A VVOB delegation (photo at bottom) consisting of 4 teacher trainers, one expert from the Ministry of Education and Training and two VVOB staff members attended the Regional Seminar on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Action organized by UNESCO in Bangkok (July 12 - 14, 2010). Together with 3 other participants from Vietnam, they joined delegations from China, Japan, Mongolia, Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
One of the main objectives of the seminar was to share experiences and lessons learned of ESD-Net, an Asia-Pacific Regional Network of teacher education institutes for ESD. Besides that, the seminar wanted to show case good practices of ESD in schools and teacher education institutions and to expose participants to knowledge, perspectives, issues and values relating to climate change, human and food security.
Each of the three seminar days consisted of four main parts: (1) a thematic session studying one of 3 issues in depth, respectively education beyond schooling, climate change and food security, (2) a number of show cases of best practices (3) reports from the ESD-Net and (4) country reports.
The VVOB delegation especially liked the presentation of Dr. Marut Jatiket of the Thai Education Foundation during the thematic sessions. He talked about his project on food security involving schools and communities in different countries in East and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.
There were a number of very interesting showcases, in particular the presentation delivered by the principal of an eco-school in Ayudhaya in Thailand which is completely self-sustaining: without impacting the environment and without charging the students any fees. The school selects its students not by testing potential students but by testing the attitude of the parents.
Another showcase that generated a lot of interest was the presentation of Robert Steele on the Compass School concept which uses the metaphor of the compass for schools to practice sustainability. Robert Steele will work with the National Institute of Education Management in Vietnam during August 2010.
The ESD-Net reports sessions were the least appealing part of the seminar partly due to the fact that some of the presentations missed the scientific relevance they claimed. The presentations from Mongolia were the highlights during these sessions.
The country presentations showed a number of good examples from countries that advanced significantly in integrating ESD in the education sector.
The presentation of Central Asia delivered by a participant from Kyrgyzstan was well received but also the presentation of Vietnam. The presentation was jointly delivered by Mr. Nguyen Manh Thang from the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO and Ms. Do Van Nguyet from Live & Learn. While Mr. Thanh focused on the policy context, Ms. Nguyet shared examples of initiatives of international organizations and civil society in promoting ESD in Vietnam. The work of VVOB was also highlighted as one of the examples.
At the end of the seminar, the different country delegations formulated a number of suggestions and intentions to follow-up in their own country. The Vietnam delegation suggested, amongst others, to not only increase awareness of ESD in schools but also in the surrounding communities. Teacher training institutes have the potential and are willing to become the focal point for ESD in formal education. Other initiatives such as the Child Friendly School Movement offer good opportunities to integrate ESD in Vietnam.
