Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs), Green Economies and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as Dialogue: Who is Expert?

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-27
Author(s):  
Paul Kolenick
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Post Secondary Education ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Sustainable Societies ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Green Economies ◽  
Centres Of Expertise

As a central part of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) from 2005 to 2014 Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) serve as agents of education for sustainable development through multi-stakeholder networks with an interest in the advancement of sustainable societies. In this article, the question is raised about the nature of ‘expertise’ found among RCE programmes directed towards the development of local green economies; and further, the implications of expertise with respect to the practice among RCEs of education for sustainable development worldwide. Regional Centres of Expertise have put into practice a range of approaches to ESD, some based on a knowledge-transfer approach to learning, which positions post-secondary education as well as other authoritative technical and research institutions as the principal overseers of knowledge and expertise; however, social learning through the facilitation, or convening, of dialogue has also been adopted as an approach to learning that is inclusive of civil society and marginalized others, with implications for social and environmental justice.

Education for Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Meghna Tare
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Informal Education ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

In 2003, in response to the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, the United Nations University (UNU) Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability launched a global multi-stakeholder network of Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) on education for sustainable development (ESD). RCEs facilitate multi-sector collaboration and utilize formal, non-formal, and informal education to address sustainable development challenges in local and regional communities. In essence, RCEs are a tool for transformation to a more sustainable society, combining education and action for sustainable development. As we enter the new "ESD for 2030" decade, RCEs will continue to construct platforms for cross-sectoral dialogue between regional stakeholders and actors to promote and strengthen ESD at the local level. RCEs have committed to helping advance the five priority areas of action established in the Global Action Program on ESD and the new UN decade "ESD for 2030": advancing policy by mainstreaming ESD, transforming learning and training environments using whole-institution approaches, building capacities of educators and trainers, empowering and mobilizing youth, and accelerating sustainable solutions at the local level. RCEs are uniquely positioned to serve as shepherds in the realization of the new "ESD for 2030" decade. As of January 2019, 174 RCEs have officially been acknowledged by UNU worldwide, with eight RCEs in the United States: Georgetown, South Carolina; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Greater Atlanta, Georgia; Greater Burlington, Vermont; Greater Portland, Oregon; North Texas, Texas; Salisbury, Maryland; and Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. RCEs serve an essential role in the achievement of "ESD for 2030" goals by translating global objectives into the local contexts of our communities.

scholarly journals Dissent in Consensusland: An Agonistic Problematization of Multi-stakeholder Governance

2019 ◽  
Vol 164 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Fougère ◽  
Nikodemus Solitander
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Pressure Response ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Political Csr ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
Building Safety ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

AbstractMulti-stakeholder initiatives involve actors from several spheres of society (market, civil society and state) in collaborative arrangements to reach objectives typically related to sustainable development. In political CSR literature, these arrangements have been framed as improvements to transnational governance and as being somehow democratic. We draw on Mouffe’s works on agonistic pluralism to problematize the notion that consensus-led multi-stakeholder initiatives bring more democratic control on corporate power. We examine two initiatives which address two very different issue areas: the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (The Accord). We map the different kinds of adversarial relations involved in connection with the issues meant to be governed by the two initiatives, and find those adversarial relations to take six main shapes, affecting the initiatives in different ways: (1) competing regulatory initiatives; (2) pressure-response relations within multi-stakeholder initiatives; (3) pressure-response relations between NGOs and states through multi-stakeholder initiatives; (4) collaboration and competition between multi-stakeholder initiatives and states; (5) pressure-response relations between civil society actors and multi-stakeholder initiatives; and (6) counter-hegemonic movements against multi-stakeholder initiatives as hegemonic projects. We conclude that multi-stakeholder initiatives cannot be democratic by themselves, and we argue that business and society researchers should not look at democracy or politics only internally to these initiatives, but rather study how issue areas are regulated through interactions between a variety of actors—both within and without the multi-stakeholder initiatives—who get to have a legitimate voice in this regulation.

scholarly journals Moving (Reflexively within) Structures. The Governance of Education for Sustainable Development in Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandy Singer-Brodowski ◽  
Janne von Seggern ◽  
Anika Duveneck ◽  
Nadine Etzkorn
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Relational Agency ◽  
Case Comparison ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

The educational governance discourse aims at capturing how different actors, participating in a specific political process, coordinate their actions while working together within multi-actor policy networks. In Germany, such multi-actor policy networks have set up ambitious political goals on the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) that has resulted in the National Action Plan. The current domestic slogan “From Project to Structure” reveals the overall aim of scaling ESD. In this article, a governance perspective is used to examine how the actors involved in ESD in Germany coordinate their actions with each other. Six focus group discussions for different educational areas were conducted and analyzed with a structuring content analysis in MAXQDA. Additionally, an in-depth case comparison of the actors from different sectors (administration, politics, academia, civil society, and educational practice) was carried out. The results show sector-specific boundary work—the way in which actors construe, maintain, or even bridge boundaries when coordinating their actions in scaling ESD. Actors from the various sectors positioned themselves in patterns of more structure-immanent or more structure-transcending positionings. The conclusion shows that reflection and relational agency is pivotal for cooperation within multi-stakeholder governance networks and for moving strategically within structures.

