Message from the Global RCE Service Centre:

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We warmly welcome three new members to the Global RCE Network: RCE Vojvodina (Serbia), RCE Thiruvananthapuram (India), and RCE Tianjin (China). This brings the total number of RCE members to 149.

RCE Vojvodina’s mission focuses on improving research, science, as well as industrial and education models of development in Vojvodina in ways that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The major goal is to provide the settings needed to encourage local sustainable development in the region and in the country.

RCE Thiruvananthapuram focusses on health, traditional knowledge, biodiversity, and ecotourism. They are also involved in different projects on teacher education, disaster risk reduction and sustainable food production. Thiruvananthapuram is the capital city of the South Indian State of Kerala with the highest Human Development Index in the country.

RCE Tianjin’s vision is to engage all Tianjin citizens in lifelong learning and effective change of sustainable ways of being, living, working and acting. Tianjin is one of the fastest economic development region in China, facing a huge resource, environmental, and ecological pressure.

Guiding Principles and RCE Logo Use

We would like to remind you of the Guiding Principles of the RCE Community. Adopted during the last Global RCE Conference in 2014, these Guidelines were published as an effort to step up the contributions of the global RCE network beyond the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), and in order to strengthen its capacities towards implementing the SDGs, and the GAP. These Guidelines are necessary to protect the integrity of the global RCE network and to promote the quality of practice consistent with the principles of good governance. They also include a reference to our Logo Use Policy. Please make sure you follow these guidelines and policies at all times.

RCE Activities Map

This is a gentle reminder on the RCE activities mapping system, that is being developed to be launched during the global conference in November. It will allow for all RCE activities, past and present, to be searchable online. This includes search engine optimisation (SEO) which means that anything on the portal will also pop up in search engines. We strongly encourage all RCEs to submit their Annual Report 2016 before the deadline of 1 November, 2016.

RCE Geographic Map

In order to finalise the google map of all RCEs we need all RCE profiles. Having an RCE Profile on the RCE Portal has several advantages. It helps potential partners to find an RCE that is working in similar fields, it promotes the RCE’s activities widely and it allows for RCE and non-RCE actors to contact the RCE directly.

Please submit your RCE profile together with 1-2 images to the RCE Service Centre before 1 November, 2016. You can find examples of profiles here. Below is a list of RCEs with missing profiles. We would like to make sure that all information posted on the RCE Portal and on Wikipedia is correct. Please take a moment to check your information and send us any updates or the full profile, if you have not done so in the past.

Africa: Cairo, Central Kenya, Dar es Salaam, Greater Mbarara, Harare, Kano, Kakamega-Western, Khomas-Erongo, KwaZulu Natal, Lagos, Maputo, Mount Kenya East, Nyanza, Port Harcourt, South Rift, Swaziland, Zomba

Asia Pacific: Anji, Bangalore, Beijing, Bohol, Central Semenanjung, Cha-am, Chubu, Delhi, East Kalimantan, Greater Phnom Penh, Hokkaido Central, Hyogo-Kobe, Ilocos, Incheon, Iskandar, Kunming, Maha Sarakham, Northern Mindanao, Southern Vietnam, Tianjin, Tirupati, Ulju, Waikato, Western Australia, Yogyakarta.

Europe and Middle East: Acores, Brittany, Central Macedonia, Crete, Creias-Oeste, Denmark, East Midlands, Espoo, Euroregion Tyrol, Greater Manchester, Hamburg, Ireland, Nizhny Novgorord, North Sweden, Nuremberg, Oldenbuerger Muensterland, Paris Seine, Porto, Samara, Scotland, Black Forest, Uppsala-Gotland, Vilnius, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside.

Americas: Bogota, British Columbia, Chaco, Cuenca del Plata, Greater Burlington, Guatemala, Lima-Callao, Montreal, North Texas, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Shenandoah Valley, Toronto, Western Jalisco.

Congratulations RCE Okayama!

This year's three laureates of the 2016 UNESCO-Japan Prize on ESD are the Okayama ESD Promotion Commission from Japan (RCE Okayama), the Centre for Community Regeneration and Development from Cameroon, and the National Union of Students UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We would like to extend our congratulations to RCE Okayama for all their hard work on ESD. Their activities and achievements are truly inspiring for all of us in the network. Read more here. For pictures go to Flickr.

Sincerely,

The Global RCE Service Centre

Upcoming Events

Register now for the 10th Global RCE Conference!

23-25 November 2016, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The Conference on 23-25 November, 2016, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia will discuss strategies to make substantial contributions to the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Registration is now open until 24 October. Please note we no longer accept applications for financial support. More details can be found here.

RCE Conference of the Americas

19-24 October, 2016, Curitiba,Brazil

Hosted by RCE Curitiba-Parana in Curitiba, Brazil from 19-24 October, 2016, the theme of this year’s meeting will be "Renewable Energy and Sustainable Education", and will be held in parallel with a regional symposium on Low Carbon Economy, Renewable Energy and Cities. RCEs throughout the region are encouraged to attend and contribute to the development of a regional strategy for the Americas in addressing sustainability challenges through education and capacity building. In order to create a regional action plan, and to promote RCEs’ contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Secretariat would like to ask each RCE to submit an Action Plan by the now extended deadline of 7 October 2016. The template can be downloaded here.

