In this section, we present a selection of projects and other initiatives developed in collaboration with our global partners. The projects featured here reflect diverse approaches, methodologies, and thematic areas aligned with the ethical framework of the Earth Charter.
UNITWIN UNiESD&ST
The Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development, together with the University for Peace, is a founding member of a global UNESCO UNITWIN cooperation programme on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Social Transformations (ST) known as UNiESD&ST.
This global partnership of higher education institutions is envisioned as a platform for generating and sharing knowledge and experience in the fields of ESD and ST, as well as for contextualizing the role of ESD across diverse regions and contexts, in connection with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It brings together six founding members, comprising mostly of UNESCO chairs from Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Greece and South Africa.
ACT4SDGs
This is the acronym of the project called âProfessionalization of Academic Teaching to Infuse SDGs in Latin American Universitiesâ.
Funders: ERASMUS-EDU-2023-CBHE Strand 2.
Period: January 2024 â December 2026.
Partners: This project was created within the UNITWIN Network of ESD and Social Transformation, there are three university partners from Europe and 10 from Latin America:
Europe:
- Heidelberg University of Education (Germany â Coordinator); Frederick University (Cyprus); and University of Crete (Greece).
Latin America:
- Argentina: Universidad Austral and Universidad de San Andrés
- Colombia: Universidad EAFIT and Universidad de Santander
- Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica; Universidad Nacional de CR; Universidad TĂ©cnica Nacional; Universidad para la Paz- Earth Charter Center for ESD.
- Mexico: Universidad AutĂłnoma del Estado de MĂ©xico; Universidad Michoacana de San NicolĂĄs de Hidalgo
Objective: This project seeks to generate a capacity building process with the academic teaching community in the partner universities, to incorporate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into teaching, learning processes and curricula, thus improving the quality of higher education, where the Earth Charter will be used as an ethical framework. Furthermore, it seeks to promote a whole institution approach for sustainability in these institutions, involving university authorities and different decision-making bodies.
News articles:
LoLE Project
LoLE is the acronym of Leaders of Learner Empowerment (LoLE), a project designed and proposed by Leuphana University (Germany), where members of the UNITWIN Network on ESD and ST participate.
Funder: The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)
Period: August 2025 â August 2026
Objective: To develop a free training programme on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) specifically designed for school leaders. Through hands-on projects, participants will drive systemic change in their schools using a Whole School Approach. The programme includes international cohorts of 8 countries and aims to create global ESD leadership network of school leaders.
POLITICS4FUTURE
The Politics4Future is a project aimed at creating a hybrid course for pre-service teachers towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.7). Funders: Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU)-The German Federal Environmental Foundation
Period: November 2022 â November 2023
Politics4Future curriculum has been developed in a collaborative way among members of the UNITWIN Network on ESD and ST. It addresses the gap based on the experience and research of the project partners in the field of teacher education and sustainability learning. Overall, the course helps participants to understand the interconnections between Education for Sustainable Development, Global Citizenship and Political Learning. Countries represented: Germany, Greece, Canada and Costa Rica.
More information:
- https://www.leuphana.de/en/research-centers/isdl/projects/politics4future.html
- https://www.leuphana.de/en/research-centers/isdl/news/single-view/2022/07/14/politics4future-a-new-curriculum-for-teacher-trainees-on-fostering-learning-for-sustainable-development.html
- https://earthcharter.org/courses/politics4future-infusing-sustainability-and-global-citizenship-into-education/
The Earth Stories Collection
The Earth Stories Collection is a repository of traditional stories: myths, legends, fables and folktales from cultures around the planet which can transmit a complex-systems worldview and illustrate the principles and values of the Earth Charter.
This initiative has its origins in the doctoral research of Grian Cutanda that was carried out at the University of Granada, with substantial contributions from professors from the National University of Distance Learning in Spain (UNED) and the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. This initiative continues to collect traditional stories from diverse cultures that correlate to the Earth Charter principles.
UNESCO Greening Education Partnership (GEP)
The Greening Education Partnership is a UNESCO led initiative, launched in 2022, to foster climate change education connected with ESD. Earth Charter Center for ESD is a member of this partnership since 2023.
The following actions have taken place as a collaboration between the Greening Education Partnership and Earth Charter Center for ESD and its UNESCO Chair.
1. UNESCO GEP Secretariat have confirmed that the Earth Charter & ESD School Seal is aligned with the Green School Quality Standard that they published in 2024. This means that Earth Charter Schools will be recognized as Green Schools as well and will be featured in a global dashboard where the Greening Education Partnership will be presenting the number of schools aligned with the Green Schools Standards, showing those institutions that are committed to combat climate change and move towards being sustainable.
2. Capacity building process in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNESCO Office in Santiago and the UNESCO Chair on ESD with the Earth Charter have collaborated to provide a training process for members of the Latin America and Caribbean regional ESDNet2030 and other key stakeholders to enhance national, subregional and regional efforts to mainstream ESD and the greening education materials. The capacity building process took place online, it started with a public event to launch the GEP materials and four training sessions exclusively for the ESD2030 regional network, UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network coordinators, and members of the environmental education network coordinated by UNEP. The sessions had Spanish-English translation.
Funder: UNESCO Santiago Office
Period: December 2025 â January 2026
Education Plan for Mora Municipality
Earth Charter Center for ESD at the University for Peace has partnered with Mora Municipality in Costa Rica, the region where Earth Charter Centerâs facilities are located, to design an education plan called: Bioliteracy and sustainability education for Mora canton.
The plan contains 5 priority activities: a professional development course for teachers; teaching materials for classroom work and educational tours; educational field trips programme for students with a socio-environmental focus; workshop for school principals; community outreach school project program; plan of public presentations on sustainability issues for Program of talks for the general public, especially young people and local businesses.
Funder: Mora Municipality
Period: October 2024 â June 2025
