Asia - Pacific Regional Initiatives

The regional DESD implementation strategy was unveiled at the Asia-Pacific DESD Regional Launch in Nagoya, Japan, in June 2005. UNESCO Bangkok facilitated the drafting and finalization of the strategy, based on the results of a regional ESD situational analysis. Its purpose was to describe the extent to which countries in the region have integrated Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) policies, programmes and practices within both formal and non-formal educational settings at the grassroots, sub-national, national and sub-regional levels. This analysis provided the region with a "snapshot" of the region’s current state of ESD and has assisted in guiding the regional implementation of the DESD.
To ensure the successful implementation of a strong ESD programme, all countries need to acknowledge the following factors:

The strategy was informed by consultations at the Regional Strategy Workshop for the DESD in Asia-Pacific. It is an open document that is adaptable for revision according to the changing needs of stakeholders and emerging issues in the region throughout the Decade.
Consultations
Regional UN Interagency Steering Committee for the DESD
The Asia-Pacific UN Interagency Steering Committee serves to coordinate the DESD activities in the region. The current members of the Committee include ACCU, ADB, APCEIU, FAO, IUCN, SEAMEO, UNESCAP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNITAR, and UNU-IAS.

Regional Consultative Group for the DESD
An Asia-Pacific Regional Consultative Group for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) has been set up to facilitate the process of ongoing stakeholder dialogue for the DESD and interface with the Asia-Pacific Regional UN Interagency Steering Committee for the DESD.
The group consists of a select group of experts leading/initiating the facilitation of networks, projects and other initiatives. These experts represent the interests of different parts of the region as well as different sectors.
Pacific Framework for Action on the DESD
A Pacific Consultative Meeting on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was held in Apia, Samoa in March 2006 with Pacific ESD practitioners and experts to develop a collaborative mechanism for the Decade in the Pacific islands region. The framework for action on DESD in the Pacific was finalized in consultation with key stakeholders in the region, including UNESCO National Commissions, educators, community leaders, media and sustainable development experts. The Pacific Education Ministers Meeting in Nadi, Fiji on 21-22 September 2006 endorsed the Pacific ESD framework. This framework puts the “Think global, act local” adage into practice by taking the international vision and a specific goal for the Pacific, and translating these into focused priority areas and objectives for action at local, national and regional levels appropriate to the Pacific. The development of local ownership, and respecting local contexts and cultures are important perspectives in implementing ESD at all levels. The framework also serves as the coordinating mechanism for implementing ESD in the region.

First Pacific Youth Festival
UNESCO's participation at the First Pacific Youth Festival, which took place from 17 to 22 July 2006 in Tahiti, French Polynesia focused in particular on the theme of Education for Sustainable Development. This meeting, organized by the Government of French Polynesia and its youth structures, was attended by about 900 young participants from 25 countries and territories of the Pacific.  They came together to share experiences, concerns and their vision of how young Pacific islanders can take the lead in promoting positive change in their communities and make an impact on the agenda for regional development. The six-day Festival comprised a series of conference sessions, seminars and youth-led workshops.  It was structured around nine major themes of particular concern to young people and aimed at producing a Pacific Youth Charter that sets out young people's priorities and recommendations for action in the region. UNESCO took the lead in developing the theme of Education for Sustainable Development.

Projects/ Initiatives
ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific COE Programme for ESD
The  programme supports organizations working in related fields of ESD to foster and promote them as good examples for ESD in the Asia-Pacific Region. For the first phase of the Centre of Excellence (COE) Programme (2006-2010), five organizations have been selected as implementing partners of the Programme. These are the Asia South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE), Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP), and the University of South Pacific Drawing on the momentum of DESD, the COE will support educational initiatives that lead to community empowerment, and contribute to building the capacity of institutions, civil society organizations and communities to address ESD issues. The COE will advocate for integrating the ESD agenda into policy, programmes, curricula and practices at various levels. As part of this process, COE will contribute to enhancing existing networks, forging inter-sectoral partnerships, and documenting good ESD practices.
ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD
This programme initiates and supports projects to serve as good examples for the implementation and promotion of ESD in the Asia-Pacific Region. Based on global consultation to prepare the International Implementation Scheme (IIS) for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), the Programme designated non-exclusive priority areas/themes of projects for its first phase (2006-2007) as follows: Rural development, disaster prevention and mitigation, human rights, gender equality, cultural diversity and intercultural understanding, health and poverty reduction. A panel of experts selected ten projects for support under this programme.
While each of these projects focuses on a specific area of expertise and takes a unique approach to addressing socio-economic challenges and opportunities being faced locally, the overarching goal of the Programme is to prompt a positive behavioral change in the individuals/communities concerned towards a sustainable livelihood. This common goal across the individual projects will be pursued by carrying out educational and awareness-raising activities at the community, sub-national or national levels in the areas of Non-formal Education, Primary/Secondary Education and the media. Furthermore, knowledge and experiences gained from implementing concrete projects under the Innovation Programme for ESD are expected to feed into broader discussion to refine and continue promoting the global ESD movement by giving it momentum.

Asia Pacific ESD Indicators Project
UNESCO Bangkok is working closely with IUCN and Macquarie University, Australia, on an Asia-Pacific ESD indicators project to assist countries in developing Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks for the DESD. Three capacity-building workshops have been held to date in Bangkok (February 2005), Hiroshima (August 2006) and Bangkok (April 2007). UNESCO National Commissions in the region have played a key role in the development of this project. Two publications from this project include - The Asia-Pacific Guidelines for the Development of National ESD Indicators and Monitoring and Assessing Progress during the UNDESD in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Quick Guide to Developing National ESD Indicators.

Global Communities for Sustainability Project
The Global Communities for Sustainability (GCS) project is a joint initiative of the Centre for Environment Education Australia (CEEA), the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) and the Centre for Environment Education India (CEE India). This project aims to develop integrated sustainability initiatives that have local and international dimensions. At the core of the GCS are school-driven, sustainability collaborations with local councils and key community organizations that are simultaneously established in Australia and India.

The GCS project is aimed to establish communication and exchange between up to 20 different Australian and Indian school-communities who have been exploring sustainability issues through a guided process. Significantly, it is not just schools that are involved in the exchange. Local 'teams' comprise a teacher, students and representatives from the local council and a community organisation. This will facilitate sharing and learning of such aspects as:

The GCS project has connected school communities in the Australian State of New South Wales with their counterparts in the Indian State of Gujarat. 

Photo Message Contest by Asia Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), 2007
The ACCU Asia-Pacific ESD Photo Message Contest aims to provide more people with the opportunity to discuss sustainable future in their own words. The objectives of this contest are:

• To collect and transmit those elements which should be passed onto the current and coming generations, in the form of information with photographs and words, through ESD.
• To familiarise the public with the concept of ESD and contribute to DESD by organising the contest and the international traveling photo exhibition that follows.  These are programmes to enable an approachable and simple understanding of of ESD.
• To discover cultural diversity through festive events, craftsmanship, performing arts, oral traditions and cultural spaces, and to promote mutual understanding and the spirit of coexistence.
• To organise an international traveling exhibition of prize-winning works and to produce the ESD Photo Message Book and the ESD Photo Message Website and other publications as learning materials for promoting international understanding.
• To contribute to DESD by developing the network and partnership of ACCU.