Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
56 Results found
Dialogue for Social Cohesion Year of publication: 2025 Author: Isaure Vicarini | Euan Mackway-Jones Corporate author: UNESCO In an era where geopolitical power struggles disrupt traditional peacebuilding, where identity and misinformation fuel divisions, and where trust in institutions is eroding, UNESCO’s Intercultural Dialogue for Conflict Transformation briefs series presents an adaptable, culturally grounded, and people-centred approach to peacebuilding. With 89% of conflicts worldwide occurring in countries with limited capacity for intercultural dialogue, this four-part series draws on firsthand experience, country case studies, and expert analysis to demonstrate the transformative potential of dialogue in fragile and conflict-sensitive settings. The Dialogue for Social Cohesion brief—developed in collaboration with the Berghof Foundation and Search for Common Ground—bridges theory and practice to explore the horizontal (community-to-community) and vertical (citizen-to-state) dimensions of social cohesion and highlights how inclusive dialogue can support both. Case studies from Afghanistan, Germany, Somalia, and South Sudan illustrate how dialogue—whether through theatre, education, local governance, or environmental peacebuilding—can cultivate mutual understanding and trust, bridge identity-based divides, and restore, step by step, the social fabric in fractured societies. Through actionable recommendations, this brief equips practitioners, policymakers, and civil society with the essential guidance needed to tailor and embed dialogue in their respective contexts, helping to ensure that peace processes are inclusive, locally driven, and enduring. 
Addressing Violent Pasts through Education: A Policy Guide Year of publication: 2025 Corporate author: UNESCO Teaching about violent pasts and their legacies is a powerful way to foster sustainable peace.Education can build a nuanced understanding of complex histories, raise awareness of the roots and legacies of violence, nationally and internationally, and sensitize learners for their own agency as actors of change for reconciliation and conflict prevention.Educating about violent pasts is a challenging yet critical endeavour for policy-makers globally. It entails tailored approaches and an important support for educators to address traumatic pasts sensitively and to navigate related emotions and narratives successfully.Building on UNESCO’s programme on Global Citizenship Education, this guide offers education policy-makers a set of strategies, principles, and education practices to effectively integrate education about violent pasts into local education systems. It suggests a comprehensive approach that spans formal and informal education and aligns with the 2023 Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, opening new perspectives on history education, dialogue, and conflict transformation. 
Mainstreaming Social and Emotional Learning in Education Systems: Policy Guide Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO Why social and emotional learning is key to transform education Since 2015, there has been significant progress towards reimagining education for wider societal transformation in support of peace, justice, inclusion, equality and sustainability. Yet, the existing challenges have intensified, and new ones have emerged. The world is witnessing a resurgence of multiple forms of conflict and violence, from racism and discrimination, to hate speech and armed conflict. Our efforts to build sustainable peace through education are falling short. Some 250 million children are still out of school, and those in school are not acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills they need. This guide makes the case for integrating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in collective efforts to transform education. It highlights the impact of SEL in improving academic achievement, reducing drop- out rates, and improving overall mental health and well-being, and importantly, in strengthening emotional and relational dynamics of classrooms, schools, communities, and societies. The guide synthesizes the latest research and practice from the world, including case studies of concrete SEL implementation. It provides policy-makers with preliminary guidance to facilitate their conceptualization and integration of SEL in all facets of their education systems to build long-lasting peace and sustainable development. 
UNESCO Women for Ethical AI: Outlook Study on Artificial Intelligence and Gender Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO The gender chapter of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI is a concrete commitment by 194 Member States to advance gender equality in the AI ecosystem. To track progress in the implementation of the gender provisions of UNESCO’s Recommendation, and to assess the impacts of AI on gender equality, the UNESCO Women for Ethical AI (W4EAI) Platform has been established. This report advances the workstream through evidence-based insights in three critical areas: women’s participation in AI development and deployment, the inclusion of gender equality concerns in AI governance and the impact of AI on gender equality. It highlights the significant underrepresentation of women in AI, the lack of gender-disaggregated data, and the compounded challenges women face in the field. The report also addresses the neglect of gender dimensions in AI policy, the risks posed by AI systems to women, and the need for responsible and ethical AI governance to promote gender equality. Finally, it outlines actionable recommendations to enhance gender equality through and in AI, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive data collection, targeted interventions, and inclusive policy-making. 
STEM Education for Girls and Women: Breaking Barriers and Exploring Gender Inequality in Asia Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: UNESCO Bangkok | UNESCO Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields are considered catalysts for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, particularly for STEM fields, girls and women, for a multitude of social, cultural and psychological reasons, engage and participate at a lower rate than boys and men. This research collection aims to highlight the contextual barriers that girls and women face in STEM education and careers and offer concrete examples of interventions that successfully encourage participation of girls and women in STEM. These eight case studies from across Asia explore both the barriers and the achievements in SDG 4 and SDG 5, and give context-specific analysis of different aspects of gender disparities in the respective countries. 
Case Study on Finnish TVET: A Resilient Model of Training During COVID-19 Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: UNESCO | Omnia Education Partnerships This case study examines how technical and vocational education and training (TVET) was organized during the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. The disruption accentuated the importance of flexibility within the education system to make it resilient. Finnish TVET, created as a hybrid solution combining school-based, work-based and online-based learning environments, remained responsive and functional throughout the difficult time in spring 2020.To urgently improve the resilience of education, this case study emphasizes the necessity to improve system-level flexibilities across all levels and all types of TVET, including alternative modes of delivery and hybrid learning opportunities, as the one size fits all approach increases rigidity and redundancy of education and training. Flexible measures are key to improve resilience, also beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.