ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop – Tehran Cluster
Tehran, Iran
28-30 April 2009
The ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop held in Tehran, Iran was conducted for countries in the UNESCO Tehran Cluster. The workshop was the sixth in a series of consultations, sponsored by the Japanese Funds in Trust, to assist UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific region in building additional capacity for ESD leadership, programme coordination and monitoring. Approximately 12 participants contributed to this event, including ESD focal points from the senior policy level in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, in addition to representatives from UN Agencies.
Workshop discussions were guided by the Asia-Pacific ESD Astrolabe (draft 6), a tool for building capacity for ESD and coordinating ESD initiatives at the national and subregional level.
Lessons Learned
Workshop discussions emphasized several factors, or lessons learned, that can help move ESD forward in the Tehran Cluster, such as:
- National level ESD training and capacity building is a key component to building ownership for ESD and the Decade.
- Educational planning can act as a strategic starting point for linking ESD to quality indicators in order to assess the responsive of educational content towards local needs and priorities.
- As curriculum change is a long and complex process, change is best introduced gradually. ESD initiatives are, therefore, best rolled out as updates and adjustments. Ambitious targets should be avoided in order to closely align activities with specific measurable outcomes.
- A platform is needed to help shift focus from ESD advocacy to concrete actions by sharing common tools that use creative teaching and learning methodologies.
- ESD and EFA can be conceptualized as two different processes working to realize the objective of quality education for all. ESD can then be a strategic framework that complements national education policy and EFA plans by coordinating actors from across both education and development sectors more inclusively.
Country Presentations
Prior to the workshop, national delegations were asked to prepare a presentation to share the following: 1) their national sustainable development priorities, 2) an example of ESD in action, and 3) challenges and lessons learned towards implementing ESD to date.
Workshop Resources
Sustainable Development Issues (examples)
ESD in the Asia-Pacific Region: Taking Stock and Setting Direction
National Sustainable Development Priorities: A Basis for ESD Coordination and Monitoring
The Head, Heart and Hands of ESD
Example Issues, Skills, Values and Learning Characteristics for ESD
The Bonn Declaration