UNESCO Global Action Programme: Award for outstanding education for sustainable development

At the first national education and training for sustainable development (ESD) agenda conference Joanna Wanka, Federal Education Minister, and Metze-Mangold, President of the German Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recognized outstanding municipalities, learning locations and networks.

How can sustainability become firmly embedded in the structures of the German education and training landscape? Dr. Johanna Wanka, the Federal Minister for Education and Research and Professor Dr. Verena Metze-Mangold, President of the German Commission for UNESCO, presented awards to good current examples of education and training for sustainable development (ESD) which are currently being delivered.

On the occasion of the first awards presentation of the UNESCO Global Action Programme, Professor Wanka, Federal Minister for Education and Research, said, "Education for sustainable development must be practised, it must become part of everyday life for citizens. I am delighted that in many areas this is already the case. This is shown by the first awards in the Global Action Programme."

Federal Minister Wanka emphasized that "for the first time we are recognizing municipalities, networks and learning locations which have achieved stable structures and have firmly established ESD activities or which are striving to do so. This is because only in this way can we progress towards our goal of collectively becoming a sustainable society. I congratulate those selected."

One of the education and training initiatives receiving an award as a network is the Forum for Exchange between Cultures [Forum zum Austausch zwischen den Kulturen e. V.]. The association was established in 2003 and originates from a concept which had been developed since 2002 at the Gsechs Vocational School for Wood, Paint and Textiles [Beruflichen Schule Holz, Farbe, Textil (Gsechs)] in Hamburg, with which the State School for Healthcare [Staatliche Schule Gesundheitspflege (W4)] became associated in 2011.

The aim of the charitable association is to embed the themes of 'global learning' and 'education and training for sustainable development' within the training at vocational schools. This concept has come to fruition, for example, through the cooperation of education and training institutions in Hamburg and Mozambique.

Since the formation of the association, a large number of visits and projects by pupils, teachers, and policy makers within education and training from both Mozambique and Hamburg have encouraged thought, exchange and reflection on the different living conditions, technical processes and sustainable economic management of the project partners. Participants therefore have the opportunity to broaden their specialist and social areas of experience and to take a closer look at global relationships and sustainability.

The activities which have been running for 14 years have resulted in the Gsechs and W4 wanting to embed the themes of education and training for sustainable development and global learning within the teaching of the specialist departments.

To support this, an implementation project for the orientation framework of the global development learning area has been implemented since the start of 2015 with financial support from the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The G2 and the G17 have also been involved since last year in the current project "A dental prophylaxis container for Mozambique". The two schools, which are currently in the process of merging, are seeking to establish a global learning partnership with vocational education and training institutions based in Mozambique.

A total of 65 learning locations, networks and municipalities impressed the specialist jury with their applications. These pioneers are making an excellent contribution to the implementation of the United Nations Agenda 2030 and to the UNESCO Global Action Programme 'Education and training for sustainable development' in Germany.

Visit the website bne-portal.de to see an introduction to each of the award winners. They received the Global Action Programme logo for their work and benefit from the opportunity to exchange views and ideas with other stakeholders and initiatives. The Free University of Berlin and the German Commission for UNESCO also offer advice and consultation.

"The variety among the 65 award winners is impressive," commented Federal Minister Wanka. "This includes telephone boxes which have been converted as locations for sustainable learning. These have been designed and converted by trainees and regional companies so that the telephone boxes act as mobile libraries helping to bring the current topics and themes to the citizens. Both towns and cities have made the decision to adopt the principle of education and training for sustainable development. They have established this principle in city planning and as part of the everyday routines of nurseries and schools. The issue is being taken up by Citizen's Conferences. There are also initiatives which address the 'Energiewende' - Germany's move towards alternative energy - at a local level by means of community planting in brownfield sites in order to demonstrate that climate protection is fun."