Presenting the SEA-CLLSD to the Joint Congressional Commission

To reinforce the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals by the 192 Member States of UNESCO, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) was declared with UNESCO as the implementing agency.

In the 2005 UNESCO 33rd General Conference (GenCon) in Paris, NatCom (National Commission) Chair and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo had the honor to present the Draft Resolution proposing the establishment of the Philippines as the Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (SEA-CLLSD).

Within the same year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 483 in 27 December 2005 establishing the “Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (CLLSD) of the Philippines” and designating O.B. Montessori Center, Inc. as its National Laboratory.

The SEA-CLLSD Vision and Mission

The SEA-CLLSD envisions a “new man” (human being) who has been empowered by quality Education and Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (LLSD) to conserve life on Planet Earth. The NEW MAN is a quote from Dr. Maria Montessori’s book, Education for Life, which she wrote as a Board Member of the UNESCO Institute for Education in Hamburg in 1951: “We teachers can only help the work going on, as servants wait upon a master. We then become witnesses to the development of the human soul, the emergence of the NEW MAN, who will no longer be the victim of events but thanks to his clarity of vision, will become able to direct and mold the future of mankind.”

The Center’s mission is to be an LLSD service provider, standard setter, and a research and resource management center in the Southeast Asian (SEA) sub-region.

As the Center’s consultant, Amb. Hector K. Villarroel, former Philippine Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Paris, proudly says that of the approximately 50 UNESCO Category 2 Centers, the Philippines is privileged to be the only one championing the much sought after ESD teacher-training and curriculum – a universally-tested educational system.

What is Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development?

Lifelong Learning is education from womb to tomb. The SEA-CLLSD sees life in a span of 100 years divided into four periods: from birth to 25 years is the Formative Period that matches UNESCO’s Four Pillars of 21st Century Education written by Jacques Delors, collaborated by 12 education experts.

The SEA-CLLSD has reconstructed these Four Pillars, according to the four psychological stages of human maturation: Pillar I – “Learning to Be”, when the child learns to talk, and walk independently from birth to six years; Pillar II – “Learning to Learn” with the enormous reasoning power of six to 12-year olds that easily comprehend all academic lessons in school; Pillar III – “Learning to Work” with the natural creative talent of 12 to 18-year olds to acquire economic independence; and Pillar IV – “Learning to Live Together in Harmony” when the 18 to 25-year old matures with confidence as an adult, enabling the person to start a career or a family.

The second period in man’s life is 26 to 50 years when one masters one’s career; the third period of 51 to 75 years is mentoring others; and the fourth period of 76 to 100 is when one leaves a legacy behind. This was culled from Gail Sheehy’s book “Mapping your Life across Time,” which focuses on the first and second adulthood of life. Author of four New York Times bestseller, she has conducted sociological interviews and surveys of professional and working class multi-cultural nationalities.

Each period of 25 years is marked by four different types of human self-sufficiency.

UNESCO 33rd Gen-Con refers the Philippine proposal to the 176th EB

The 33rd Gen-Con approved the Philippine Resolution and referred it to the Executive Board (EB) for study and consideration during its 176th Session in 2007. Meantime, the EB requested Director General Matsuura to conduct a feasibility study of the Philippine proposal.

In compliance with this request, the Director General sent a team of experts to Manila on 24-29 March 2008 to conduct the requested feasibility study. Although the team of experts found a lot of merits in the proposal, they recommended nevertheless that the Philippine Government revise it to align its goals and objectives not only with UNESCO’s ESD goals and objectives but also with those of the SEA sub-region. They accordingly urged the Philippine Government to conduct a regional mapping exercise for that purpose.

Consultation meetings with the Southeast Asian Sub-Region

The Philippine Government anticipating the recommendation of the feasibility team had been conducting consultation meetings to win support for its proposal from prospective member countries. The SEA-CLLSD has taken the opportunity to orient participants of workshops/seminars/conferences held in Manila, such as the 14th Quadrennial Conference of UNESCO NatComs of the Asia Pacific region (May 2008), as well as the SEA ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop (September 2008).

At the same time, bilateral consultations with the Southeast Asian countries were also held in their respective capitals, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam.

Even before the team of experts came to Manila, the Philippine Government had hosted the SEA Regional Workshop on LLSD (March 2008) and the larger SEA Sub-Regional Mapping cum Consultation Exercise as recommended by the UNESCO team of experts was held in September 2008. The SEA representatives actively participated in re-wording and re-drafting the proposal, the text of which was discussed word for word, sentence by sentence, and paragraph by paragraph, and approved by all the participants at the conclusion of the meeting.

At the end of this process, six Southeast Asian countries, to wit, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam endorsed the proposal formally with Letters of Support.

Objectives and functions of the SEA-CLLSD

To “reorient education in support of sustainable development” for the SEA sub-region, the CLLSD will undertake activities, which will cut across the Main Lines of Action of UNESCO’s ESD program as contained in 34 C/4 Medium Term Strategy (2008-2013), 34 C/5 Approved Program and Budget (2008-2009), and the draft 35 C/5 Program and Budget (2010-2011):

(1) Capacity building/training: To provide assistance “in developing more specific learning content and curricula in different areas of ESD as part of early childhood care and education, as well as primary and secondary school”. This objective includes encouraging teacher training and TVET institutions to fully integrate concepts of ESD in their learning and teaching processes;

(2) Research and development: To develop the relevant ESD indicators, as well as framework and guidelines for curriculum change geared towards re-orienting education in support of sustainable development;

(3) Advocacy and social mobilization: To contribute in strengthening international coordination and partnership in support of the Decade of ESD by “advocating ESD among policy makers, civil society and the private sector”.

Philippines Category 2 Center, a memento of the DG’s leadership in ESD

Director General Matsuura made sure that the SEA-CLLSD meets the deadline so as to be tabled in the coming Autumn Session of the 182nd Executive Board this September. He recalled ESD Asia Pacific Coordinator, Mr. Derek Elias, from his mission in Myanmar, and instructed him to proceed to Manila instead to give technical assistance to the SEA-CLLSD team. Headed by Amb. Villarroel and the CLLSD secretariat, they worked for three whole days to ensure that the revised proposal will meet the criteria set by UNESCO headquarters.

Meantime, the Joint Congressional Commission is adopting a Joint Resolution recognizing and, in effect, creating the Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (SEA-CLLSD) and providing a budget sufficient to cover expenses relating to its activities. The Joint Resolution has passed its First Reading and hopefully will be approved soonest.

The Philippine delegation, headed by Secretary Jesli Lapus and myself as the Alternate Delegate, will be attending the 182nd EB Session and we hope for a positive decision on our proposal to establish the Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development, as a Category 2 Center under the auspices of UNESCO.–Preciosa S. Soliven, Philippine Star

(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at exec@obmontessori.edu.ph or pssoliven@yahoo.com)