NGOs and Civil Society
NGOs have a significant role to play in the promotion and implementation of ESD and the DESD. The functions of NGOs include:
- public awareness-raising , advocacy, campaigns and lobbying
- consultancy and input into policy transformation
- delivering ESD, primarily in non-formal settings
- participatory learning and action
- mediation between government and people
Civil Society assumes an important role in the development of any society and through its activities/programmes, Civil Society reflects its primary concerns in attempts to addressing certain issues. These issues may range from local to global concerns and could be social, economic, environmental and cultural. Components of Civil Society include, but are not limited to:
- Rural and urban communities
- Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)
- Special Interest Groups such as charity/philanthropic organization, indigenous groups, issue-based coalitions or groups
- Local institutions like the village panchayats in India, village committees in Malaysia, Union Parishad in Bangladesh, etc.
- Judiciary and traditional legal bodies including informal social institutions
- Cultural groups
- Religious and community leaders.
Examples of NGOs and Civil Society organizations:
- Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD)
- Centre for Environmental Education (CEE), India
- Global Environmental Action (GEA), Japan
- International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Pakistan
- Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J), Japan
- Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), Pakistan
- Live & Learn Environmental & Development Education, Australia
- Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Samoa
- Pasumai Thaayagamu (Green Motherland), India
- Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC), Kazakhstan
- World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), Thailand