CESDEN Online Meeting for the Presentation of the Whole-Institution Approach Toolkit
Tuesday, 18 November 2025 | 9:00 – 11:00 (CET)
Online (meeting link will be provided later)
The Carpathian Convention Secretariat is pleased to announce the online presentation of the Whole-Institution Approach (WIA) Toolkit, developed under the UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development.
This interactive session will introduce a new, practical resource designed to help educational institutions integrate sustainability into every aspect of their work — from governance and curriculum to operations and community engagement.
During the online presentation, participants will:
Discover the purpose and structure of the WIA Toolkit.
Explore a variety of tools that support schools and other learning institutions in embedding sustainability throughout their systems.
Learn how the Toolkit promotes the transformation of educational institutions into communities of learning for sustainability.
This online session serves as a prelude to the regional WIA Toolkit Testing Conference, scheduled for early February 2026 in the Vysočina Region, Czechia. This presentation is organised by the Dutch organisation SME (Stichting Milieu Educatie) and its partners, in cooperation with Secretariat of Carpathian Convention.
Background: The Whole-Institution Approach
A Whole-Institution Approach (WIA) integrates sustainability across all dimensions of an educational institution’s life, including:
- Governance and leadership
- Vision and strategy
- Curriculum, pedagogy, and didactics
- Professional development
- Buildings and operations
- School culture and social environment
- Community partnerships and local engagement
When implemented well, WIA enables systemic and lasting change. It helps create inclusive, relevant, and transformative learning environments that benefit all stakeholders—especially students.
About the Toolkit
The WIA Toolkit is being co-created by an international team of experts from several UNECE countries, coordinated by SME (Stichting Milieu Educatie). SME is the executive organisation of GDO, which represents the 140 nature and sustainability education centres in the Netherlands. Both organisations work for integral sustainability embedded in the formal and non-formal education system.
The Whole-Institution Approach (WIA) Toolkit is developed under the UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It supports the implementation of one of the four priority strands of the UNECE ESD Steering Committee’s Framework for Implementation, which focuses on transforming educational institutions into communities of learning for sustainability.
The WIA-toolkit is being developed alongside the development of the WIA policy framework. Through both strands, it aims to integrate WIA within several layers of society. WIA promotes systemic change for ESD in all UNECE countries. The WIA Toolkit is intended for:
- Educational institutions, including school leaders, teachers, non-teaching staff, and students
- Supporting organisations, such as NGOs, environmental education centres, and municipal bodies
The toolkit will consist of a library of tools addressing key areas:
- Vision and leadership
- Curriculum and pedagogy
- Capacity-building
- Building and operations
- School–community engagement
- Monitoring and evaluation
