ESD Monitoring Project
Asia-Pacific Guidelines for the Development of National ESD Indicators:
Guidelines (pdf, 3.2mb) | Quickguide (pdf, 1.8mb) | Country Updates (pdf, 400kb) |
Background:
The Asia-Pacific ESD Monitoring Project aims to assist with the monitoring of progress and achievements during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) in the Asia-Pacific region. The first phase (pdf, 20kb) of the project produced a set of Guidelines that provide UNESCO Member States with a practical resource for developing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Indicators at the national level. Project planning commenced in November 2004 when the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication and UNESCO Bangkok signed an agreement to develop guidelines to assist countries in the Asia-Pacific with developing monitoring systems for ESD. The Asia-Pacific DESD Indicators Project was officially launched in March 2006 responding to the DESD International Implementation Scheme's (IIS) recommendation to develop indicators for ESD.
The second phase (word, 50kb) of the project aimed to take stock of the challenges, lessons learned and next steps UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific were taking to develop their national DESD monitoring systems. This undertaking has been named the Country Update process which evolved from discussions during the Workshop for the Development of Asia-Pacific National DESD Monitoring Systems held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 2-4 April 2007.
Through the Country Update process, every three months, beginning in June 2007, UNESCO Member States in the Asia-Pacific were invited to submit Country Update progress reports to UNESCO Bangkok outlining their achievements, challenges, lessons learned and tentative next steps toward the development of their national ESD indicators, data collection and reporting mechanisms. Responses were compiled and distributed in report form to UNESCO National Commissions in the region for the purposes of sharing learning. All countries in the Asia-Pacific region were invited and encouraged to take part in the County Update process.
Country Updates Progress Report 1 (pdf, 830kb)
Country Updates Progress Report 2 (pdf, 200kb)
Country Updates Progress Report 3 (pdf, 230kb)
Country Updates Progress Report 4 (pdf, 240kb)
Country Update Compilation: Progress Reports 1-4 (pdf, 400kb)
Progress: National DESD Monitoring System Development
Click on the picture to enlarge
<u>Lessons Learned</u>
At the conclusion of the Country Update process in 2008, several lessons were learned regarding the process for developing national ESD monitoring systems. In particular, there is an underlying notion that an enabling environment is necessary to pave the way for the development of national ESD indicators. This enabling environment seems to involve, in many cases, the establishment of a national ESD committee, the engagement of stakeholders from across sectors, the development of a national plan for ESD and the creation of a of working group to focus on ESD indicators and monitoring.
In addition, core challenges need to be overcome in order to move the development of ESD indicators and monitoring systems further. Two of the most notable challenges include the need to: 1) coordinate the wide range and scope of ESD activities and actors at the national level; and 2) raise awareness among potential key partners that ESD is an intersectoral platform that goes beyond the education and the environment to also engage other sectors such as science, culture, communications, etc.