more just and sustainable world through
strengthening ESD and contributing to the achievement of all 17 Sustainable
Development Goals
• Time frame: 2020-2030
• Follow up programme to the GAP (2015-2019)
• Approved by UNESCO General Conference at its 40th session in Nov 2019
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370215.locale=en
• Acknowledged by the 72nd UN General Assembly
https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/74/223
• UNESCO World Conference on ESD: 17-19 May 2021 in Berlin, Germany

14. Priority Action Areas
1) Advancing Policy
2) Transforming learning environments
3) Building capacities of educators
4) Mobilizing and empowering youth
5) Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level
Country initiatives
‣ in the 5 priority action areas
‣ build on existing efforts on ESD, create a
more inclusive multi-stakeholder initiative
‣ aligned with the national SDGs framework
‣ education perspective to sustainable
development policies and actions (SD)
‣ SD perspectives in education
ACTIVITIES BY MEMBER STATES
• Country Initiatives on ESD
• Inclusive Network of Partners
• Tracking issues and trends
• Monitoring & Evaluation
UNESCO SUPPORT TO MEMBER STATES
The implementation of ESD for 2030
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
NEW FRAMEWORK
(2020-2030)
GLOBAL ACTION PROGRAMME
(2015-2019)

15. On the road to Berlin
2. Online regional launch events of the
Roadmap for implementation of ESD for 2030
• 1 launch event per region
• October/November 2020
• Details to be announced mid September
3. Country initiatives on ESD for 2030
• Based on the Roadmap for implementation
• Open call for countries to launch country
initiatives on ESD for 2030
• UNESCO to provide technical support
• The experiences of the first group of country
initiatives launched are to be shared at the
UNESCO World Conference on ESD (May
2021, Berlin, Germany)
For further information: future.esd@unesco.org
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
1. Monthly online workshop series

16. For more information: ESD and SDGs
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
Sustainable Development Goals - Resources for educators
EN - https://en.unesco.org/themes/education/sdgs/material
ESD resources for Early Childhood Care and Education, Primary,
and Secondary Education
Education for Sustainable Development Goals:
Learning Objectives (UNESCO, 2017)
• Provide orientation on how to use ESD for learning for the SDGs
• Outline indicative learning objectives as well as suggestions and
examples for topics and learning activities for each SDG
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444
UNESCO World Conference on ESD
https://en.unesco.org/events/ESDfor2030

17. For more information on the UNESCO-Japan
Prize for ESD:
https://en.unesco.org/prize-esd
For examples of ESD good practices and stories,
discover our UNESCO Green Citizens web platform:
https://en.unesco.org/greencitizens/
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
For more information: ESD best practices
For more information on UNESCO ASPnet schools
and their action on ESD
https://aspnet.unesco.org/en-us

18. https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development
Thank you for your attention
Education for Sustainable Development for 2030
Won Jung BYUN
Senior Project Officer
Section of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO HQs
wj.byun@unesco.org