New call for proposals Transformative education for sustainable development – shaping change

The climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity and the pollution of our natural resources – air, land and water – continue to progress. With a view to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a major change process in business, science and civil society is becoming increasingly urgent. This includes the way we produce and consume energy, food or goods, how we move around, how we live and work. All of this needs to be redesigned and made sustainable. Education is an “absolute prerequisite for the success of the transformation” towards a sustainable future (see WBGU, p. 380).

Imparting knowledge and skills to shape a future worth living

Transformative education for sustainable development (ESD) aims not only to impart knowledge and skills for shaping a future worth living, but also to bring about changes in the way learners think, act and engage. Educational formats ideally offer collaborative and participative learning processes in which the learners themselves become active and contribute their own knowledge and experience. This enables learners to contribute to solving sustainability challenges in a sustainable and responsible way, particularly in their local area at local and regional level. Examples of suitable methodological approaches with transformative potential include service learning, citizen science and real-life experiments.

Different target groups should work together on change processes

As part of a new call for proposals, the DBU aims to initiate transformative education projects in which different, relevant target groups work together on real change processes for sustainable development.

In this way, the DBU aims to support projects with a focus on current design processes for sustainable development, e.g. in the areas of mobility, energy, housing, neighborhood development, consumption and production of goods and food as well as nutrition.

Using suitable methods, concrete solutions for shaping sustainable development, particularly at regional, local and/or institutional level, are to be identified for relevant target groups on the basis of active participation and, where possible, anchored or implemented in relevant structures as part of the project. Project approaches should therefore go well beyond an impulse-generating format and be supported by at least two organizations from different sectors!

Cover pictures: Graphic: Flash concept – stock.adobe.com, Symbol image with dice: Canva, KIezblock: Michalke, Changing Cities