RCE Bulletin
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
As 2018 draws to a close, may we take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you in our RCE community for your contributions this year. Together, your efforts and work towards ESD are what makes this network so successful. It was wonderful to see so many examples of this throughout the year, including most recently at the 11th Global RCE Conference in Cebu, the Philippines.
For those who attended, may we ask you to take a moment to complete the Conference survey by 24 December, 2018. Your valuable input will help us to improve future conferences. Stay tuned in the upcoming months for a report and outcomes from the event.
Until then, we would like to wish you all a Happy Holidays and look forward to an exciting 2019 ahead!
Please note that the RCE Secretariat will be closed during the UNU's official vacation period (24 December, 2018 - 2 January, 2019). We will process your requests and emails when we return in the New Year.
Sincerely,
The Global RCE Service Centre
Obituary: Ms. Yoshiko Misumi
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing away of Ms. Yoshiko Misumi on 7 September, 2018. Ms. Yoshiko Misumi greatly contributed to women's empowerment and the realisation of a gender-equal society, not only in Kitakyushu, but also in Japan, and had been committed to operating RCE Kitakyushu since its establishment. A memorial service was held for her on 23 November, 2018.
Upcoming Events
Open Calls
The Global RCE Service Centre is currently accepting applications to host RCE Regional Meetings for 2019. Held annually, these important gatherings are an opportunity for RCEs to discuss regional priorities, to network, and to share knowledge and learn from one another.
If your RCE is interested in hosting, we would love to hear from you! Please visit the open call for further details on how to apply. The deadline for applications is Thursday 31 January, 2019 (11:59pm JST).
(Photo credit: Kenichi Tanaka)
UNU-IAS is now accepting applications for September 2019 admission to its postgraduate degree programmes: the Master of Science in Sustainability and the PhD in Sustainability Science. The application deadlines are 28 February, 2019 for the master's programme, and 19 April, 2019 for the doctoral programme. Both programmes start in September 2019. Read more
In February 2018, the APRU (Association of Pacific Rim Universities) Multi-Hazards Program organised a strategic meeting on the disaster risk reduction policy influence at Tohoku University with APRU member universities and partner organisations. At the meeting, it was suggested to identify innovations that produced tremendous changes and made contributions to reducing damage to raise awareness on highly effective DRR measures especially among policy makers and practitioners. In collaboration with Keio University, University of Tokyo, United Nations University (UNU), Church World Service (CWS) and International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) of Tohoku University, 30 DRR innovations were identified. This survey aims to identify those innovations that could assist in promoting its application most widely and look into additional DRR innovations for further research. The results of this survey will be included in a publication on the 30 innovations to be issued early 2019 and will be made available on the APRU Multi-Hazards Program website. The survey is open until 20 January, 2019, and can be accessed here.
Latest News
(Photo credit: Dr. Sangam Shrestha)
The International Association of Universities' (IAU's) 2018 International Conference, hosted by the University of Malaya and held from 13-15 November, 2018 focused on 'Higher Education Partnerships for Societal Impact'. Four members of the RCE community shared their experiences on a United Nations University (UNU)-acknowledged model of university-community partnership in a session that looked at the role of universities in RCEs. They shared their experiences including the challenges and accomplishments of working with community partners for creating a sustainable society. Read more
Following on from the success of the 'Global Perspectives Series Webinar - Health and Sustainability: Ensuring Healthy Lives' held on 8 May, 2018, RCEs Srinagar and Greater Western Sydney have further strengthened their collaboration. Western Sydney University (WSU) recently placed two of their third year students undertaking a BHSc (Public Health) course with RCE Srinagar to undertake an internship. The students were situated in Western Sydney and connected with RCE Srinagar via online mediums (such as Zoom and Skype) and participated in the administration and evaluation of programs of RCE Srinagar. Read more
Awarded annually, the SEAMEO-Japan Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Award aims to raise awareness of ESD, promote ESD best practices, and encourage networking among schools and communities in Japan and Southeast Asia. Granted by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan in cooperation with UNESCO Bangkok, this year's award theme was 'Applying Local Wisdom for Environmental Conservation'. Entries from schools demonstrated how they have applied local wisdom for environmental conservation both in the school and in the community. See the full list of winners here.
On 3 December, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted with consensus a resolution proclaiming 24 January as the International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development. In doing so, it demonstrates the key role education plays in building sustainable and resilient societies, as well as its contribution to the achievement of all other Sustainable Development Goals. Read more
ESD BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER
With a focus on the theme of migration and displacement, the 2019 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report continues its assessment of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda.
Read more about the report here or take a look at the section on Target 4.7 here.
New lectures and materials have been released on the GCED Online Campus, an e-learning platform by UNESCO-APCEIU providing free courses and content on Global Citizenship Education (GCED).
These include special lectures from GCED experts, short videos on pedagogy and topics of GCED, interviews with young global citizens, and online courses on Global Justice and Peacebuilding, Human Rights in the context of GCED, Youth Advocacy for GCED, and Curriculum Development for GCED Educators, among others. Explore the online campus here.
This publication from UNESCO Bangkok delivers a snapshot of SDG 4, including its targets and its indicators, through the lens of inequality. It also assesses the progress countries have made and sets benchmarks for the Asia-Pacific region in terms of achieving SDG 4. It is hoped this resource can assist Member States in identifying what steps can be taken to ensure that the region will achieve the new education agenda.
Download the publication here.
Designed for educators, education planners, and practitioners, this resource bank from UNESCO contains pedagogical materials, ideas for classroom activities, multimedia education resources, good practices for each of the 17 SDGs and more. The resources detail how best to integrate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into teaching and learning. Access the resource bank here.
This interactive visual created by UNESCO demonstrates the diversity and interconnectedness of the living heritage elements inscribed under the 2003 Convention. Using web-semantics and graphic visualisation, 'Dive into Intangible Cultural Heritage' explores the various elements across domains, themes, geography and ecosystems and makes it possible to visualise deep inter-connections among them. Read more
This is a publication of UNU-IAS RCE Global Service Centre.
If you wish to contribute to the monthly bulletin or have news, upcoming events, or publications, you would like to share, please use this form. You can mail it to the Global RCE Service Centre: rceservicecentre@unu.edu. Submissions must be made by the 15th of every month. In addition, we encourage you to continue using the RCE Portal to exchange ideas, share expertise and resources and deliberate emerging sustainability issues towards ESD implementation at a global level.
Please send your comments, suggestions and materials to rceservicecentre@unu.edu.
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