While ESD is implemented worldwide under the GAP, in support of further promoting ESD in Southeast Asia, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT), in cooperation with the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, have shown their collective commitment to promote best practices in ESD in schools across Southeast Asia, by organizing the SEAMEO-Japan Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Award. The award scheme has been held annually since 2012.

The objectives of the SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award are:

To raise awareness of ESD in schools and communities across Southeast Asia;
To promote ESD best practices in schools and communities across Southeast Asia;
To share and exchange knowledge and best practices on ESD in schools across Southeast Asia and Japan;
To encourage networking among schools and communities which implement ESD practices in Southeast Asian countries and Japan; and
To support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

Considering the important role of partnership, the 2022 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award selects the theme “Education Transformation through Partnership”.

The objectives of this year’s award scheme are:

To recognize multi-stakeholder partnerships as important vehicles for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies, and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in Southeast Asia and Japan
To encourage schools to create collaborative and coordinated systems for family and community engagement
To ensure quality and equity education for all students through partnership efforts in developing effective teaching and learning approaches.

ALL schools in South-East Asia countries are invited to enter the competition include: all public and private kindergarten / elementary/secondary/vocational and technical (up to Grade 12) schools in 11 Southeast Asian countries – namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam – are invited to submit information about initiatives that are related to the theme of this year’s competition.

Prizes

1st Prize Winner - USD$1,500 + A study tour to Japan (The organizer will sponsor the travel expenses for four to six persons, including round-trip airfares, three-night accommodation, domestic transportation in Japan, interpreter, and visa fees).
2nd Prize Winner - USD$1,000
3rd Prize Winner - USD$500
A Special Prize from the SEAMEO Secretariat for the best program carried out in small schools of less than 250 students - USD$1,000

Judging Criteria

The judging committee will consider the following criteria in selecting the winning schools:

Partnership Approach, Engagement of Community and External Partners

The school has demonstrated the partnership and participatory approach, and engagement of community and external partners – involving teachers, parents, students, community stakeholders, and partners – in planning and implementing the program.
The school has demonstrated the engagement of community-level partners such as community stakeholders, experts, local governors, practitioners, and parents in the education transformation.

Effectiveness of the School’s Programme to Teachers, Students, Students’ Families, and Communities

The school’s program has demonstrated its effectiveness that creating positive impacts on the community, teachers, students, and families of students.

Integration of Strategies/Modalities for Implementation

The school has demonstrated clear school plans and policies, effective strategies, and program components/activities on how to implement the school’s program.
Appropriate and effective methods and resources are used to implement the program.
Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms or processes are identified to ensure immediate and long-term outcomes.

Innovation and Creativity

The school’s program has demonstrated innovative practices about the theme that can be replicated.
The school has demonstrated innovative ideas for utilizing available resources.

Teaching and Learning Approaches

The school has demonstrated how its program can use innovative and practical ideas to transform teaching and learning approaches through school-family-community-organization partnerships to help students succeed in social, emotional, and academic skills.

Sustainability

The school has demonstrated a clear future plan on how to sustain or scale up the initiative.

Interrelationship with other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The school has demonstrated that the school’s program has integrated the improvement of other SDGs, not the individual pursuit of each SDG, but has interrelation with other SDGs. Therefore, the school should make a clear statement in its application on how the school’s program connects to other SDGs.

Guidelines for submission of entries

The sharp deadline for entry submissions is 31 July 2022.
Each school can submit only one entry.
The school’s entry that has been shortlisted or won the SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award within the past three (3) years (2019-2021) will not be considered.
Schools must submit the following requirements to the SEAMEO Secretariat:
A completed submission form for the 2022 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award can be downloaded from the SEAMEO website: https://link.seameo.org/2022SEAMEOJapanESDAward or requested through email: seameojapan.award@seameo.org
A 3-minute video clip presents the school’s program in MP4 format. The language of the video clip should be English. If it is produced in the local language, please add subtitles so that the judging committee can understand it.
The information about the school’s program (in Part II as follows) should not be over five (5) pages of A4 in total. The information should be written in Times New Roman/Calibri font, font size 11.
All submissions should include related photos. A maximum of five (5) photos with captions written in English can be attached to the submission form.
(Optional) All submissions can be attached with a maximum of two (2) supporting documents that can be written in the local language. However, a brief translation in English should be provided.
Each supporting document should be less than or equal to twenty (20) pages.
How to Submit the Entry: Please send the completed “submission form of 2022 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award” and a “3-minute video clip” together with supporting documents as stated in No.7 to the SEAMEO Secretariat’s email: seameojapan.award@seameo.org *Note: To align with the ESD practices and to save the environment and energy, the Committee will NOT accept the entry in hard/printed copies.
All submissions will be acknowledged within 1 week. Please contact us at seameojapan.award@seameo.org if the school has not received any acknowledgment.

Scholarship