Mentoring for ESD-Leadership
The part-time “Mentoring for ESD-Leadership Programme” developed by the ESD Expert Net was successfully conducted thrice from 2017 to 2021 in an international format. The last run implemented by Engagement Global ended in September 2021.
Currently, partner institutions in India and South Africa are running similar programmes at national level. If you live in India or South Africa and are interested in participating in such a programme, please contact: esdexpertnetindia@bvieer.edu.in, shamita@bvieer.edu.in (BVIEER, India) or t.pereirakaplan@ru.ac.za (Rhodes University, South Africa).
The ESD Expert Net is also finalizing a set of materials for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for educators, multipliers, teacher trainers and staff of educational institutions. These materials will be available in English and German as well as partly in Spanish, Hindi and Marathi. You can access the digital versions here.
If you have any questions regarding the materials or need any support on other ESD issues, you can send us an email to bne@engagement-global.de.
In 2010, the members of the ESD Expert Net designed the Leadership Training for interested young people as one of their first network activities. A total of almost forty people from four countries took part in the full-time programme. The programme offered the opportunity to tackle a variety of topics such as sustainability, systemic thinking and project design. Furthermore, internships and mentoring by experts helped in the development and implementation of innovation projects on site. In the second phase of the project, the former leadership participants were integrated into the ESD Expert Net in 2014. All participants of the leadership training agreed that this particular learning experience should be repeated in a modified form. A working group of the ESD Expert Net developed the concept of the Mentoring for ESD-Leadership Programme together with Engagement Global.
The new extra-occupational programme now offers the opportunity to acquire central skills and to develop and realize one's own project idea in the area of ESD.
The Mentoring for ESD-Leadership is a part-time English-speaking programme for young professionals and interested people from Germany, India, Mexico and South Africa who work or aim to work in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Apart from professional development, the support of every participant in realizing one’s own project idea in the field of ESD by an ESD Expert Net mentor from their own country is at the heart of the programme. We support professional development and aspire to train young people to become motivated multipliers. For this purpose, the programme not only conveys central concepts and approaches of ESD, but also competencies in the areas of project management and ESD-Leadership. In addition to three attendance phases the ten months blended learning programme includes three online phases with modules on the topics mentioned above. Throughout the online phases, a continuous exchange between participants is promoted. Apart from their own mentor, other contacts from the entire ESD Expert Net are available to advise the mentees. A total of twenty mentees (five each from Germany, India, Mexico and South Africa) can participate in the programme each year.
The different contents will be taught alternately in online and attendance phases within the ten months programme.
Online phases
The online phases comprise a total of 28 weeks with at least eight learning hours per week. Common learning content is made available via an online platform (Moodle). The contents follow a module plan and focus on the following topics:
- global challenges, trends and perspectives
- ESD basics and history
- ESD competencies
- learning and didactics
- education landscapes and national education systems
- Whole School/Institutional Approach
Each module also includes a project management learning activity. The exchange between mentees, but also with the mentors, is an important part of the online phases. For this purpose, different synchronous and asynchronous formats are used in each module, such as blogs, discussion forums, live chats and webinars.
Attendance phases
The attendance phases are divided into three sections.
- Introductory week (one week)
- National Mentoring Workshops (three days)
- Conclusion event (one week)
They always take place in one of the four partner countries of the ESD Expert Net. The thematic focus of the attendance phases lies on leadership competencies such as intercultural sensitivity, systemic thinking or change management. Also, project management and development are central at all personal meetings. The introductory week serves to get to know each other, to build a team and to set a common goal for the programme. In the national mentoring workshops, the presentation of the previously developed project plans and the exchange of ideas are the centre of attention. At the closing event, the projects will finally be presented to a public audience. All attendance phases are about acquiring action-oriented knowledge and skills based on practical examples.
