Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
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"Education First" - UN Secretary-General's video message Year of publication: 2012 Author: United Nations. Secretary-General, 2007-2016 (Ban, Ki-moon) UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon launched a Global Initiative on Education (Education First), which aims to achieve quality, relevant and inclusive education for every child on 26 September, 2012. Symposium on climate change education and sustainable cities, 31 August 2009, United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya Year of publication: 2009 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) | United Nations Centre for Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat) Education plays an important role in promoting knowledge, skills and values that are necessary for the realization of a sustainable society. It also assists learners to learn to cope with today's challenges such as climate change and urbanization. The overarching theme of the symposium was the critical role of education in promoting sustainable urbanization with a particular focus on climate change and its challenges. This broad theme was divided into two major sub-themes: 1. Role of education in building sustainable cities 2. Mainstreaming climate change in education for building sustainable cities. The key objective of the symposium was to raise awareness about the decade of education on sustainable development and to promote a constructive dialogue between local authorities, practitioners, academia and civil society organizations on the role of education in addressing the challenges of sustainable urbanization and climate change. A major thrust of the dialogue was “moving from rhetoric to action”. Key concepts of the Symposium Cities Half of humanity now lives in cities, and around one billion urban residents live in slums. The urbanization of poverty is therefore one of the most daunting challenges of the 21st century. Cities offer opportunities, but most urban development is largely toxic, segregated and inefficient. If cities are to come to terms with rapid levels of urbanization, they require leaders, managers and staff capable of adopting innovative and robust approaches to planning, developing, managing and financing growth for all citizens. Climate Change Globally, climate change is now recognized as one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. The future of hundreds of millions of people in urban areas across the world will be affected by the different impacts of climate change. Developing and least developed countries have higher vulnerability to climate change impacts compared to developed countries. Climate change has been identified as one of the main strategic perspectives to inform education and learning for sustainable development and by extension sustainable city development. Climate change issues need to be part of public awareness, learning and education for a sustainable future. The integrated, multifaceted vision provided by ESD is particularly well-suited to addressing climate change and city development in terms of understanding its causes, recognising its impact and effects, and preparing and implementing appropriate mitigation and adaptation responses. 
Learn, Protect, Respect, Empower: The Status of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Asia and the Pacific; A Summary Review 2020 Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) | UNESCO | International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) More than half of the world’s 1.8 billion young people aged 10–24 live in the Asia and Pacific region1 and a majority of them live in low and middle-income countries. In spite of their diverse socio-economic contexts, young people across this vast region commonly face limited access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services, including age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education. Of the 13 million adolescent girls globally with an unmet need for contraception, approximately half live in Asia-Pacific, leading to an estimated 3.7 million births to adolescent girls in the region annually. In addition, around 82,000 young people are infected with HIV each year in the region. As adolescents transition through to adulthood, it is crucial that they are equipped with the necessary knowledge, attitudes and skills to support their health and wellbeing, regardless of age, sex, marital status, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. School-based and age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is an effective means of reaching a large population of children and young people, particularly where rates of school participation are high. This overview of the status of in-school CSE in Asia and the Pacific provides a strong evidence base on the reach and impact of this across the region. Importantly, post COVID-19 we need to build back CSE programmes that are better and stronger to meet the social and emotional needs of our young people. 
The Missing Peace: Independent Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security Year of publication: 2018 Corporate author: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) | UN. Peacebuilding Support Office (UN. PBSO) The process of how this study was undertaken is just as important as the outcomes it produced. The study used an inclusive and participatory research approach by undertaking regional, subregional and national consultations with young people across the globe; conducting and receiving country case studies; commissioning focus-group discussions with “hard to reach” youth; and drawing on a survey-based mapping of the work done by youth-led peacebuilding organizations. Particular effort was made to reach out beyond easily accessible and elite youth, to young people who would not ordinarily have a say in these sorts of global policy processes. Given the challenge of young people’s increasing distrust in their governments and the multilateral system, it was essential to work with credible civil society organizations with strong trust-based relationships with youth on the ground. 
Global Environment Outlook 4 (GEO-4): Environment for Development Year of publication: 2007 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) The fourth Global Environment Outlook – environment for development ( GEO-4 ) places sustainable development at the core of the assessment, particularly on issues dealing with intra- and intergenerational equity. The analyses include the need and usefulness of valuation of environmental goods and services, and the role of such services in enhancing development and human well-being, and minimizing human vulnerability to environmental change. The GEO-4 temporal baseline is 1987, the year in which the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) published its seminal report, Our Common Future . The Brundtland Commission was established in 1983, under UN General Assembly resolution 38/161 to look at critical environment and development challenges. It was established at a time of an unprecedented rise in pressures on the global environment, and when grave predictions about the human future were becoming commonplace. 
Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining Inclusive Peace on the Frontlines of Climate Change Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) | United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Climate change is a defining threat to peace and security in the 21st century – its impacts felt by everyone, but not equally. Gender norms and power dynamics shape how women and men of different backgrounds experience or contribute to insecurity in a changing climate. Grounded in a series of case studies from research and programming experience, this report offers a comprehensive framework for understanding how gender, climate and security are inextricably linked. The report assesses entry points for action across existing global agendas and suggests concrete recommendations for how policymakers, development practitioners and donors can advance three inter-related goals: peace and security, climate action and gender equality. 
G7 Global Objectives On Girls’ Education: Baseline Report Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI) This publication serves as a baseline report to accompany efforts of the G7 Accountability Working Group to monitor progress towards the two global objectives. It presents evidence on low- and lower-middle-income countries’ progress in achieving the two global objectives and what remains to be done.It is important to stress that the two G7 global objectives on girls’ education are measures of gender parity, which are necessary but not sufficient as measures of gender equality. Assessing progress towards the latter requires information, which tends not to be available systematically enough to allow a comparative perspective. However, this report provides insights to remaining challenges. 
Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2020 Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) This document brings together the latest available evidence on gender equality across all 17 Goals, underscoring the progress made, but also taking stock of areas where progress has been disrupted, as a result of COVID-19. 
Advancing Digital Equity for All: Community-Based Recommendations for Developing Effective Digital Equity Plans to Close the Digital Divide and Enable Technology-Empowered Learning Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: USA. Department of Education. Office of Educational Technology In spring 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) committed to advancing digital equity through the Digital Equity Education Roundtables (DEER) Initiative. Through DEER, OET hosted a series of national conversations with leaders from community-based organizations, as well as families and learners furthest from digital opportunities. The “Advancing Digital Equity for All” resource illuminates insights from these conversation to highlight the barriers faced by learner communities and promising solutions for increasing access to technology for learning.The historic federal investments authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offer critical opportunities for broadband planning that can identify and equitably address the various availability, affordability, and adoption challenges described. Using this guidance resource as a starting point, it is essential that leaders collaborate with those most impacted by the digital divide to develop comprehensive digital equity plans that outline strategies to meet the needs of learners, their families/caregivers, and communities effectively and sustainably. 
UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2022-2025 Year of publication: 2022 Corporate author: UNODC Central Asia The Central Asia Program outlines the proposed scope and focuses on the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Central Asia from 2022 to 2025. The program presents a unified approach to providing UNODC technical assistance in Central Asia. The programme is tailored to a common regional strategy that integrates national, subregional, and global initiatives that contribute to the UN system's response to sustainable development in the sub-region. This approach aims to engage more effectively with the Member States.