UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development
Award Ceremony
SAVE THE DATE: 19 November 2021, 1:30 pm GMT+2 (Paris time)
You are cordially invited to join the Award Ceremony of the 2021 UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) on 19 November 2021 at 1.30 p.m. (Paris time). Three laureates will receive the award of $50,000 USD to expand and upscale their initiatives.
Following the conferral of the award, H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma, Burkina Faso, Chair of the International Jury of the UNESCO-Japan Prize and Chair of the H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma Foundation, will moderate a panel discussion with the 2021 laureates.
On the day of the award ceremony, the event will be livestreamed.
What is the ESD Prize? |
The UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development, funded by the Government of Japan, consists of three biennial awards of USD $50,000 for each recipient. It was awarded for the first time by the Director-General of UNESCO in November 2015.
The Prize and award winners recognize the role of education in connecting the social, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It was established by the Executive Board of UNESCO at its 195th session within the framework of the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD and officially announced at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD (10-12 November 2014, Aichi-Nagoya, Japan).
Following the Executive Board’s decision 207 EX/10.III.B in November 2019, the Prize was renewed. In the renewed cycle, the Prize will be managed for a period of six years (2020-2025) and will be awarded once per biennium (i.e. 2021, 2023 and 2025).
The Laureates of 2021 |
The laureates of the 2021 UNESCO-Japan Prize were chosen from 113 nominations submitted by governments of UNESCO Member States and non-governmental organizations or foundations in official relations with UNESCO. The nominations were assessed by an independent jury comprised of five international ESD experts who recommended the three laureates to UNESCO’s Director-General.
The Media Development Center
Birzeit University
Palestine
Media Development Center receives the 2021 Prize for its project ‘Media and Information Literacy for Sustainable Societies’.
The Birzeit University has a pluralistic spirit, and values intersectional approaches and respect for freedom of opinion. The Media Development Center (MDC) was established in 1996 and began its work in the field of the Media and Information Literacy in 2007 by the University to guide the Palestinian media scene towards the universal practice of freedom of press to cultivate the understanding that freedom of speech is a fundamental human right while gender equality is being promoted.
The Media Development Center believes that it is important for learners to develop the skills to critically examine the content provided by the media so that they are not deceived by misleading news and wrong information. In addition to the skills to read information from the media, the literacy to transmit and utilize the information is also essential, which can be an integral part of social change and sustainable development.
The project consists of Training-of-Trainers sessions to train young people, citizens, and activists from different NGOs and community-based organizations to form a core group of trainers who conduct trainings in their targeted communities and create different media products for themselves.
World Vision Ghana
Ghana
World Vision Ghana receives the 2021 Prize for its ‘Unlock Literacy Project’.
World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by addressing the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision has been operating in Ghana since 1979 in the areas of education, health, water and sanitation, child protection and food security and resilience.
The Unlock Literacy Project (UL) is an evidence-based literacy project that aims to improve children’s core reading skills and critical thinking, which is a core competency required for sustainability. The UL model is built upon mother tongue-based multilingual education. Children learn to read fast and better when they start learning to read in their mother tongue, and it also helps them learning a second language faster.
After progressing through reading clubs, children are assisted to join kids clubs where they participate in the Child Parliament, a replica of the national parliament to discuss issues affecting welfare of children in their community.
Kusi Kawsay School receives the 2021 Prize for its project ‘Kusi Kawsay Andean School & Ñawpa Ñan Cultural Events’.
Founded in 2008 by a small group of parents, Kusi Kawsay School is an alternative school located in the Peruvian Andes (Sacred Valley of the Incas, Pisac, Cusco) with 100 students from the kindergarten to high school levels. Kusi Kawsay School offers a well-rounded educational programme through a unique curriculum that combines a rich body of ancestral Andean knowledge, philosophy and traditions with the pedagogy of Waldorf education.
