International Capacity-Building Seminar “Asian UNESCO Clubs for Global Citizenship Education (GCED)” was held on April 30 – May 1, 2019. The event took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

A 2-day seminar on Global Citizenship Education was attended by 150 representatives of civil society, academy and education areas, including the heads of UNESCO Clubs of the Asia-Pacific region, international experts and UNESCO certified trainers, as well as representatives from private sector, the mass media and public authorities involved in the formation of educational policies.

The main components of GCED are education in the spirit of peace, intercultural education, education for sustainable development and youth activities, which are in line with the Kazakhstani State Programme “Rukhani Zhangyru”, the Strategy of Education Development – 2020 and correspond to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Organization.

Programme consisted of an Introduction, four Training and Closing Sessions and two final Workshops. During the Introduction Session “Global Citizenship Education: best practices”, three key speakers presented theoretical materials, practical cases on the implementation of GCED at the different levels of education system, the methodological basis and the results of implemented projects organized by UNESCO in the region. Particularly, the main objective of this session was to raise awareness about GCED and to discuss possible perspectives for the integration of this concept in the activities of the UNESCO Clubs of the Asia-Pacific Region. 

The logical transition from a review of Global Citizenship Education became four Training Sessions, which were held in parallel and consisted of exercises to clarify the key competencies of the GCED, implement creative pedagogy, incorporate GCED topics into curriculum, and taking into account the cultural diversity, explore opportunities to educate the younger generation with the main values and principles of humanity and solidarity, as well as other subjects. Simple and accessible training formats allowed studying the topic of the Seminar in more details, gaining a general awareness of how to integrate GCED in the framework of the activities of each institution. 

A key aspect of the event was the final session “Mainstreaming Global Citizenship Education: putting words into action”. The participants collected the best ideas and suggestions, identified typical problems, and the most importantly, planned specific steps to implement projects on GCED. This session allowed to summarize all theoretical knowledge acquired during two days of the Seminar and to develop an action plan, given the specifics of each organization.

At the end, the Declaration of the International Capacity Building Seminar “Asian UNESCO Clubs for Global Citizenship Education” was adopted. This final document, agreed upon by all participants, is a confirmation that the participants undertake to implement the Action Plans developed in this seminar and will promote the implementation of Global Citizenship Education in their institutions.