31 / 192
[
] 31
levels of education, taking part in both formal and non-formal
education, are aware of the imperatives of sustainable develop-
ment.
The signatories of the Ubuntu Declaration are jointly working
towards:
• Strengthening the role of educators in the Commission on
Sustainable Development process as one of the major
stakeholders
• Promoting communication and collaboration among scien-
tific, technological and educational organizations by frequent
exchange of information and views on their activities
• Facilitating the review and revision process of educational
programmes and curricula at all levels of education for inte-
grating the latest scientific and technological knowledge for
sustainable development into educational programmes and
curricula, and to develop mechanisms to continuously inform
teachers and update programmes
• Promoting efforts to attract young people to the teaching
profession
• Emphasizing the importance of ethical issues in education for
building a sustainable and peaceful global society in the
21st century
• Promoting knowledge transfers in innovative ways to speed up
the process of bridging gaps and inequalities in knowledge
• Working towards a new global learning space on education
and sustainability that promotes cooperation and exchange in
education at all levels and among all sectors of education around
the world. This space must be developed on the basis of inter-
national networks of institutions and the creation of regional
centres of excellence, which bring together universities, poly-
technics, and institutions of secondary education and
primary schools.
To develop the curricula and courseware needed – and regularly
update these – and to inform teacher training and re-training in
effective ways, the Ubuntu Declaration Group, the Ubuntu Alliance,
aims at an inclusive and flexible process, mobilizing all who have
something to contribute in primary, secondary and tertiary (includ-
ing higher) education. Specific attention will be given to online
learning and contributions of the media. The Johannesburg Plan
of Implementation will give guidance with regard to the issues to
focus on in particular, such as: water, energy, health, agriculture and
biodiversity (WEHAB) and, of course, the Millennium Development
Goals. The Earth Charter, too, gives important perspectives and
concepts to build upon while constructing curricula and training
teachers.
6
The signatories of the Ubuntu Declaration have worked closely
with UNESCO to promote the DESD, and have contributed to the
draft framework of the International Implementation Scheme.
In that process they have also decided to choose as their most
important concrete project the development of the global learn-
ing space, based on regional centres of expertise (rather than
excellence), which include NGOs, public authorities, museums,
botanical gardens and companies that were prepared to contrib-
ute to ESD projects in their region.
RCEs: an innovative initiative
Regions include parts of countries like Bretagne, Tohoku or
Catalunya. The regional centres should include institutions of
primary, secondary and tertiary education, research
institutions, science museums, non-formal educa-
tion, zoos, parks, etc. Prizes could be awarded for
innovative, joint projects of two or more institutions
from different sectors. The regional centres of exper-
tise might be identified in a comparable way to the
monuments on the cultural heritage list, by a peer
group established by the Ubuntu Alliance. This has
the distinct advantage that local/regional conditions
can be fully taken into account. The RCEs would
contribute to location-specific knowledge. Successful
RCEs would run a portfolio of highly attractive and
effective ESD projects, each of these run by two or
more member institutions coming from different
sectors of society.
The initiative of the Ubuntu Alliance has already
received much positive global response. The good
advice and strong support for new RCE initiatives,
given by the staff of the Global Service Centre located
at UNU-IAS in Yokohama, has been crucial for the
successful creation of RCEs and ultimately, the envis-
aged Global Learning Space on ESD. By the spring
of 2010 the Group of Peers of the Ubuntu Alliance
had officially acknowledged 74 RCEs, of which 12
are located in Africa, 28 in Asia and the Pacific, 23 in
Europe and the Middle East, and 11 in the Americas.
In different ways, the RCEs have also started to shape
the global learning space by developing joint projects
and sub-networks. In May 2010 the RCE Curitiba
organized the Fifth International RCE conference, and
in December 2009 the RCE Graz-Styria organized the
Third European RCE meeting and the RCEs of Asia
and the Pacific met at an event organized by the RCE
Delhi and TERI at the TERI University.
These regional centres of expertise will produce a
visible output as a global network. In the process, it
will be possible to mobilize many people, learn from
their creative ideas, build on diversity and promote
international cooperation in ESD. The regional centres
and their mutual relations form the global learning
space for sustainable development; the major tangible
outcome of the DESD.
Participants in an office productivity training programme, part
of the RCE Cebu-APFED sponsored KnowledgeNetwork
Image: UNU-Institute for Advanced Studies,
Yokohama, RCE-Bulletin