Member States are encouraged to develop and implement ‘country initiative’ to mainstream ESD in the country’s efforts made for pursuing sustainable development. The country initiative on ESD for 2030 is to have a national scope, which includes activities that have or potentially could have country-wide impact. It can build on existing activities related to ESD or create a new initiative if necessary, in the context of SDG 4 contributions (e.g. curriculum review, teacher development, etc.) and expand them where possible.
Therefore, a country initiative will be considered as an umbrella initiative which typically include as many on-going ESD activities in the country as possible and also some new activities, in order to foster synergies. It is encouraged that the design process of this umbrella multi-stakeholder country initiative would be led by the national government education authority (Ministry of Education) and is coordinated with other related Ministries such as Environment. Ideally, it is recommended to integrate ESD for 2030 country initiative into the existing national frameworks on the SDGs, in particular on SDG 4, but also 12 and 13 among others, in order to ensure coherent action at country level. A detailed guide on the design of the country initiative is provided in ‘country initiative template’, which can be provided upon request.
