Education is an essential component in implementing the sustainable development agenda. Reflecting this, UNESCO launched the project ‘Today for Tomorrow: Coordinating and Implementing the Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)’ in February 2016. ECOPER has collaborated with Ockham IPS to conduct the project’s final evaluation. The evaluation featured stakeholder interviews and an online survey, with a field mission to Cost Rica being undertaken by ECOPER.
The project formed part of UNESCO’s roadmap for implementing the Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which began in 2015. Indeed, it was a key implementing mechanism for achieving the GAP’s overarching goal of ‘generating and scaling up ESD actions’. Project funding was provided by the Japanese government through the Japanese Funds-in-trust (JFIT) for ESD, which has the aim of promoting and ensuring UNESCO’s leadership in ESD. The project’s beneficiaries were diverse, including policymakers, schools, educators, youth and local communities. It was aimed that through the provision of information and training, and the creation of forums and partner networks, the capacities of stakeholders would be increased and they would play a more effective role in achieving the objectives of the GAP.