TVE Asia Pacific, now a regional Centre of Excellence for
Education for Sustainable Development

TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) has been designated as a regional Centre of Excellence (COE) in Education for Sustainable Development.

The selection, by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) in Tokyo, Japan,is for the five year period 2006 – 2010. It was based on a competitive, merit-based process.TVEAP joins four other organisations (see box) also designated as centres of excellence. The five organisations will work individually as well as collaboratively to promote ESD activities in the world’s largest region.

The COE programme is implemented by ACCU together with UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok under the UNESCO/Japan Fund-in-Trust for the Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development.

Its overall objective is to support existing institutions working in different aspects of education for sustainable development, or ESD. With emphasis on non-formal educational approaches, the COEs are to showcase, nurture and promote best ESD practices in the region.

This is a major regional response to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN-DESD) which runs from 2005 to 2014.

TVEAP’s proposed COE Programme, accepted by a high level regional panel of experts convened by ACCU, will showcase some of the region’s most innovative ESD practices through a television series. It will also build the capacity of selected ESD institutions in using media and communications to engage the wider public.

“With its focus on the media, TVEAP has a unique position among the five COE,” said Mr. Sato Kunio, Director General of ACCU. “The media that TVEAP deals with not only cover TV broadcasting, but also other formats and methods such as video, VCD and DVD to reach the grassroots level.”

Mr Sato added: “Media is one of the important fields specified in the International Implementation Scheme of the United Nation's Decade of ESD. In this context, TVE Asia Pacific’s role is extremely important, and we look forward to seeing the best of TVEAP to reflect the noble and challenging cause of ESD.”

“We are delighted to be designated as a regional Centre of Excellence for ESD,” said Nalaka Gunawardene, Director and CEO of TVE Asia Pacific. “For 11 years, we have pursued excellence in communicating sustainable development using the audio-visual and new media. We have blazed new trails in our area of work. We see this COE status as international recognition for our accomplishments and expertise.”

Gunawardene acknowledged that the selection process of COEs was rigorous and demanding. It involved written proposals and budgets, as well as an intensive two-day meeting in Tokyo in August 2006.

“A Centre of Excellence is expected to be catalyst for the advancement of ESD and the UN Decade,” says Ms Shibao Tomoko, Director of ACCU’s Education Division. “Each COE will be a source both for field-level implementer of quality project as well as an intellectual resource.  With five COE working as a team, we envision that we can have impact not only in Asia Pacific Region but also globally.”

Representatives of COEs gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, for two days to participate in a Team-building Workshop on 9 and 10 December 2006. Organised by ACCU, this workshop defined common goals and mission of the “2006-2010 ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific COE Programme for ESD”. It placed the programme in the context of broader ESD initiatives at Asia Pacific level. During the workshop, COE representatives visited a Thai village in Saraburi Province and learned about how local people preserve cultural heritage.

Just prior to this workshop, the five COEs and ACCU also came together to conduct a panel discussion during the 10th APEID International Conference organized by UNESCO in Bangkok from 6 to 8 December 2006 (see our separate story).

ACCU is an independent, non-profit organisation for Asia and the Pacific regional activities in line with the principles of UNESCO. It promotes mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among peoples in the region. ACCU was established in April 1971 in Tokyo through joint efforts of both public and private sectors in Japan. ACCU has since been implementing various regional cooperative programmes in the fields of culture, education and personnel exchange in close collaboration with UNESCO and its Member States in Asia and the Pacific. It launched an ESD programme in 2005.

TVE Asia Pacific is a regionally operating non-profit organisation that specializes in using audio-visual and new media to communicate sustainable development and social justice issues. It produces and distributes editorially independent, journalistically packaged TV, video and online content on a broad range of topics and issues. TVEAP products are used by broadcast, educational and civil society organizations across the region for education, awareness, advocacy, training or activist purposes.

In 2005, TVE Asia Pacific was a co-sponsor of the International Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future, held in Ahmedabad, India, to mark the launch of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.

The Decade, proposed by the government of Japan at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2002. A resolution designated the ten-year period as 2005 to 2014, and proclaimed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the lead agency to promote the Decade.

Confronted with a range of environment and development problems, the world is looking for bright ideas to sustain life on the planet. Education at all levels can shape the world of tomorrow, equipping individuals and societies with the skills, perspectives, knowledge and values to live and work in a sustainable manner. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the earth’s natural resources.