What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country)?
The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities is an international policy-oriented network providing inspiration, know-how and best practice. Learning cities benefit from global collaboration in searching for effective solutions to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UNESCO GNLC supports and improves the practice of lifelong learning in the world’s cities by:
- promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities;
- forging links;
- fostering partnerships;
- providing capacity development;
- developing instruments to encourage and recognize progress made in building learning cities.
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities was established by the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning (UIL) to promote policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities, to foster links and partnerships and to develop instruments to encourage lifelong learning.
Since a learning city facilitates lifelong learning for all and, therefore, helps to realize the universal right to education, building such a city has far-reaching appeal. This is a continuous process; there is no magic line over which a city will pass to become known as a learning city. There are, however, attributes by which a learning city can be recognized, mainly in terms of what it does rather than what it is.
The construction of a learning city entails an operational and pragmatic approach to the implementation of lifelong learning. It is not an abstract theory. If a city has the political will and commitment to building a learning city, it will also need a set of indicators or key features against which it can monitor its progress.
Put simply, monitoring the progress of a learning city is necessary for three main reasons:
- to transform political and theoretical discourses into concrete strategies and approaches;
- to measure progress over time;
- to evaluate the benefits of the strategies it has put into place.
The Key Features of Learning Cities will make it possible:
- to support in a meaningful way the development of lifelong learning within and across member cities;
- to determine how much progress is being made to implement lifelong learning for all in many of the world’s communities;
- to facilitate international comparative analysis, experience-sharing and mutual learning among member cities.
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
The Global Network of Learning Cities operates through inclusion and active participation of all stakeholders.
All sectors of society have a key role to play in learning and education and should participate in building learning cities. However, stakeholders and citizens are more likely to contribute to building learning cities if decisions are made in a participatory way.
The network of learning cities ensures the governance and participation of all stakeholders by:
- establishing inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms to involve governmental and nongovernmental organizations and the private sector in building learning cities;
- developing bilateral or multilateral partnerships between sectors to share resources and increase the availability of learning opportunities;
- encouraging all stakeholders to provide quality learning opportunities and to make their own unique contribution to building a learning city.
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Who does it benefit and how?
Driven by the principle of inclusion, learning cities advance policies and practices that foster sustainable development, notably through lifelong learning programmes that promote equity, cohesion and peace. When local governments empower communities and social actors to engage in the implementation of lifelong learning strategies and programmes, they sponsor the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
More specifically, a learning city is one that:
- mobilizes resources in every sector effectively to promote inclusive learning, from basic to higher education;
- revitalizes learning in families and communities;
- facilitates learning for and in the workplace;
- extends the use of modern learning technologies;
- enhances quality and excellence in learning;
- fosters a culture of learning throughout life.
In doing so, a learning city supports individual empowerment and social inclusion, economic development and cultural prosperity and sustainable development.
To support equity and inclusion, learning cities:
- promote education and learning opportunities for all, in particular for vulnerable groups who are not in formal schooling or training, enabling them to acquire literacy and other basic/vocational skills and to participate in continuing education;
- offer online learning courses that allow people to attend free lectures on a range of topics relevant to their local community;
- establish migrant colleges, enabling migrant workers to obtain professional qualifications, thereby helping them to integrate into society;
- promote intergenerational learning initiatives, encouraging children and their caregivers to learn together;
- provide career guidance, particularly for women, to encourage them to pursue higher qualifications that will enable them to assume leadership positions;
- set up mobile libraries, providing reading opportunities for all, especially people with disabilities, older adults and preschool children;
- make use of cultural centres that serve as learning sites, thereby bringing together culture, art and learning, and hosting projects run jointly by local educational and cultural institutions as a means of enabling people to access and celebrate their cultural identities and to promote intercultural tolerance;
- establish schemes that mobilize trained volunteers to encourage residents at risk of isolation (e.g. older people, people with disabilities) to participate in cultural activities, workshops, physical activities, etc.;
- create ‘civic participation networks’ that encourage citizens to take part in the city’s decision-making processes, supported by the use of social media and modern technologies.
References:
UIL. 2015. Guidelines for Building Learning Cities: UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. [online] Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000234987 [Accessed 11 September 2020].
UIL. 2015a. UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities: Guiding document. [online] Available at: https://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/learning-cities/unesco-global-network-learning-cities-guiding-document [Accessed 11 September 2020].
UIL. n.d. Learning Cities: Drivers of inclusion and sustainability. [online] Available at: https://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/learning-cities/learning-cities-drivers-inclusion-and-sustainability [Accessed 11 September 2020].