A consortium for the Tohoku region was developed through initiatives undertaken by the ESD/UNESCO-Associated Schools and Tohoku
Consortium, which was supported by a program to subsidize UNESCO activity costs as run by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) between fiscal years 2014 and 2016, and successor initiatives. In addition, the framework for ESD activities centered around UNESCO-associated schools was fortified and ESD hub areas were established in collaboration with the Tohoku Regional ESD Activities Support Center through a program to subsidize UNESCO activity costs (Promoting ESD Through Collaborations With Schools and Communities for the Attainment of SDGs for the Tohoku Region) from fiscal year 2018.
In Kesennuma City, Osaki City, Tadami Town, and Hiraizumi Town in particular, consortium activities have engendered the power of area centers and the power of networks to organize areas. In these areas, UNESCO associated schools promoting ESD have begun learning from one another with a focus on school education.
In fiscal year 2019, class curricula were developed and community development programs were created in these priority areas through four learning seminars based on the theme of the development of curricula for SDGs and ESD based on the use of local
resources by local citizens and the results of this process were then made visible. Other satellite areas have been keeping themselves apprised of the results in other priority areas and working to develop hub areas for ESD and SDGs for ten areas across the Tohoku region.