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Key Action Themes
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DESD around the world
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Communities |
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Monitoring and evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation will become key strategies to ascertain the changes and impact of the Decade. An initiative as long and as complex as a Decade must benefit from adequate processes of monitoring and evaluation from the start. Without that, it will be impossible to know if the Decade is making a difference and what that difference is. A key aspect of monitoring and evaluation will be the identification of suitable and relevant indicators at every level – local, national, regional and international – and for each initiative and programme.
As the Decade puts major emphasis on cooperation through the integration of ESD concerns into existing networks and alliances, each grouping should set up its own objectives, outcomes and indicators within the Decade framework. Thus monitoring and evaluation will take place at many levels, national, regional, local, institutional, etc. and will be an integral part of new initiatives and directions, which the Decade may stimulate. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods will be necessary to track the DESD as well as longitudinal and community-wide studies. |
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Qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods will be necessary to track the Decade – aspects such as the adoption of values and changes in behaviour cannot be adequately captured by numbers alone. As far as quantitative approaches are concerned, a wide range of data can be collected. Each initiative at every level will need to its own outcomes and indicators.
In terms of qualitative analysis, ethnographic approaches will enable a close look to be taken at specific communities in terms of changed behaviours, awareness of the values of sustainable development, and adoption of new practices. Longitudinal studies as well as community-wide ethnographic studies and analyses will provide data and will show the multiple connections in people’s lives between the changes, values, practices, behaviours and relationships which sustainable development implies. It will be important to identify places for longitudinal studies at the start of the Decade, in both industrialised and developing countries, and in relation to different kinds of ESD initiatives – in formal schooling, public campaigns, non-formal approaches.
Monitoring and evaluation can be expensive. Each ESD effort must balance the responsibility of collecting enough information to show that progress is being made and that ESD is effective at reaching goals against the cost. The education community cannot afford to put ESD programmes in place without evaluating them, however, it must minimize the expenditures that it does make.
As part of this process, UNESCO will work closely with other international monitoring initiatives, including the EFA Global Monitoring Report, the United Nations Literacy Decade monitoring initiatives and the ongoing monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals. The results of monitoring and evaluation will be used for the assessment and reorientation of programmes during the course of the Decade, in order to ensure ongoing relevance and effectiveness. |
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Online Consultations |
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Clearinghouse |
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Overcoming Poverty
