Event
UNESCO and partners to host Asia-Pacific Policy Dialogue and Launch of Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development
UNESCO and the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) are delighted to announce the upcoming ‘Regional Policy Dialogue and Launch of the “Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development” in Asia-Pacific’ (‘Regional Policy Dialogue’ meeting), in Bangkok, from 5 through 7 June 2024.
Support for the Regional Policy Dialogue meeting is provided by the Centres of Asia-Pacific Excellence (CAPEs), the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies, and Sophia University (Japan). The Regional Policy Dialogue meeting will be co-hosted by the Ministry of Education of Thailand.
This meeting will serve as a regional launch for Asia-Pacific of the newly-adopted Recommendation (2023) as the first in an ongoing regional series. The meeting, held in collaboration with Communication and Information, Social and Human Sciences, Culture and other sectors is thus tailored to the specificities and wide diversity of Asia-Pacific, and will revolve around the promotion and unpacking of the Recommendation (2023).
Next steps for the adopted Recommendation
UNESCO is undertaking a series of follow-up measures to promote the recently adopted Recommendation and encourage countries to fully implement it.
The follow-up plan includes a three-pronged strategy to: (i) foster greater awareness of the Recommendation and advocate for its implementation; (ii) build country capacities to operationalize its stipulations; and (iii) update and improve its monitoring and reporting.
Activities are foreseen towards advancing each of these strands of work, starting with the following:
- Regional launches of the Recommendation and related policy dialogues to raise awareness and initiate discussion on implementation priorities at the regional level;
- Development of tools to support the operationalization of the Recommendation in national contexts;
- Updating of the reporting guidelines for the Recommendation
The overarching goal of this dialogue and regional launch event is to cultivate a shared commitment within the Asia-Pacific towards achieving a healthier, more inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful Asia-Pacific for all, through education from early childhood to lifelong learning, and informed by the guiding principles outlined in the Recommendation.
Towards the achievement of this goal, the meeting will serve as an opportunity to raise informed awareness of the Recommendation and spark a lively dialogue among participants on the most effective ways forward to ensure its tangible implementation and formulate a roadmap.
More specifically, the objectives of the meeting can be summarized as follows:
- To brief participants on the Recommendation and foster a shared understanding of it, no less its potential as a trans-disciplinary tool to guide educational reform.
- To identify regional challenges, opportunities and needs towards empowering educators, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders to implement the Recommendation.
- To collect ideas for the development of a regional Roadmap — based on discussions/feedback received on the draft “Global Implementation Guide”—in order to integrate the Recommendation into national education policies and practices in Asia-Pacific.
- To provide comments on the draft outline of the ‘Global Implementation Guide’ for the Recommendation. Provide feedback and discuss regional priorities.
- To enhance regional collaboration by promoting collaboration and partnering among countries, international organizations, NGOs, and other stakeholders seeking to enhance the implementation of the Recommendation across the region and its recognition among all possible stakeholders.
Themes relating to equity, gender equality, and youth empowerment will be integrated throughout the meeting.
Outcomes expected
- Enhanced awareness and understanding of the Recommendation and what it offers a wide and diverse scope of education stakeholders, resulting in increased collective commitment to its implementation in Asia-Pacific.
- Reinforced partnerships from different sectors including Culture, Communication and Information, Social and Human Sciences, and Natural Sciences with delineation of roles among countries and other stakeholders for the effective implementation of the Recommendation.
- Identification of common challenges and opportunities for transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral action (specifically in health and well-being, ESD, and GCED) in the Asia-Pacific region towards implementation of the Recommendation.
- Recommendations for a regional Roadmap to integrate the Recommendation into national education policies and practices in Asia-Pacific.
- Feedback on the draft Global Implementation Guide.
Participants
The Asia-Pacific regional policy dialogue will gather representatives from governmental Ministries of Education and other line ministries, including representatives from academia, civil society, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, national commissions of UNESCO, youth, and other stakeholders from education and beyond in Asia-Pacific.
Ideally, there will be at least one and up to three representatives from each country with specialties in transformative approaches to education, such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Global Citizenship Education (GCED), and health and well-being.
This diverse participant profile underscores UNESCO’s holistic, whole-of-society approach towards realizing a vision of education for humanity and peace, in distinct alignment with that of the Recommendation and all the components of Sustainable Development Goal 4, Target 7.
Modality and language
The meeting will be in person and will include a field trip. Some sessions may be live-streamed. An on-site exhibition will showcase innovative practices from across the Asia-Pacific region in line with the meeting’s themes. Should you be interested in sharing any videos/documents for the exhibition, please contact the respective regional offices and/or the organizers at: HRPSD-AP(at)unesco.org.
The event will be conducted in English only.
The half-day field trip is expected to help participants gain insight into the conditions of implementation of the Recommendation and inspire the formulation of an action-oriented Road Map for countries.
Venue and Date
5 through 7 June 2024, Bangkok, Thailand
—Participation is by invitation only.—
For more information:
For further queries, kindly contact the respective UNESCO field offices covering your country, or the Secretariat at: HRPSD-AP(at)unesco.org.
#EducationForSustainableDevelopment
See also:
- What you need to know about UNESCO’s Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development
- UNESCO adopts landmark guidance on education's cross-cutting role in promoting peace
- Click here for further background and the full Concept Note for the Regional Policy Dialogue meeting*
*This document will be available for three months after the event announcement was first published. If you have difficulties accessing this document, please write to HRPSD-AP(at)unesco.org.
