Stakeholders from various sectors of development yesterday begun a three-day meeting in Accra to draft an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Country Initiative for Ghana.
The initiative is expected to consolidate and promote activities being undertaken by the country to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through education.
It is one of the requirements for Ghana's admittance into a new global network of countries that is leveraging the power of education to help achieve all the 17 SDGs by the 2030 deadline.
The network, named the ESD-Net 2030, was set up by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) under its ESD framework, which aims to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs.
The stakeholders, drawn from state and non-state bodies, academic institutions, youth organisations involved in ESD, would also constitute Ghana's ESD intersectoral country team to help to drive ESD roadmap objectives.
In her address, the Secretary-General for the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, said in an era where education was threatened by many factors, there was the need to increase the quality of learning to advance sustainable development.
She said that was the reason for the UNESCO's decision to guide all member states to refocus education and learning on sustainable development outcomes.
"From the sustainable practices of traditional lifestyles to numerous climate action initiatives, Ghana shows clear commitments to limiting the impact of climate change and promoting sustainable development. However, it is imperative to begin to report our progress," Mrs Nerquaye-Tetteh said.
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She said the ESD for 2030 would build on lesson learned from the Global Action Programme on ESD 2015 -2019 in response to increased importance placed on ESD.
"Accelerating ESD in the decade of action to meet the SDGs is essential, given that there is not much time left to achieve the SDGs," Mrs Nerquaye-Tetteh she noted.
The Head of Education Section at the UNESCO Ghana Office, Prosper Nyavor, said UNESCO recognised the huge capacity that exists in the country when it comes to ESD.
He, therefore, expressed the hope that the team assembled would develop a comprehensive document that would be in line with the UNESCO's vision for the SDGs.
In an interview, the Principal Programme Officer (Education) of Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Moses Gemeh, said the ESD had three key pillars; economic, environment and social which should be connected to all SDGs activities.
He said the pillars had priority areas including advancing policy, translating learning environments, teacher education, youth mobilisation and local level action.
Mr Gemeh said the stakeholders develop the country initiative by picking each priority area, highlight activities being done and identify ways through which education could be used to whip up the interest of respective members of society to help with the SDGs efforts.