A Letter from the Future: UNESCO and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Fien
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Lead Agency ◽  
National Education ◽  
The World ◽  
National Education Systems ◽  
The Media

AbstractThis paper begins with a letter of thanks from future generations for the wisdom our generation has shown in initiating a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It describes the overall goals of the Decade and focuses on the Action Plan being developed by UNESCO to guide its contributions as the international lead agency for the Decade. These are shown to be two-fold. The first is one of leadership, catalysing, coordinating and supporting activities around the world, especially supporting the re-orientation of national education systems and policies in support of sustainable development and encouraging civil society, the private sector and the media to participate. The second is as a substantive implementer of Education for Sustainable Development, itself, helping to create an enabling environment for the achievement of the objectives of the Decade.

Regional centres of expertise as mobilising mechanisms for education for sustainable development

2014 ◽  
pp. 181-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger A. Petry ◽  
Lyle M. Benko ◽  
Takaaki Koganezawa ◽  
Tomonori Ichinose ◽  
Mary Otieno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Centres Of Expertise

scholarly journals Facilitating Collaborative Partnerships in Education Policy Research: A Case of Multi-Stakeholder, Co-Investigation for Monitoring and Evaluation of Education for Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2787
Author(s):  
Robert J. Didham ◽  
Paul Ofei-Manu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Collaborative Partnerships ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

Strengthening the research-policy interface is dependent on conducting good research, as well as the appropriateness and applicability of identified policy options. The involvement of relevant stakeholders in collaborative research efforts to co-produce knowledge and recommendations to advance policies is one approach that can arguably improve this interface. This paper provides a practical instance of a research process on education for sustainable development (ESD) to develop a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework, which was conducted in the Asia region with participants from seven countries. This research process is presented as a pragmatic case study of how a collaborative research partnership was facilitated, and it examines how the interaction between researchers, policymakers and practitioners can be structured to support mutual learning in the field of sustainability education. The paper examines the wider debates regarding the research-policy interface, and it identifies the learning features that were achieved in this collaborative partnership, as well as the benefits this had for the research and knowledge co-generation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges and issues M&E raises about the relationship between research and policy in ESD and suggests ways to address them.

scholarly journals Multi-stakeholder Initiative for Sustainable Development: An English School Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Verdinand Robertua Siahaan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
English School ◽  
World Summit ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

AbstrakKolaborasi perusahaan multinasional, organisasi masyarakat sipil dan pemerintah sangat penting untuk melaksanakan pembangunan berkelanjutan. Munculnya inisiatif multi-stakeholder dianggap sebagai solusi untuk membawa pelaku yang berbeda bekerja sama dalam melindungi lingkungan dan pengelolaan pembangunan. Namun, kritikus berpendapat bahwa MSIs mengalami kekurangan akuntabilitas, legitimasi dan efektivitas. Penelitian ini akan menggunakan English School Theory (EST) untuk mengatasi perdebatan dengan menggunakan studi kasus tahun 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) atau konferensi Johannesburg. Pertanyaan penelitian ini adalah bagaimana memahami MSIs untuk pembangunan berkelanjutan menggunakan EST. Artikel ini menggunakan kerangka kerja konseptual untuk mengevaluasi legitimasi, efektivitas dan akuntabilitas MSIs untuk pembangunan berkelanjutan.Kata kunci : korporasi multinasional, multi-stakeholder initiative AbstractCollaboration of multinational corporation, civil society organizations and governments is critical in implementing sustainable development. Emergence of multi-stakeholder initiatives is considered as a solution to bring different actors work together in protecting environment and managing development. However, the critics argue that MSIs are lack of accountability, legitimacy and effectiveness. This research will use English School Theory (EST) to address this debate with the case study of 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) or Johannesburg conference. The research question is on how to understand MSIs for sustainable development using EST. This article advances a conceptual framework for evaluating the legitimacy, effectiveness and accountability of MSIs for sustainable development.Keywords : multinational corporation, multi-stakeholder initiative

scholarly journals E-Learning Platforms as Leverage for Education for Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Liliana Donath ◽  
Gabriela Mircea ◽  
Tomislav Rozman
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
E Learning ◽  
On Line ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

The paper is a conceptual approach to education for sustainable development using an e-learning platform. It starts from the observed reality that all education stakeholders need a learning environment where they can have access to knowledge, collaborate and share their experience, as a survey conducted among students and companies in Timisoara, Romania, region shows. The proposed multi-stakeholder environment accommodates two sections: the learning environment mostly dedicated to students, trainees, tutors and mentors and the virtual sustainability centre that is dedicated to on-line meetings, workshops, counselling, etc. Durable learning is supported by a range of written digital and multimedia resources, including pre-recorded on-line tutoring, videos and games. To engage online learners, various gamification techniques were used in the course design phase, such as recording and presenting the learner’s progress, role-playing and similar. The article presents a conceptual design of the learner’s journey and a mapping from gamification concepts to Moodle LMS elements. Keywords: E-learning, education, sustainable development, gamification, LMS

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