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Description
The Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an ambitious paradigm. For the schools, it means the global incorporation of the 17 SDGs (2030 Agenda) in 4 areas: curriculum and pedagogy; unit management; school life; partnership with the community ("esd whole-school approach").
The project builds the capacity of NGOs members and school actors (students, teachers, school managers, parents, citizens, entrepreneurs, local elected officials) to advocate in the civic arena for this school model. First, the "Sustainable school" label is developed. It provides schools with the methodology for incorporating the SDGs in the 4 areas and offers them recognition. Then, the complete labeling process is piloted. 4 schools participate: from Sacele, Turnu Magurele, Moreni and Iasi. At the same time, 30 NGOs and 30 schools are attracted as "allies". Collaborating, they will systematically advocate for 10 local public administrations to support the ESD label in the schools they manage and finance. Together, the 60 NGOs and schools that contribute to the results of the project form a national reference network for ESD. The network completes and relaunches the public policy proposal for ESD developed and supported by 70 NGOs in 2019. The label "Sustainable school" provides the concrete ESD tool, which allows an effective implementation of this policy. The development of an open educational resource (OER) allows the network to disseminate the label and support the ESD policy over time.
At least 2/3 of the organizations in the network are from underserved areas or work with underserved target groups. An essential principle of ESD and the network is the resilience of the educational act and of the communities in the context of systemic crises, such as Covid-19. The project is implemented by REPER21, For the Better Association and the TERRA Millenium III Foundation, organizations with a long experience of collaboration in the field of sustainable development, advocacy and activism.
Summary of project results
The Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an ambitious paradigm. For the schools, it means the global incorporation of the 17 SDGs (2030 Agenda) in 4 areas: curriculum and pedagogy; unit management; school life; partnership with the community ("esd whole-school approach").
The project addressed the need to involve Romanian NGOs in advancing the education for sustainable development (ESD) both strategically, through the development and implementation of specific policies, and operationally, through the development of tools for implementing ESD, such as a "Sustainable School" label.
The project developed and piloted an innovative method to bring ESD in schools, the Appreciative Design (AD), used for the development of a Sustainable Club, a mandatory condition to obtain the Sustainable School (SS) label. The methodology was piloted in 6 schools in Turnu Magurele, Moreni, Sacele and Iasi, half of them with a vulnerable situation. More than 60 meetings and training sessions were organized with more than 600 students and teachers from the 6 schools who developed diverse ESD skills and implemented novel activities such as the participatory construction of a resilience gazebo from materials recovered from the roof of the school demolished by a storm or outings for collecting edible wild plants based on the skills of Roma mothers.
Meetings were organized with more than 200 people following which 28 collaboration agreements were signed on the establishment and development of the Sustainable Club in various schools in the country. 13 training sessions with more than 150 people have allowed the assumption of the SD methodology and its promotion in different schools and communities. The SD clubs and label are managed by a consortium of 5 national NGOs with extensive experience in the field of sustainable development that will ensure the sustainability of the initiative.
5 of the pilot schools received the SD label in fall 2023.
The project involved an important advocacy component, contributing to the development of the National Strategy and Plan for Environmental and Climate Education during the project, an important policy achievement in the field of ESD.