Background

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a dynamic concept that encompasses a new vision of education that seeks to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating and enjoying a sustainable future. (UNU-IAS) The RCE Minna is founded to contribute to this effort to mobilize formal and non-formal sectors in all nations to deliver the ESD to the people and to support the realisation of the four major thrusts of the ESD as identified in Chapter 36 of Agenda 21, which are:

1. The promotion and improvement of basic education,

2. Reorienting existing education at all levels to address sustainable development,

3. Developing public understanding and awareness of sustainability, and

4. Training and retraining All these form the main frame work of the activities of RCE Minna.

RCE Vision and Objectives:

The vision and objectives of RCE Minna is anchored on the understanding of the followings:

 What are the detailed problems within the region?

 What is the ideal situation?

 What are the hindrances?

 Identification of the steps in the desired direction.

RCE Objectives: Short-Term

1. To develop, collate and adapt teaching and learning resources on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for implementation in both formal and non-formal (including local languages) education delivery.

2. To make available to all major school libraries, literature, expertise and teaching/learning resources on ESD.

3. To initiate activities that will engender collective problem-solving by bringing together school children at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels through hands-on activities at the community level.

4. To generate the requisite awareness for the uptake of ESD as a key ingredient in school curricula and community-level development programme implementation.

5. To solicit the early buy-in and continuous engagement of all stakeholders in the activities of the RCE.

6. To design and deliver strategic awareness campaigns at the community level for pushing the ESD agenda in local languages.

Strategies to Achieve the RCE Objectives:

 Advocacy among political class for policies that promote sustainable development

 Conducting seminars and workshops on ESD for educational institutions, youth organisations, societies and clubs.

 Creating public awareness for resource conservation and sustainable utilization.

 Policy advocacy, participatory communitylevel resource mapping and monitoring,

 Community mobilization for self-driven community development projects.

 Conducting Training of Trainers (TOT) courses on ESD to increase the resource persons/facilitators in various strategic localities within the region.

 Conducting seminars and workshops on ESD for educational institutions, youth organisations, societies and clubs.