Education for Sustainable Development in Mongolia

In 2002, WWF Mongolia formulated a project that focuses on  environmental education in Mongolian secondary schools. The ultimate goal of the project is to support sustainable use of natural resources in Mongolia.

The focus of the project has been on the wider concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) where environment is included along with social and economic perspectives.

The foundation for the project is the national network of teams created in all aimags (provinces) in Mongolia. Those teams function as clusters of expertise and experience in how to apply educational approaches that favour sustainable development and increase environmental awareness.

To further strengthen the support to the education system a network of pilot schools have been created in the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion where teams apply whole-school development principles. 

The teams consist of people working with different school subjects and representatives from the formal as well as from the non-formal school system. Around 132 teachers, covering all aimags, have been engaged in developing national standards.

A very positive response
The overall result of the programme has been very good and the Mongolian Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and other stakeholders have expressed a lot of interest. The wide national acceptance of the approaches developed indicate that the impact of this short term project can have a sustainable impact.

Support and expertise from Sweden
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) provide financial assistance and Swedish company Ramboll Natura AB was given the contract to contribute international expertise to facilitate the process of developing human and institutional capacities and education methods and material in Mongolia.