Paper of Expeditio representative: NGOs and their role in education for sustainable development at the conference "The Role of Universities and Their Contribution to Sustainable Development"

STRAND - Sustainable Urban Society Association is the organizer of the international conference The Role of Universities and Their Contribution to Sustainable Development on November 29 and 30, 2012 in Belgrade. Key topics of the conference will be the integration of sustainable development into educational programs, recognition of the key role of education in promotion of sustainable development and exchange of information with other relevant actors. The conference is supported by ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners) and ECTP-CEU (European Council of Spatial Planners - Conseil européen des urbanistes).

The conference paper of Expeditio representative Jelena Pejković will be published in the Proceedings; the abstract can be found below. More information about the conference can be found at:
http://www.strand.rs/university/index.html

LEARNING FOR FUTURE AND THE FUTURE OF LEARNING: Non-government organizations and their role in education for sustainable development

Jelena Pejković, M. Arch.

ABSTRACT

United Nations proclaimed the decade beginning on January 1, 2005 “the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.” Emphasizing in two following resolutions that education is “an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development,” the United Nations invited Governments to consider including Education for Sustainable Development into their national education strategies and action plans, as well as to promote wider participation in the Decade through cooperation with other relevant stakeholders, including the civil society organizations.

Although non-government organizations rarely provide educational programs formally named Education for Sustainable Development, they intrinsically respond to the most basic concepts of ESD through their methodologies of work that are based on active and participatory learning, collaboration and dialogue. If ESD is to be understood as a comprehensive, life-long learning process, then it can be argued that many NGOs are leaders in fostering and advancing ESD through their activities and projects. In addition, due to their strong engagement with communities, NGOs represent a productive vehicle for complementing higher education institutions in achieving some of the overreaching aims of ESD, particularly in the area of social development which has been described by a number of authors as the currently weakest aspect of the Sustainability triad.