CECADESU: Priorities for 2006

A message from Tiahoga Ruge, Director of the Center for Education and Training for Sustainable Development (CECADESU)

For Mexico the beginning of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development requires a deep revision of the Field of EE, since it sets a different focus for the field of education.

The Decade has the following purposes: to promote education as the basis of a more humane and sustainable society, and to integrate sustainable development to the educational systems in all levels, stimulating international collaboration for the sharing of innovative educational programs, practices and policies for sustainable development.

This commitment involves work in four fundamental areas:

1. Promotion and improvement of Basic Education. The quality of basic education has to improve its focus on dissemination of knowledge, skills, values and its perspectives through life, that promote and support citizens to lead a sustainable life.
2. Reorientation of present educational programs. Rethink and revise education from preschool to university, to include more principles, knowledge, skills, perspectives and values that relate to sustainability on each of the three fields -social, environmental and economic- is important for our present and future societies.
3. Development of public comprehension and consciousness about sustainability. In order to advance towards more sustainable societies, is necessary to have a population aware of the goals of sustainability and with the knowledge and skills to help achieve those goals.
4. Training. The development of specialized training programs has been identified as a critical component to ensure that all sectors of a workforce have the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their jobs in a sustainable way.

Within this framework, Mexico's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), through Cecadesu, and in partnership with Mexico's Ministry of Public Education, leads a program for the implementation of DESD in Mexico. An important step for this implementation is the National Strategy of Environmental Education for Sustainability.

This strategy is in an advanced phase after two regional workshops for the central and south part of Mexico and the establishment of an electronic forum, which will be active until January 15th of 2006. The guidelines for participating in the forum are available at:

http://cecadesu.semarnat.gob.mx/foro_electronico.shtml

Nonetheless, a regional workshop for North of Mexico is still pending, and it is planed to take place in February 2006. The goal of this event is to:

" Gather and organize opinions, critical commentaries, proposals and suggestions from the different sectors on the northern states of Mexico, on the first version of the National Strategy of Environmental Education for Sustainability, and
" Contribute to the construction of a national consensus on the priorities over which to focus the main EE projects to be developed and implemented during the decade.

For this reason, next January, Cecadesu, with the support of Semarnat's International Affairs Coordination Unit and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), will send out a call to representatives from the three governmental powers, civil organisms, academic institutions, community organizations, networks of environmental educators, and others to participate in the workshop.

For this process to be successful it is essential for the event to have the widest social participation possible. The final outcome should be a solid document, built and enhanced by the diversity of approaches, experiences and initiatives from all corners of the country.

On a different matter, Cecadesu grants support every year for the development of projects, but for the moment, and since the recent changes to the Public Projects and Acquisitions Law, we are doing a revision of the guidelines for the selection of proposals for projects on education, training and educational communications for sustainable development. Once the guidelines are update, they will be published on Cecadesu's website, at http://cecadesu.semarnat.gob.mx

It is important to make clear that, as in previous years, Cecadesu will have specific funds for the support of projects within the framework of the Northern Border Program.

Cordially,

Tiahoga Ruge
Center for Education and Training for Sustainable Development (CECADESU)
December 9th, 2005