Sustainable capacity development and education for sustainable development: Extract from the Mauritius Strategy - Chapter XIV, paras 70-72

70. Small island developing States continue to require support to address the serious challenges they face in capacity development in policy and strategy formulation and implementation. Small island developing States are currently seeking to address these challenges in capacity through a more integrated approach that includes civil society and the private sector, noting that within the Caribbean Community region a charter has been established for the participation of all major groups. 71. While access to education in small island developing States has developed considerably over the last decade, it is still a fundamental component of sustainable development and capacity-building for the long term. The right to education is also a human right. In this regard, education strategies and action plans that encompass the wide-ranging needs for improved access to and quality of education need to be implemented. 72. Further action is required by small island developing States, with the necessary support of the international community, to further education for sustainable development through: Supporting efforts of the respective ministries of education; Promoting comprehensive and accessible universal primary education and ensuring gender equality in all small island developing States, with a major emphasis on reducing illiteracy; Promoting technical and vocational education in order to enhance skills and facilitate the entrepreneurship necessary for the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods; Strengthening distance-learning arrangements; Integrating national sustainable development strategies and environmental education within the education systems, with particular support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and regional environmental organizations and in the framework of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2015; Assisting with basic infrastructure, curriculum development, where appropriate, and teacher training, working towards an integrated gender perspective; Assisting with the further development of programmes for people with special needs, in particular children and youth, especially training at a regional level; Further strengthening the training and teaching of the principles and practices of good governance at all levels and the protection of human rights.