Kusi Kawsay Andean School (“Happy life” in Quechua) & Ñawpa Ñan cultural events (“Ancient path” in Quechua) aims at preserving indigenous ancestral knowledge by offering learning opportunities to children about the notions of reciprocity, equity and social justice through their Andean Legacy Programme. Following the Andean Ancestral Calendar, youth and adults in the Pisac community learn how to practice “buen vivir” (“good living” in Spanish) where both land and the community are cared for.
The Andean Legacy Programme (ALP) uses indigenous music, dance, weaving, art and gatherings to not only preserve the Andean culture and traditions, but also develop learning activities that put into practice experiential learning with hands on activities to reflect upon and take actions on global challenges such as gender equality and climate change.
Congratulations to
AGUSAN SUR NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
and
CARANAN NORTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (CNES)
The Global Search for Sustainable Schools is an international project
run by the Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme and part of the 10 year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns.
The program aims to mainstream sustainable lifestyles into formal education; make sustainable lifestyles the guiding principle in every learning environment; and mobilize and empower the youth and educators and to promote sustainable lifestyles.
Project Funding and Implementation
Nine (9) countries including the Philippines have come together to run national competitions asking students to submit plans for making their schools sustainable. The winning schools will be given grants to implement their ideas from the beginning of 2020, turning their dreams into reality with the support of experts from their country and around the world.
It is funded through the Trust Fund of the Network, administered by United Nations Environment Programme with the contribution from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) acts as overall co-ordinator with the assistance of multi-stakeholder advisory committee of the SLE programme and other advisors.)
The Philippine partners include:
-
- DENR-Environment Management Bureau
- Philippines Center for Environment Awareness and Sustainability, Inc. (PCEAS)
Objectives
-
- Support implementation of regional and national mandates for education on sustainable development and lifestyles;
- Develop a replicable and scalable approach to a healthy and effective search for sustainable schools;
- Develop capacities of schools to design and integrate sustainability in school curriculum, infrastructure and management/administrative principles and practices, as well as in the communities hosting them;
Project Objectives
Engage teachers and young students into active participation on the implementation of education for sustainable development and lifestyles in their schools and stimulate them to foster sustainable practices at school and the everyday life of students and their communities
Partner Countries
The Global Search has currently nine partner countries from Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. These countries are the following:
-
- Philippines
- Kyrgyz Republic
- Vietnam
- South Africa
- Brazil
- Namibia
- Cambodia
- Uganda
- Suriname
How can the schools join?
National searches will be conducted by partner countries
Winning schools will submit implementation plans to enhance sustainability in the following:
-
- School Governance
- Teaching and Learning
- Facilities and Operations
- Community Partnerships
The winning participating schools to submit its Implementation plan via email to gsss_ph@yahoo.com using the suggested format of the Project and other requirements on or before 10 January 2020.
The implementation plan should meet the Criteria.
The winners will be notified via email and will be announced in the project’s FB page before end of January 2020.
Awards/Grants
The chosen schools with the best implementation plan will be given cash prizes to support the implementation of the schools’ plan.
The winning schools will also receive trainings to be conducted in their location on GHG reduction measures and reporting.
The implementation process will be documented by the PCEAS
Programme Stages and Tentative Timeline
The Global Search for Sustainable Schools have 4 stages:
Stage 1: Partnership Formulation
Implementation structures are formulated with the partner countries recruited, the common process of the subsequent stages developed, including the criteria for the search for sustainable schools.
Stage 2: Simultaneous National Searches
Selected schools will be given grants for the implementation of their action plan for limited period. The implementation activities will be monitored and evaluated and results will be properly documented for reporting to the funding agency.
Stage 3: International Exchange
The Philippines will host the International Study Tour to be attended by representatives from the 8 other countries.
Three chosen schools in Santiago, Isabela will be visited in this International Study Tour
The chosen schools will showcase their sustainable and eco-friendly projects to the International delegates
Exhange Between National Champion
A limited number of representatives (students and teachers) from the national champion schools visit other national champion schools to share ideas and experiences