Local Community-Based Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Asia and Pacific Region

Abstract

Given the systemic challenges Including the COVID-19 pandemic (see Chapter 1), the way of approaching and thinking to know and understand the problem seems neither to give a perfect answer nor a clear direction to follow to the emerging sustainability challenges that the world faces now. This is because the causes and impacts of a single problem are complexly connected to the causes and impacts of other problems. The adaptive approach seems to be effective and appropriate to these wicked problems. With this, diverse stakeholders participate in finding a solution by bringing their knowledge and experiences. This is an educative process that can be called Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in a community context. Stakeholders mutually learn and co-create new knowledge, through dialogues, collaborations and even through a clash of tensions between different interests and positionality. This chapter illustrates how the adaptive approach, or co-learning and co-creation of knowledge for sustainability, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing the experience of the Regional Centre for Expertise on ESD (RCEs) in the Asia and Pacific region by United Nations University. It discusses the factors that promote or hinder the activities and supporting mechanisms are examined. In particular, it highlights the issue of ‘digitalisation’ that was emerged in the community-based ESD efforts that brought an opportunity and a challenge to multistakeholder participation.