On 11 February, CCIVS took part in the 18th International Forum of NGOs in Official Partnership with UNESCO, dedicated to the Greening Education Partnership and the role NGOs play in delivering sustainable impact.
Day 1 focused on two connected themes — Greening Schools and Greening Communities — and brought together education leaders, researchers, civil society, youth voices, and international organisations. The discussions were practical: how do we move from good intentions to real change in how education systems respond to climate disruption?
“Stories that go beyond numbers”
CCIVS spoke under Pillar 4: Greening Communities – Promoting lifelong learning for climate resilience, through Wricha Ghimire (CCIVS Executive Committee, Nepal). Wricha’s message was simple and clear:
“We do not only have results in numbers but also the most significant method — we collect stories that go beyond numbers.”
For CCIVS, greening communities is not only about tools and standards. It’s about people learning together through action — volunteering that builds relationships, trust, shared responsibility, and long-term capacity. When communities are part of the learning process, environmental action becomes rooted in daily life, not just a policy document.
Three takeaways from Day 1
1) Capacity building is essential.
UNESCO’s Katerina Ananiandou highlighted work underway to strengthen the skills of policymakers and curriculum designers, including training linked to greening curriculum approaches and the Green School Quality Standard, with an ambition to have key capacity in place by the end of 2026.
2) Standards only work if they are whole-school and community-linked.
Dr Pramod Kumar Sharma (Foundation for Environmental Education) outlined the Green School Quality Standard areas: governance, facilities and operations, teaching and learning, and community engagement. The message: greening is not a “project” — it has to be embedded.
3) Climate disruption is already cutting learning time.
UNICEF estimates that at least 242 million students in 85 countries or territories had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024. The burden is not shared equally: the World Bank finds that in affected contexts, low-income countries lost around 18 school days per year — roughly 10% of an academic year — due to climate-related school closures.
Across the day, one point kept coming back: NGOs are the bridge — between schools and communities, between local realities and policy frameworks, and between energy on the ground and the decisions that shape education systems.
Voices for Change: learning that communities lead
CCIVS also shared lessons from Voices for Change (Erasmus+), where volunteering, culture, and environmental justice come together through local action and community storytelling.
Our project song “Echoes of Nature” has become a learning tool in its own right — a shared prompt that helps communities connect culture to environmental learning and collective action. As one speaker put it during the Forum: education isn’t only intellectual — it’s also emotional and ethical.
🔗 Recording available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/XeQ18Bl4aNQ