Sustainability Begins with Teachers of Central Asia

4 January 2017

The sub-regional planning meeting on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCE) projects for teachers has been held on 12-13 December 2016 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The meeting has been organized by UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office in cooperation with UNESCO Tashkent, UNESCO Bangkok and support of the government of Japan as well as participation of Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD) of the Uppsala University.

The project “Sustainability begins with teachers” in Central Asia is a part of the Global Action Programme (GAP) under the category of Priority Action Area 3 “building capacities of educators and trainers”. The project advocates change in sustainable development practices of education pioneered by SWEDESD in Africa and serves to support teacher activism for sustainable development in Central Asia.

How can Higher Education Institutions in Central Asia be empowered to ensure that teaching and learning approaches develop the skills for addressing the global challenges of the 21st Century?"

Mr Shepherd Urenje, Representative of the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development

UNESCO Almaty has invited ESD and GCE experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to perform analysis of the programme implementation status for each state and facilitate knowledge-sharing among the experts. The participants presented interim research reports examining implementation of teaching, learning and curriculum policy and practice on ESD and GCE.

Local institutions, education centres and government agents in 4 countries act as initiators of “Change project” in several educational organisations simultaneously. They execute programmes under the supervision of 4 assigned expert coordinators on ESD and GCE as proposed during the meeting. The strategy seeks to bring incremental improvements and increase social awareness of ESD and GCE priorities by giving ownership of the process to local educators of Central Asia.

The panel of international agency specialists has discussed and planned the execution of “Change Project” for sustainability in Central Asia. Invited participants have conducted research on last years` integration attainment of ESD and GCE programmes in respective countries. Furthermore, research experts seek to address the gaps in implementation practices on the grassroots and medium level of education. By the end of the meeting all participants agreed on the stages of “Change project” implementation in Central Asia with assistance of Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) and supervision by SWEDESD and UNESCO.