Sandra Antonović, Coordinator of a network of ESD initiatives in schools in Central and Southeast Europe, Croatia, presented an Education for sustainability project

1. Education for Sustainability
www.education4sustainability.org
June 2013

2. Who are we
• Nektarina Non Profit is an
international non-profit
organization dedicated to
educating, connecting and inspiring
people to care about their
communities and their environment
• Founded in 2009, today active in
over 30 countries across Europe and
Central Asia
• Highly local approach which
considers cultural, religious, ethnic
and any other diversity
• Find out more on
www.nektarinanonprofit.com

3. Education 4 Sustainability – how it started
Looking at the challenges that the world is facing today it is
becoming increasingly clear that any successful attempt of
changing the mindset must come from Education.
The way in which sustainability is addressed in most educational
systems (sometimes fragmented through different subjects,
sometimes lacking completely) is not likely to help the future
generation to face the difficulties that will come their way
We believe that part of the solution can be the teaching of
sustainability in a structured manner, as one separate subject

4. Education 4 Sustainability – project goals
• Initiate a dialogue and obtain commitment from relevant
bodies (Ministries of Education) to introduce Sustainability as
a separate subject in primary and secondary school curricula
• Generate a public debate and raise awareness among general
population about sustainability and sustainable development
as key elements for the future of our planet
• Provide a free web platform for sustainability knowledge and
practices sharing

5. Education 4 Sustainability – important facts
We consider that:
• Sustainability should be addressed and taught in all its three
dimensional complexity: environmental, social and economic
• All countries are different in terms of political, social, ethnical or
religious factors influencing their current situation
• In some countries sustainability could be introduced in the
educational system as an elective subject in the beginning, so that
the gap compared with current conditions is not too big
• This stage of the project will focus on obtaining commitment from
official bodies and not on developing teaching material for the new
subject

6. Education 4 Sustainability – preparation phase
• From September 2011 to May 2012
• A large amount of information was collected in regard to the
educational systems, legal framework, the state of ESD, etc
• Contacts list was prepared
• Project website developed: www.education4sustainability.org

7. Education 4 Sustainability – preparation phase
• All the information collected, including the part compiled for
the Rio+20 Earth Summit was uploaded in a separate tab called
the Wiki: http://www.education4sustainability.org/wiki/doku.php
• Project documentation (letters, questionnaires, reports) are also
uploaded there, as the project advances

8. Education 4 Sustainability – network formation
Since September 2012 we are
working to establish a network
of partners from each of the
countries.
We rely on our partners to
provide the local perspective
that we lack.
Partners have full flexibility in
designing the actions best
suited to reach the project goal

9. Education 4 Sustainability – network formation
Nektarina Non Profit offers its
country partners support in
carrying out project activities:
logistics, communication, media,
reporting and financial support.
Country partners carry out project
activities in accordance with the
approved plan and budget and
report at agreed intervals.
The partnership is agreed by
signing the Memorandum of
Understanding

10. Education 4 Sustainability – implementation phase
The implementation phase in every country begins with the
MoU and lasts until December 2015.
During this time the efforts will go towards reaching the three
goals of the project.
If a country manages to reach the goals before the end of this
period (that would be great!) it can already prepare for the next
stage.

11. Education 4 Sustainability – post 2015
After 2015 the next stage of the project will focus on creating the
necessary dialogue and expert round-up needed to generate the
actual curricula for all primary and secondary grades.
The training of teachers will also be a part of this process.

12. Education 4 Sustainability
Thank you for your attention!
Any questions?