RCE Greater Western Sydney (GWS) and RCE Srinagar with support from UNU-IAS recently held a series of webinars on the topic of 'ESD Action in COVID-19 Era: Experiences of RCEs of the Asia-Pacific Region' on 14 May, 9 June, and 11 June, 2020.  

Attended by over 100 participants from across the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide, the series featured presentations by 37 RCEs within the Asia-Pacific region, as well as presentations from the hosts of this year’s regional RCE meetings on behalf of the other regions: RCEs of the Americas region (presented by Ms. Brittany Foutz, Director, RCE Salisbury); the African region (presented by Dr. Abdul Husaini, Coordinator, RCE Minna); and the European region (presented by Dr. Andrew Reeves, Chair, RCE East Midlands), who spoke about their collaborative ‘Carbon Literacy Training’ Project.  

Presentations by RCEs highlighted the impacts of the pandemic on education, the switch to online delivery modes, and consideration factors to take into account such as technology skills and access. However, in the midst of these changes, it has opened up greater opportunities for collaboration, and the sharing of skills and knowledge, providing the time to reflect and develop new modalities. The range of communication tools and new ways of working were discussed, as were innovative solutions, such as virtual fieldwork. The pandemic has provided opportunities to implement new learning methods, to rethink the skills and learning outcomes of educational programmes, and further highlighted the importance of valuing the skills within communities. In addition, citizen science taken by RCEs to the community can connect people globally and accelerate the efforts of achieving the SDGs.  

Speaking about the webinars, Dr. Jim Taylor, RCE KwaZulu-Natal noted, “The Global RCE Network is found to be an excellent platform to collaborate, respond, support each other and build an inclusive society where all can live with pride and purpose."

Prof. Mario Tabucanon, UNU-IAS commented, "The RCEs are doing the right things amid the wrong things going on in the world. RCEs must continue to deliberate pandemic-related issues and further cultivate intra- and inter-RCE collaboration. The initiatives shared in the three webinars could be useful for emulation in other communities and thus potentially influence policymaking.”  

Dr. Hiroaki Takiguchi, Project Director, UNU-IAS gave the inaugural address in all three webinars, with key note addresses made by Prof. Mario Tabucanon, UNU-IAS in the first webinar, Dr. Philip Vaughter, UNU-IAS in the second and Dr. Jim Taylor, RCE KwaZulu-Natal in the third webinar. Concluding remarks were made by Ms. Jen Dollin, RCE GWS and Dr. Kiran Chhokar, Advisor, RCEs Asia Pacific Region in the first webinar, Dr. Fumiko Noguchi in the second and Dr. Chinara Sadykova, RCE Kyrgyzstan in the last webinar. The second and the third webinars concluded with the closing remarks and the way forward delivered by Prof. Mario Tabucanon. Dr. Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar, RCE Srinagar conducted and moderated the webinars, with facilitation, support and the Zoom platform command from Mrs. Brittany Hardiman, RCE GWS.  

(Photo credit: RCE Greater Western Sydney)

Webinar reports and recordings will be made available soon. The presentations given are available to download below: 

First webinar: 14 May 2020 
Presentations were made by RCE Gippsland, RCE Greater Western Sydney, RCE Tasmania, RCE Greater Phnom Penh, RCE Tianjin, RCE Delhi, RCE Goa, RCE Mumbai, RCE East Arunachal Pradesh, RCE Thiruvananthapuram, RCE Kitakyushu, RCE Kyrgyzstan, RCE Greater Gombak, RCE Kuching, RCE Bohol and RCE Dobong-gu. View their presentations here.   

Second webinar: 9 June 2020 
Presentations were made by RCE Waikato, RCE Greater Dhaka, RCE Sundarbans, RCE Hangzhou, RCE Hohhot, RCE Kodagu, RCE Guwahati, RCE Pune and RCE East Kalimantan. View their presentations here. 

Third webinar: 11 June 2020 
Presentations were made by RCE Beijing, RCE Bangalore, RCE Chandigarh, RCE Jammu, RCE Srinagar, RCE Yogyakarta, RCE Chubu, RCE Kobe, RCE Tongyeong, RCE Cha-am and RCE Sakon Nakhon. View their presentations here.    

Presentation by Dr. Andrew Reeves, RCE Midlands is available here.