On 27 May 2025, UNU-IAS and UNESCO co-hosted a webinar “Teaching for Action in the Digital Age: Empowering Educators to Lead Local Solutions to Global Challenges.” Part of the ESD-Net 2030 learning webinars series, the online event brought together over 180 educators, policymakers, and sustainability practitioners from around the world to discuss how educators can help learners turn their sustainable development knowledge into action. The webinar focused on action-oriented pedagogy (AOP) for education for sustainable development (ESD).
Opening the session, Nafissa Insebayeva (Consultant, UNU-IAS) and Jonghwi Park (Academic Programme Officer, UNU-IAS) introduced the AOP for ESD framework developed by UNU-IAS and its seven key components: problem-based and real-world issues; community engagement; learner participation; collaboration; empathy; regional and cultural relevance; and interdisciplinarity. Presentations by Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) highlighted concrete examples. Wan Zahidan Wan Zulkifle (RCE Greater Gombak) discussed the use of Google Earth for monitoring community projects, and Nguyen Nhat Thoai (RCE Southern Vietnam) introduced the IU Innovation Camp, which promotes active youth citizenship through virtual collaborative space.
The webinar also featured interactive breakout sessions focused on community engagement and empathy, and on learner participation and interdisciplinarity.
