This is a series of occasional news items by BESA members and is part of their paid membership service. These views are not necessarily those of BESA and a published news item does not constitute an endorsement.

As a BESA member I am proud to announce that the UN:CC Learn and UNITAR Team have invited me to deliver a presentation at the COP Summit to talk about an exciting new joint venture between the UN and Harwood Education which will deliver hundreds of Climate Change Lessons, based on the school curriculum, for all Primary and Secondary Schools throughout the UK to access.

Initially, this new platform will be available to all schools throughout the UK before being made available to schools from more than 51 countries that the United Nations have earmarked as future recipients of the UN:CC Learn Programme for Schools.

The three young presenters of this exciting new Programme for Schools will be the very first United Nations Youth Ambassadors for Climate Change Learning and they are all set to visit 51 countries as part of this initiative. They will be filming content for an Online & TV Series that will take them to participating schools around the world, where they will interview children that are actively taking part and learning about Climate Change with the UN:CC Learn Programme for Schools.

We are in the process of speaking with BESA members interested in taking part and providing us with potential lesson plans based on Climate Change Learning, that fit within the school curriculum. This is a super opportunity for resources, products and education programmes to receive a boost to their brand awareness not only here in UK schools but to a potential market of schools throughout the world.

For more information, all BESA members can contact me via: info@harwoodeducation.com

Or get in touch with me directly: Melanie Harwood – 07595 099 144

Here’s more info about the joint venture between the UN and Harwood Education:

UN Climate Change Learn: For Primary and Secondary Schools

Harwood Education has teamed up with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to develop and deliver an innovative Climate Change Education Programme for primary and secondary schools in the UK. This ambitious multi-annual project will seek to develop a comprehensive package of interactive classroom materials on climate change for school teachers and children:

1) UN Climate Change Learn: Specialist E-Course for Teachers
2) UN Climate Change Learn: Interactive Teaching Programme for Children

Although climate change has been around for decades, climate change education has not. Our mission is to teach children how to understand and live in a world affected by climate change, but without fear. We want to spread this message to as many organisations and individuals as possible through the UN system. We believe that it is necessary to engage children and youth in changing societal attitudes and behaviours through their schools, families, and communities.

One of the programme’s goals is to kick-start an international climate change youth dialogue that fosters direct discussion between school children around the world through the concept of ‘Climate Change Diaries’. The UN Youth Climate Dialogues-inspired documentary TV series will showcase how children around the world are coping with climate change in inspirational ways. The campaign will be promoted internationally through online channels and on social media.

About: UNITAR/UN CC:Learn

The One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership (UN CC:Learn) is a collaborative initiative of more than 30 multilateral organizations supporting countries to design and implement systematic, recurrent and results-oriented climate change learning. The initiative was launched at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. The Secretariat of UN CC:Learn is provided by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

At the global level, the partnership supports knowledge sharing, promotes the development of common climate change learning materials, and coordinates interventions through a collaboration of UN agencies and other partners. At the national level, UN CC:Learn supports countries in developing and implementing national climate change learning strategies.

Thematic focus areas include:

• Climate Change Science
• Climate Finance
• International Climate Negotiations
• Adaptation Planning
• Climate Change and Health
• Climate Change and Forests
• Climate Change Education for Children

UN CC:Learn partners work jointly on climate change learning materials that are available to everybody as a public good. Products include a series of introductory modules and a self-paced e-course that provides “everything you need to know about climate change in a nutshell”, as well as resource guides for advanced learning that direct users to specific learning materials and courses that match their learning needs.

The materials draw on the specialized expertise of global UN CC:Learn partners. In combination with UNITAR’s know-how in learning methodologies, UN CC:Learn works for instance with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the area of health and with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in the area of climate change science.