Summary: On the basis of the German Parliament’s unanimous resolution of 1 July 2004 on the United Nations Decade, the German Commission for UNESCO officially coordinates the implementation of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in Germany. To this effect, the Commission instituted a National Committee for the Decade, assembling the relevant stakeholders in the field. The National Committee, in order to forge stronger links among the wealth of civil-society organizations active in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), brought together some 100 initiatives at an informal Round Table. In cooperation with these initiatives, the National Committee developed a national plan of action for the Decade, which was presented to the public at the official German launch conference on 13 January 2005. The German Commission for UNESCO’s coordinating activities in implementing the Decade are financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, which is responsible for the Decade within the Federal Government.

Background: The Member States of the United Nations, in a UN General Assembly resolution of 20 December 2002, proclaimed the years from 2005 to 2014 the World Decade of “Education for Sustainable Development”. They thereby made a commitment to undertake especially intensive measures and efforts during this time towards comprehensively anchoring the concept of sustainable development in education systems worldwide. The proclamation of the World Decade is a result of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The state and civil society representatives gathered together in South Africa concluded that education must become more central than it has been so far to the efforts towards international society’s lasting, sustainable development. The German Commission for UNESCO called for the implementation of the Decade in Germany. In its 2003 Hamburg Declaration, it proposed specific guidelines and objectives for the Decade that have now been included in the German plan of action.

The German National Committee for the Decade: The German National Committee, which was instituted by the German Commission for UNESCO, consists of 30 stakeholders and experts from the field of ESD, including the relevant Federal Ministries, representatives of the Federal States, or Länder, non-governmental organizations, the media, and the private sector. The National Committee is the central supervising and coordinating body for the implementation of the UN Decade in Germany. It contributes to specifying the objectives of ESD in Germany, facilitates the process of finding a political consensus regarding individual measures, and focuses on increasing the visibility of ESD for the wider public. The National Committee is chaired by Professor Gerhard de Haan of Free University of Berlin and supported in its work by the Secretariat in Bonn and an Office of the Chairman in Berlin. The Secretariat and the Office were set up with the financial support of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research.

Decade Round Table: In order to organize the implementation of the Decade together with as many relevant initiatives and players as possible and to initiate a publicly visible “Alliance for the Learning of Sustainability”, the National Committee called for participation in a Round Table for the Decade. More than 350 initiatives responded and voiced interest; some 100 were invited to the Round Table’s initial meeting on 2 November 2004 in Berlin. The second Round Table meeting took place on 14 November 2005 in Erfurt at the invitation of Thuringia’s Minister-President Althaus. The Round Table convenes once each year and is conceived as a loose association of interested organizations and people. It contributes to the Decade’s implementation via various informal working group sessions between meetings.

National Plan of Action: The German plan of action maps out the main objectives for the Decade in Germany and records, in a catalog of measures, the individual stakeholders’ contributions and commitments. In the German Parliament’s resolution of 1 July 2004, the German Government was instructed to prepare an action plan. The plan was developed by the National Committee in cooperation with numerous other stakeholders of the Round Table and presented to about 300 guests on 13 January 2005 at the national launch conference . Throughout the Decade, the plan will regularly be revised, updated, evaluated, and adjusted in light of new findings. An English translation of the plan of action is available at www.dekade.org.

According to the national plan of action, the overarching objective of the Decade is the comprehensive orientation of the education system towards the concept of sustainable development. All areas of the education system are addressed: schools and universities, extracurricular adult education, vocational training and informal learning, among others. In order to achieve this overarching objective, the plan of action spells out four specific strategic objectives:

1. Further develop the concept of education for sustainable development and broadly spread good practices
2. Forge stronger links between individual players and stakeholders in education for sustainable development
3. Increase public visibility of education for sustainable development
4. Strengthen international cooperation within education for sustainable development
   

The catalog of specific measures, which supplements the plan of action, operationalizes these goals by specifying participating organizations and players and their contributions and describing in detail the developments towards a comprehensive orientation of the entire education system. Because the catalog contains evaluation criteria, progress is measurable. So far, over 60 measures have been recorded in the catalog.

Official German Projects for the Decade: Successful and innovative projects active in the field of ESD can apply for recognition as an “Official German Project for the Decade”. This label is awarded by the German National Committee for the Decade and includes permission to use the German logo for the Decade for a two-year period. The objective of this measure is to show recognition of and appreciation for educators and players in the field and to increase public visibility of the key concerns of education for sustainable development everywhere. Thus, a tight network of successful projects is being strengthened and expanded throughout the Decade. So far, approximately 500 projects have been recognized as official German contributions to the Decade.

International Aspects: Education for sustainable development is a collective global task. Networking German activities with international projects and debates is therefore an important part of the implementation of the UN Decade by the National Committee. Networking measures include the ongoing coordination with the leading international UNESCO body, joint events with UNESCO National Commissions and Decade-coordinating bodies of other countries, and the participation in the European coordinating body for the Decade that has been set up by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

For further information, please contact:
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014)
German Secretariat
German Commission for UNESCO
Langwartweg 72
D-53129 Bonn
Germany
Phone: +49-228-688444-10
Fax: +49-228-688444-79
Email: leicht[at]esd.unesco.de
www.dekade.org (the National Plan of Action is available there)