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ESD

One of EGN’s mottos is to “promote international cooperation activities to create a multicultural symbiosis society. In order to achieve that, we take initiative to disseminate education for global citizens”, and promote ESD (Education for Sustainable Development).

EGN has devoted ourselves to solve problems by relating to problems of Matsuyama City and those of Mozambique through supporting the local communities of the country such as sending relief goods and bicycles and supporting TAE project.We have tried to connect the future of two separate communities and improve the situations for both sides. Through the process of such activities, we learn a lot and this can be evolved into the concept of “sustainable development”. This became a good example of ESD and we try to diffuse them into the schools and citizens.

Efforts by Matsuyama City

As EGN’s dedication to the people in Mozambique was highly regarded, in 2008 President Guebuza and 32 high officials visited Matsuyama City. This led a collaborative research channel by Lurio University and Ehime University, the latter had established curriculum to nurture the leaders of environmental ESD. Both universities concluded the agreement of cooperation and now they exchange counterparts of the faculties and students. EGN’s such catalytic activities opened out ESD in Matsuyama City. In 2009, the city launched ESD practice as a municipal level under the subsidy of Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR).

Various parties including Matsuyama City, EGN, Matsuyama International Association, primary/secondary and high schools and universities formed a “Matsuyama ESD promotion committee” and developed learning materials to guide people to understand the situations of developing countries for the purpose of realizing sustainably developed societies. Those materials were created to nurture human resources to act to rectify the problems rather than simply understand the global problems as concepts. We have supported developing various teaching models.

Collaborative works by Ehime Global Network and Aratama Primary School

EGN has been working to establish peace, and visited Aratama Primary School as a “Peace Narrator” Project hosted by Matsuyama City. This visit gave both EGN and the teachers of Aratama a momentum to have joint classes under the concept of ESD “Learning peace in their community and in the world through supporting Mozambique”.

The main target of our Aratama ESD is some 80 sixth-graders. In this primary school, 3th-graders learn about local communities, 4th-graders learn social welfare, 5th-graders, environmental issues and 6th-graders, peace and international cooperation. Incidentally, many people in Matsuyama use bicycles in their everyday life, and the city has a social problem of bicycles’ illegal parking and abandoning. Pupils learn that their familiar bicycles and its problem in their vicinity, while they find out that those are extremely useful in other countries such as Mozambique. They understand an aspect of developing countries and discuss what they can do to solve problems. Through the discussion, they see the situations deeper and discuss them further. This is an experimental approach to compare developing countries and advanced countries and their relationship as a whole throughout a year-round curriculum.

Aratama Primary School applied their ESD activities to UNESCO to be authorized as the first UNESCO Primary School in Shikoku

In Aratama, the 6th-graders continue this curriculum in comprehensive learning classes and they are acting more and better. The teachers started collaborating each other as the practices of UNESCO School.

ESD/Activities of Environmental Preservation and Place of learning at Shinonome-Koen Park

A group of Ehime 311, Ehime University, Shinome Primary School, Shinonome Neighborhood Association, Matsuyama City and Matsuyama International Center are conducting a pilot project of “ESD in Shinonome-Koen Park” with the collaboration with Prefectural Council of Social Welfare and the private corporation called Royal Aizen, a recycling firm.
We are using a part of the park as a community farm (1) to guide the pupils of Shinonome Primary School to continuously learn about environmental issues, (2) to create a place for communication for the residents, (3) to use them to realize a less vulnerable community against disasters by preventing and reducing possible effects of disasters, as this park is designated as one of the evacuation spots. EGN coordinate the parties concerned to conduct ESD initiatives.