Minding the GAP: An overview of five years of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) projects under the Global Action Programme (GAP) within Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on ESD

Abstract

Research on Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has focused on how multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral partnerships can work to enable ESD projects, with a particular focus on how higher education institutions could effectively collaborate with community partners. However, much of this research has focused on how partners worked together (for example, what governance and coordination structures allowed higher education institutions to effectively collaborate with partners) without as much focus of investigation on what activities RCEs were working on. While diverse and compelling research on RCEs already exists, much of this research falls into conceptual theory building or case studies of individual RCE activities. In this article, an overview and analysis of activities from RCEs around the globe is offered to provide some trend analysis for topics and modalities of ESD projects conducted during the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD which ran from 2015 to 2019. This empirical analysis can serve as record of where the Global RCE Network has been over the 5 years of the GAP, where it is now, and where it may wish to go in the future.

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“…In this, academia will play only a part. Whilst the sciences, the social sciences and the humanities have much to offer, practitioner, local, indigenous, and traditional knowledges will all be required to co-design visions of and solutions for the future (White, 2013;Vaughter et al, 2022;Mardero et al, 2023). Linking theory to practise is essential, and holistic outlooks are required to address the systemic aspects of these crises (Voulvoulis et al, 2022).…”

“…Upon the completion of the DESD in 2014, RCEs committed to further generating, accelerating and mainstreaming ESD by implementing the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD and contributing to the realisation of the Sustainable Development" (United Nations University, 2012). RCEs played a key role in facilitating the GAP on ESD (Vaughter et al, 2022) and now play a role in pursuing the UNESCO ESD for 2030 Roadmap with its five priority areas of action: advancing policy, transforming learning environments, building capacities of educators, empowering and mobilising youth, and accelerating local level actions (UNESCO, 2021). However, they also engage critically with globalising narratives whilst supporting local projects (Lotz-Sisitka et al, 2010).…”

“…There are currently over 170 RCEs around the world, forming the Global Network of RCEs. Each RCE is tasked to consider governance, collaboration, research, and development and support of transformative education (RCE Network, 2022;Vaughter et al, 2022). In this way, the Global Network of RCEs attempts to cascade the global agenda into local places and processes through an emergent, self-declared, dynamic constitution of different actors, enabling the capture of interest, and ability within a loosely-coupled framework.…”

“…In Japan, RCEs differ in focus and structure, but several have successfully established consortia for ESD and offer a collaborative platform with some national coordination that collectively model the kind of multi-scale, polycentric governance style required for sustainable development (Ofei-Manu and Shimano, 2012). Collectively, RCEs significantly support learning to underpin the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across formal and non-formal contexts (Vaughter et al, 2022).…”

“…Much of the critical reflection focuses on cross-sectoral (formal, informal, and nonformal) or scalar (global to local) interactions between stakeholders. However, there is evidence that RCEs can support learning in and with communities, with Indigenous Peoples and in relation to local environments (Fadeeva et al, 2014;Vaughter et al, 2022). Korean RCEs "value the specific cultural, historic and natural background of their communities" (Fadeeva et al, 2014, p. 63) and RCE Guatemala was able to integrate Mayan worldviews (Fadeeva et al, 2014, p. 93).…”