8th Tongyeong ESD International Forum

21-22 October, 2016, Sejahtera Forest, Tongyeong, Republic of Korea

The Forum, under the theme of “Sejahtera Forest for All” will bring ESD friends of the Asia-Pacific region together to share and discuss about RCE Tongyeong's programmes, and facilities. Read more

18th UNESCO-APEID International Conference, In Pursuit of Quality Education: The Past, Present and Future

26 October, 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

This event is hoping to increase knowledge on how quality is understood in education, showcase innovative approaches to improve, assess and evaluate the quality of education. Read more

International Conference of Low Carbon Asia (ICLCA) 2016

23-25 November, 2016, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Held on campus of ProSPER.Net member Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM), this annual conference brings together academics, government and industry to champion the transformation and governance of low carbon societies in Asia and beyond. Read more

Sustainable City Development 2016 - Local implementation of SDGs

30 November- 2 December, 2016, Malmö, Sweden

Malmö aims to start a debate on how cities can work together and implement the UN's goals. Read more

International Conference on Sustainable Development Goals (ICSDG2016)

7-8 December, 2016, Penang, Malaysia

This event is held on campus of ProSPER.Net member Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). During the conference, collaboration among organizations in the South East Asia Countries in achieving the 17 SDGs will be fostered. Read more

8th International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development

25-26 February 2017, Nonthaburi, Thailand

During the event, participants will discuss effective strategies for rural development taking into account agricultural and environmental aspects. Abstracts can be submitted until 30 September, 2016. Read more

World Symposium on Sustainability Science and Research: Implementing the SDGs

5 -7 April 2017, Manchester, UK

Organised by RCE Hamburg, this symposium will illustrate how sustainability science can help achieve the SDGs and the many targets of the document "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". Read more

For more events visit our ESD calendar.

Open Calls

Wege Prize 2017

This is a yearly student design competition that allows for collaboration across institutional and disciplinary boundaries, using design thinking principles, and contend for $30,000, to show the world what the future of problem solving looks like. Read more

2016 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award on Saving Energy

If your school is in South East Asia and has implemented activities to reduce energy consumption, you can participate in the 2016 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award. You can be recognised as a model of best practices in energy conservation and to promote ESD across South East Asia. Deadline is 25 November 2016.Read more

More open calls and vacancies can be found in the CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT section on the RCE portal.

Latest News

RCE Minna and RCE Grand Rapids organize the first Youth Virtual Conference in Africa

RCE Minna and RCE Grand Rapids brought together young people to discuss ways of addressing youth unemployment and climate change through TVET, entrepreneurship, and lifelong learning in the various regions of Africa. The 1st Youth Virtual Conference in Africa was centered around the theme “Sustainable Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Entrepreneurship and Lifelong Learning on Sustainability”. Read more

RCE Greater Masaka officially launched

Joining the network in 2015, RCE Greater Masaka held its official inauguration ceremony this month. At its hosting institution Uganda Martyrs University, the colourful ceremony was officiated by the Guest of Honour Mr. Augustine Omare Okurut, as well as the Secretary General of the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO. Read more

Students Study Tour in South Korea: Regional Tourism Forum

Based in the Tongyeong Sejahtera Centre and the city of Busan, during two weeks in July, the students learnt about sustainable and cultural tourism and embraced local cultures and cuisine. Read more

UNESCO ESD Pacific Updates: Environmental solutions in the Philippines

This annual journal, in its current edition, shows research by students of Xavier University (secretariat of RCE Northern Mindanao) on environmental solution projects in different areas such as Disaster Risk Management, environmental studies, renewable energy, to name a few.Read more

First graduate course on SCP in India

SWITCH-Asia and ProSPER.Net member TERI University launched the first graduate course on SCP and resource efficiency in a developing country, last month. The course is a permanent part of the MA on Public Policy and Sustainable Development. Read more

Ego-to-Eco School Competition in Bhutan

In Bhutan, UNEP through the SWITCH-Asia Programme and UNITAR are supporting the EGO-to-ECO school competition, a project that involves children as co-creators of solutions to changing unsustainable consumption habits. Read more

SDGs Resource Centre

Do you know the global goals toolkit? It shows how to become an SDG champion, has a picture library, and how to get involved. Read more

ESD Books, Publications and Other

UNESCO Case Studies in Youth and Adult Literacy Programmes

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has launched a compilation of case studies in youth and adult literacy programmes “Literacy in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts: Effective Approaches to Adult Learning and Education". Read more

SDG Index and Dashboard

The German Bertelsmann Foundation together with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) released a “SDG Index and Dashboard” for 149 countries. Read more

Global Sustainable Development Report 2016

The report focusses on the science-policy interface for sustainable development in the context of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Read more

Global Education Monitor Report

The 6th Global Education Monitor report “Education for People and Planet: Creating Sustainable Futures for All” is now available. Read more

UNESCO YouthXchange Biodiversity & Lifestyles Guidebook

The report reviews the current knowledge about what factors influence sustainable lifestyles and proposes strategies for assessing policies and developing necessary actions. Read more

UNESCO YouthXchange: Green Skills and Lifestyles Guidebook

This publication was developed as a primer for youth on the green economy and the skills needed for it (for example engaging in social innovation and green entrepreneurship). Read more

Learning knowledge and skills for agriculture and rural livelihoods

This is a synthesis report of country studies in Cambodia, Egypt and Ethiopia during the research project ‘Learning knowledge and skills for agriculture and rural livelihoods’ (2012–2014). Read more

Global Report on Adult Learning and Education

The main objective of this report is to take stock of countries’ progress in implementing commitments to adult learning and education made at the 2009 International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI). Read more