Call for Entries: UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development

The Prize and award winners recognize the role of education in connecting the social, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Prize Information

• The Prize shall consist of three awards of US $50,000 for each of the three recipients, each of which is considered to merit a Prize.

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates shall have made significant contributions to ESD, focusing on one or more of the five Priority Action Areas of the “ESD for 2030” framework:
  • policy support
  • whole-institution approaches
  • educators
  • youth
  • local communities and
  • contribute to the achievement of the SDGs through education.
• Prizes may be conferred upon institutions, non-governmental organizations or other entities engaged in ESD.

Nomination Criteria

• Institutions, organizations or other entities engaged in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Nominations must focus on a specific ESD project or programme of the nominee.
• Nominations can be submitted to the Director-General of UNESCO by Governments of Member States via their Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, and by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) or foundations in official partnership with UNESCO. Each Permanent Delegation, NGO or foundation can make up to three nominations for any edition of the Prize. Self-nominations are not accepted.

Selection Criteria

• The three Prize winners are selected by the Director-General of UNESCO on the basis of recommendations made by an international independent jury consisting of five experts.
• The project/programme of the nominee are assessed by the Jury on the basis of the following criteria:
  • Transformation:
    • The project/programme practices Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as transformative education in support of sustainable development, leading to individual and social change.
  • Integration:
    • The project/programme addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development (society, economy, environment) in an integrated way.
  • Innovation:
    • The project/programme demonstrates an innovative approach to ESD.
    • Sustainable development requires going beyond ‘business as usual’ and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking. The nominated project/programme should demonstrate an innovative approach to ESD, be it in the themes it covers, the methodology it employs, or the way the learning environment is designed. Reaching out to sectors beyond education and working with new partners can also be a sign of innovation.
    • In addition to these three criteria, the project/programme should:
      • be ongoing and have been running for at least four years
      • show a presence of evidence of results and have a high impact relative to the invested resources
      • be replicable and scalable
      • contribute to one or more of the five priority action areas of the ESD for 2030 framework.

For more information, visit UNESCO.

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