UNESCO Workshop on Education for Sustainable Development, 17-19 June in Bishkek

4 June 2008

UNESCO will hold a sub-regional workshop on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Central Asian countries 17-19 June in Bishkek.

The workshop will bring together representatives of the Ministries of Education, Ministries of Environment, and National Commissions for UNESCO of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as international ESD experts.

This aim of the workshop is to improve coordination among national and subregional stakeholders in ESD. It will also build leadership, coordination and monitoring capacities to meet the immediate challenges of ESD at the national level.

The workshop will discuss:

  • The links between ESD and various internationally and nationally agreed development goals such as Education for All (EFA), national poverty reduction strategies and the UN development assistance frameworks (UNDAFs);
  • How to improve ESD coordination on national level, and
  • How national ESD can benefit from the sub-regional and regional work and coordination; as well as
  • Developing a national model for monitoring ESD including qualitative and quantitative indicators.
Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Central Asia, have been moving forward in implementing ESD: national ESD committees have been established, advocacy and capacity building workshops have been conducted, and national ESD monitoring systems have been developed.

In a number of countries, however, coordination is still weak. This is a big challenge, as coordination is critical for the integration of ESD into national development strategies and promoting educational change across sectors.

The countries have also identified concerns regarding the depth and substance of ESD activities at the national level and about monitoring and assessing qualitative educational change.

This subregional workshop is implemented within the framework of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, for which UNESCO is the lead agency.

Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/unesco-workshop-on-education-for-sustainable-development-17-19-june-in-bishkek