20.8.2024

The New Partnership Between ECI and VoLo Foundation: A Professional Development Opportunity for Educators and Youth

Earth Charter International (ECI) is pleased to announce a dynamic new partnership with VoLo Foundation. This partnership will fund 20 scholarships in 2024, ensuring the participation of educators and young leaders from Costa Rica and Florida in ECI’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) professional development program and Leadership Sustainability and Ethics (LSE) course.

This collaboration will support ECI’s mission of contributing to the transition to more sustainable ways of living through a strong ethical foundation. The objective is to empower educators and young leaders through scholarships, particularly targeting secondary school and college/university teachers, professors, and emerging young leaders.

For more than 20 years, ECI has focused on raising awareness about the linkages between environmental and social challenges and the need for nurturing values and principles to guide human behavior and decisions towards a more sustainable future. ECI has emphasized the critical role education plays in fostering sustainable and ethical leadership. It has facilitated educational programs at the intersection of sustainability, values, leadership, and education. One of our purposes is to nurture a new level of consciousness regarding the human/nature relationship. ECI has engaged and empowered educators and young leaders through professional development programs at its world-renowned Education Center and UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter.

VoLo Foundation’s funding will increase our capacity to inspire more educators and young leaders to contribute to social change towards more sustainable societies. Scholarship recipients will gain access to the following high-quality professional development opportunities:

  • Professional Development Programme for Educators on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): This six-month, four-course program enhances the capacity of educators to bring sustainability to the classroom and their area of work. It also provides an opportunity to learn about new approaches to education.
  • Leadership, Sustainability, and Ethics (LSE): This 10-week course focuses on enhancing the capacity of young people (18 to 30 years old) to understand the interdependence of our current local and global challenges and the importance of ethical leadership in driving social change towards sustainability within their communities and beyond.

By supporting ECI’s programs, VoLo Foundation reinforces its commitment to changing consciousness through education. Training educators and enhancing their capacity to bring sustainability to the classroom is at the pinnacle of this transformative process, as they are the catalysts for inspiring and equipping the next generation of leaders committed to sustainability and ethics.

About Earth Charter International

Earth Charter International is dedicated to contributing to the transition to more sustainable ways of living by offering a solid ethical foundation through the principles of the Earth Charter, a comprehensive ethical framework that seeks to foster a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society. ECI’s educational initiatives are central to its mission, providing innovative learning experiences that empower individuals and communities to engage in sustainable practices and ethical decision-making. For more information about Earth Charter International and their programs, please visit www.earthcharter.org.

About VoLo Foundation

VoLo Foundation is a Florida-based organization with the mission “to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.” VoLo Foundation works towards the vision of “a planet where all beings are ensured access to a sustainable and clean environment, health services, and education.” Visit https://volofoundation.org for more details.