In response to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), the United Nations University (UNU) called for the development of regional networks for the promotion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). These networks address local sustainable development challenges through research and capacity development. This was the birth of Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD (RCEs). RCEs are acknowledged by the UNU based on recommendations of the Ubuntu Committee of Peers for the RCEs, which consists of signatories of the Ubuntu Declaration signed in 2002.
RCEs aspire to achieve the goals of the DESD by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate. This is then accomplished by acting as a catalyst for institutions that promote ESD through formal, non-formal and informal education, and by providing suitable platforms to share information and experiences and to promote dialogue among regional stakeholders through partnerships for sustainable development. They also develop regional knowledge bases to support ESD and promote its goals in a resource effective manner. This can be achieved through the delivery of training programmes, by facilitating research into ESD, through public awareness raising, and by increasing the quality and access to ESD in the region.
An RCE should have four core elements:
Governance - addressing issues of RCE management and leadership
Collaboration - addressing the engagement of actors from all levels of formal, non-formal and informal education
Research and development - addressing the role of research and its inclusion in RCE activities, as well as contributing to the design of strategies for collaborative activities, including those with other RCEs
Transformative education - contributing to the transformation of the current education and training systems to satisfy ambitions of the region regarding sustainable living and livelihood.
RCEs also have four major ESD goals to be promoted in an effective way:
Re-orienting education towards SD, by covering integrating SD and ESD into the current curriculum and tailoring it to address issues and local context of the community in which they operate;
Increase access to quality education that is most needed in the regional context;
Deliver trainers’ training programmes and to develop methodologies and learning materials for them;
Lead advocacy and awareness raising efforts to raise public awareness about the importance of educators and the essential role of ESD in achieving a sustainable future. RCEs promote the long-term goals of ESD, such as environmental stewardship, social justice, and improvement of the quality of life.
RCEs are not only significant for the region itself, where they provide a unique opportunity to promote learning and development for SD, but also important at international level where they help to constitute the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development. Globally, RCEs are facilitated through the United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) who provide a framework for strategy, best practice and techniques for success, which can then be translated to the regional level.
RCEs have recently been acknowledged in the 2009 Bonn Declaration which calls for action to “develop knowledge through ESD networking” through “networks that could serve as centres of expertise and innovation”.
As of December 2016, there are 154 RCEs in the Global network including:
In Africa:
Buea, Cameroon
Cairo, Egypt
Central Kenya, Kenya
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Gauteng, South Africa
Ghana
Greater Eastern Uganda, Uganda
Greater Kampala, Uganda
Greater Masaka, Uganda
Greater Mbarara, Uganda
Greater Nairobi, Kenya
Greater Pwani, Kenya
Harare, Zimbabwe
Jordan, Jordan
Kano, Nigeria
Kakamega-Western, Kenya
Khomas-Erongo, Namibia
KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Lagos, Nigeria
Lesotho
Lusaka, Zambia
Mau Ecosystem Complex, Kenya
Makana and Rural Eastern Cape, South Africa
Maputo, Mozambique
Minna, Nigeria
Mount Kenya East, Kenya
Mutare, Zimbabwe
North Rift, Kenya
Nyanza, Kenya
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Senegal
South Rift, Kenya
Swaziland
Zaria, Nigeria
Zomba, Malawi
In Europe and the Middle East:
Açores, Portugal [1]
Barcelona , Spain
Albania, Middle Albania
Bordeaux-Aquitaine, France
Brittany, France
Central Macedonia
Crete, Greece
Creias-Oeste, Portugal
Denmark, Denmark
Dublin, Ireland
East Midlands , UK
Espoo, Finland
Euroregion Tyrol
Graz-Styria, Austria
Greater Manchester, UK
Hamburg, Germany
Ireland
London, UK
Munich , Germany
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
North East Centre for Transformative Education and Research (NECTER), UK
North Sweden
Nuremberg, Germany
Oldenburger Muensterland
Paris Seine
Porto Metropolitan Area , Portugal (Blogs: 1 2
Rhein Meuse Cross Border Rhine-Meuse region Netherlands/Germany/France
Ruhr [2]
Samara, Russia
Scotland
Severn, UK
RCE Skane, Sweden Skane, Sweden
Southern Black Forest
Southern North Sea, Belgium/Netherlands/France
Uppsala-Gotland, Sweden
Vienna, Austria
Vilnius, Lithuania
Vojvodina, Serbia
Wales, UK
West Sweden
Yorkshire and Humberside, UK
In South America and the Caribbean:
Bogota, Colombia
Chaco, Argentina
Cuenca del Plata, Argentina
Curitiba-Parana, Brazil
Lima-Callao, Peru
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil
In North and Central America:
Borderlands Mexico, USA
British Columbia, Canada
Georgetown, USA
Grand Rapids, USA
Greater Burlington, USA
Greater Sudbury, Canada
Greater Portland, USA
Guatemala
Montreal, Canada
North Texas, USA
Peterborough-Kawarthas, Canada
Saskatchewan, Canada
Shenandoah Valley, USA
Tantramar, Canada
Toronto, Canada
Mauricie/Centre-du-Quebec, Canada
Western Jalisco, Mexico
In the Asia-Pacific region
Anji, China
Arunachal Pradesh, India
Bangalore, India
Beijing , China
Bogor, Indonesia
Bohol, Philippines
Cebu, Philippines
Central Semenanjung, Malaysia
Cha-am, Thailand
Chandigarh, India
Changwon, Korea
Chennai, India
Chubu, Japan
Delhi, India
East Kalimantan, Indonesia
Gippsland, Australia
Goa, India
Greater Dhaka, Bangladesh
Greater Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Greater Sendai, Japan
Greater Western Sydney, Australia
Guwahati, India
Hohhot, China
Hokkaido Central, Japan
Hyogo-Kobe, Japan
Ilocos, Philippines
Incheon, Korea
Inje, Korea
Iskandar, Malaysia
Jammu, India
Kitakyushu, Japan
Kodagu, India
Kunming, China
Kyrgyzstan
Lucknow, India
Maha Sarakham, Thailand
Mumbai, India
Murray-Darling, Australia
Northern Mindanao, Philippines
Okayama, Japan
Penang, Malaysia
Pune, India
Shangri-la, China
Pacific Island Countries
Southern Vietnam
Srinagar, India
Tasmania, Australia
Thiruvananthapuram, India
Tianjin, China
Tirupati, India
Tongyeong, Korea
Trang, Thailand
Ulju, Korea
Waikato, New Zealand
Western Australia
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Yokohama, Japan