Process facilitation for model municipalities
The ESD Competence Centre supports 50 model municipalities in systematically developing and implementing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at the local level.
Our focus is on the entire chain of education: from early childhood education, primary, secondary and vocational schools to universities, adult education centres and non-formal education. We support municipalities in involving key players to help them collaboratively shape ESD. Depending on which federal state the municipalities belong to, they are supported either by the team in Halle (North-East Germany), Munich (South Germany) or Osnabrück (North-West Germany).
How does cooperation with the ESD Competence Centre work?
Building on our practical and scientific expertise, we first set up a joint target agreement. The municipality, supported by our team, then draws up an implementation plan for the forthcoming process. With each municipality, 3-5 meetings take place each year; these can be consultation meetings, workshops or evaluation meetings. After each year, the municipality, together with the ESD Competence Centre, reviews its achievements and challenges and updates its plans for the year ahead. In addition, we conduct a formative evaluation, the results of which we also use to facilitate the municipality’s progress. Municipalities can make use of the services offered by the ESD Competence Centre during its entire funding period.
Since every community is unique, we adapt our professional and methodological input to each municipality’s local needs. In addition, we organise networking and peer learning situations at a regional and national level.
In sum, this means that we …
- introduce ESD into educational landscapes and make activities visible,
- support and facilitate specific local development processes free of charge,
- offer each municipality up to 5 meetings a year to work on tailored solutions,
- share input for municipal development by means of best-practice examples,
- accelerate decision-making processes by helping municipalities to structure processes and approaches,
- conduct workshops to train municipal employees in ESD,
- collect and publish scientific insights,
- offer opportunities for exchange in a supra-regional network.