MEdIES is is providing expertise in a Regional Training on Awareness Raising and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) organised by the EU funded WES Programme. The training includes a sequence of 3 webinars and the first one entitled: “Distilling the priorities and updating the ESD Action Plan for 2030 in the Mediterranean” took place on July 14th, 2021, gathering more than 70 participants from ministries, international organisations, academic institutions and educators, CSOs and NGOs working on ESD, from Albania, Algeria, Boznia-Hergegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Turkey.
Prior to the meeting (via an online survey) and during the sessions, participants shared their views and priorities in relation to the updaing of the Action Plan of the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD in the framework of the #ESDfor2030 context.
Distinguished panellists from international and regional organizations, namely: UNESCO Paris, the UNESCO Regional Office in Venice, UNECE, UNEP/MAP, Union for the Mediterranean and League of Arab States, presented their initiatives and practices embedding and/or promoting ESD, acknowledged ESD as a key enabler for the achievement of the SDGs and reconfirmed their commitment in advancing ESD in the region. This commitment came hand-in-hand with the participants’ recognition that ESD needs further advancement in their countries and acknowledging the importance of mainstreaming ESD in policies at the national level.
WES Team Leader, Prof. Scoullos, underlined that now is the time for urgent action to achieve the transformation needed. We need to encourage more Ministries of Education and other Ministries to invest more resources in ESD, as well as to use the existing resources more efficiently. In addition, while there are successful ESD initiatives that are taking place in the region by different stakeholders, better coordination and synergy is required to maximise their efficiency and outreach. Educators’ competencies development continues to be one of the priorities (and particularly through a train-the-trainers model) scoring high in demand, while the focus on young generations as change-makers is becoming urgent in the region. Lastly, the region is ready to adapt to the global content of ESDfor2030 through various participatory and co-created actions, initiatives and means, such as trainings, new publications and online tools, campaigns, etc.
RESOURCES:
Webinar’s presentations on WES webpage (ENGLISH , FRENCH)
Mediterranean Strategy & its Action Plan (ENGLISH/FRENCH/ARABIC)
#ESDfor2030 & the Roadmap of #ESDfor2030 (ENGLISH, FRENCH)
State of Environment and Development in Mediterranean (ENGLISH, FRENCH)
Two more webinars are scheduled for the coming autumn, focusing on ESD actions & campaigns on sustainable consumption and production with an emphasis on food and packaging.