April 3-4, 2023 – The Kazakhstan National Federation of clubs for UNESCO with the support of UNESCO Participation Programme held an International Seminar on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) “Education Transformation: Development, Evaluation and Implementation” in Almaty. The event was aimed to raise awareness about ESD with the involvement of international experts and UNESCO experts, who shared their experience in this area with the heads of higher, secondary and general educational institutions in Kazakhstan, and had an opportunity to consolidate the knowledge gained through engaging in educational workshops and master classes.

A wide range of experts was invited to participate in the event, including representatives of UNESCO and governmental bodies, secretaries and heads of the clubs for UNESCO of Kazakhstan, universities and colleges of Kazakhstan, as well as international participants from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, and the Philippines.

Taking into consideration the ongoing process of forming the Roadmap for Education System Development 2023-2029 of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the event has enabled cooperation of UNESCO, international federations and associations of UNESCO Clubs, and local education institutions for summarizing key experiences in ESD.

The event provided a platform to raise awareness of ESD, build the capacity of educators and share best practices in order to achieve sustainable development through education.

Participation in the practical workshops allowed the participants to comprehend the way they could contribute to implementation of the Global Action Programme on ESD.

As a result of this activity, an extended stakeholder meeting was organised by the Ministry of Education on 6 April this year, where initial tasks were set to reactivate the National Education Committee for SDG 4 and to draw up an action plan to achieve concrete results in education for sustainable development.

The project was organized by the Kazakhstan National Federation of UNESCO Clubs in cooperation with the Education Sector of the UNESCO Almaty Office and the Kazakhstan National Commission for UNESCO and ICESCO as well as extensive support from private partners from Exxon Mobil Kazakhstan, the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and the Scientific-Research Institute Almatygenplan.