Participants from several Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) on ESD in the Asia-Pacific region participated in the two sessions organised by UNU-IAS at the 14^th UNESCO-Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) International Conference.

The theme of this year’s APEID conference, held in Bangkok from 21 to 23 October 2010 was Education for Human Resource Development (HRD). The Conference addressed issues of knowledge, skills, competencies and values required for human resource development, and attracted over 150 participants from 37 countries.

The theme of the two sessions organised by UNU-IAS at the conference was the Role of RCEs in Human Resource Development. One session was devoted to formal education and the other to community empowerment and non-formal education.

Some details on the presentations in the formal education session follow.

• Fostering Leaders for Creating a Sustainable Society at Okayama University, Japan by RCE Okayama (Japan);
• An ESD Practitioner Course with Formal Curriculum and Informal Activities in the Higher Education by RCE Hyogo-Kobe (Japan);
• Teacher Training of Education for Sustainable Development in Greater Sendai RCE by RCE Greater Sendai (Japan); and
• The Role of Regional Centres of Expertise in Competence Development for Sustainable Society: ‘University of RCE’ by RCE Penang (Malaysia).

The papers presented at the session on community empowerment and non-formal education were:

• Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Greater Phnom Penh, Cambodia, by RCE Greater Phnom Penh (Cambodia);
• Empowering Non-Formal Education for Generating a Robust Human Capital in the Province of East Kalimantan, by RCE East Kalimantan (Indonesia);
• Human Resource Development for Protection and Public Hazard Relief Network by RCE Trang, (Thailand); and
• The Deployment of Education for International Understanding and Education for Sustainable Development by RCE Greater Sendai (Japan).

RCE representatives also presented an overview of their RCEs during the sessions.