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Laureates of UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development

2021

  • World Vision, Ghana 

    World Vision Ghana was chosen for its “Unlock Literacy Project (UL)”, which promotes a holistic approach to the development of literacy focusing on critical thinking, a core competency for sustainability. The project aims to empower children at the primary level to think critically about local issues and take actions, as well as to make reading exciting through multi-lingual education. Going beyond traditional literacy approaches, the project is rewarded its action-oriented, peer-to-peer approach to learning involving whole-communities. It carries potential for further scaling up nationally through cooperation with formal education.
  • Media Development Center, Birzeit University, Palestine 

    The Media Development Center of the Birzeit University in Palestine views media as an integral part of social change and sustainable development and as a means to empower women and men living in marginalized communities with skills to participate in public life. The project “Media and Information Literacy for Sustainable Societies” aims at developing media and information literacy through practical learning-by-doing and training through dialogue. The project is rewarded for its youth-centered approach in generating societal changes through dialogue and cooperation, while focusing on the role of media in encouraging the participation of citizens in public life.
  • Kusi Kawsay School, Peru 

    In remote areas of the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru, Kusi Kawsay Andean School & Ñawpa Ñan Cultural Events have been promoting the protection and preservation of Indigenous people’s rights, culture, values and livelihoods over the last decade. Based on Waldorf pedagogy, the project is recognized for addressing many key elements of education for sustainable development, namely respect for indigenous and local culture and values that promotes human dignity, community-based approaches and action to respond to global challenges.
Video presenting the laureates
Brochure presenting the laureates

2019

  • Camphill Community Trust, Botswana

    The Camphill Community Trust is recognized for its school and community-based Integrated Learning for Living and Work Programme, which offers services for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have not progressed in mainstream education. Through an integrated experience of environment, society and economy, the programme allows learners with special needs to acquire vocational skills such as horticulture, catering and crafts, functional skills such as literacy, numeracy and IT as well as personal and social skills. During their training learners take part in a permaculture programme which includes tree and crop planting and harvesting skills.

  • Sustainable Amazon Foundation, Brazil

    The Sustainable Amazon Foundation wins the Prize for its imaginative project Relevant education for the sustainable development in remote Amazon communities. It focuses on forest-based income generation, environmental conservation and quality of life. Aiming to 'make forests worth more standing than cut', the programme is implemented in 581 remote communities through capacity-building and grassroots empowerment. Nine Conservation and Sustainability Centers throughout the Amazon serve as platforms to leverage adapted sustainable development solutions.

  • City of Hamburg, Germany

    Hamburg was selected for its large-scale programme Hamburg is learning sustainability, which fights climate change through an extensive set of projects, materials and green events that serve to educate and promote sustainable development. For example, it supports educational climate projects in kindergartens, schools and non-formal education, and fosters a climate excellence cluster in universities. Involving a broad range of actors, the programme aims to integrate sustainability into all sectors of education and transform educational practice in the whole city.

Video presenting the laureates
Brochure presenting the laureates

2018

Video presenting the laureates
Brochure presenting the laureates

2017

2016

2015

ESD Prize winners testimonies

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