Applications are open for the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Okayama Award 2021. The award conducted by Okayama City and ESD Okayama Award Steering Committee will reward outstanding ESD practices in local communities around the world to support the organizations carrying out ESD activities and promote ESD to local communities globally through showcasing their initiatives.

In Okayama, since the establishment of the ‘Okayama ESD Project’ in 2005, diverse stakeholders have been working together to promote ESD in the region. Okayama City hosted the Stakeholder Meetings of the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in 2014 and played a leading role in accelerating collaborative actions among people working for ESD. Okayama City was selected as one of the UNESCO Key Partners of the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP, 2015-2019) in Priority Action Area 5 (Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level).

Okayama City launched the ‘ESD Okayama Award’ in 2015. The ESD Okayama Award is organized by Okayama City and the ESD Okayama Award Steering Board, composed of organizations which have been promoting ESD in Japan and around the world. The Award aims to showcase good practices worldwide. ESD is a key enabler to achieving of all targets of SDGs. Therefore it also aims for further advancing SDGs.

Prize

A prize of US $3,000 per project is available. The Global Prize will be given to up to two projects.

Eligibility

Open to organizations based in any country, including Japan;
They should be implementing ESD activities in local communities.
Only one application per organization can be accepted.
Projects eligible for this award are ongoing and have been running for at least two years as of April 2021.
Projects in the planning stages are not eligible.
The organizations that have won the ESD Okayama Award in the past cannot apply with the award winning projects, but can apply with other projects.