• Kensuke Fukushi
  Researcher
  Project Manager
• Eri Hata
  Administrator
• Aya Yokoi
  Administrator
• Eriko Onishi
  Administrator
• Maiko ARAKI

During the first phase (2015-2020) of the Grant for Global Sustainability, 7 projects below were globally implemented in 17 countries that included Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, Viet Nam, and Zambia. These projects were implemented in close collaboration between diverse local counterparts such as national and local governments, relevant line ministries, local schools and universities, research institutes, local and multinational companies, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and NGOs.

The project members from all seven projects, including local counterparts, have made 148 academic presentations at various workshops and international symposiums to disseminate the project results. The media coverage and the presentation targeting the public were made 26 times inside and outside Japan. More importantly, 171 peer-reviewed academic papers were published. 4 web-platforms were established to continuously disseminate the results across borders, and these web-platforms are playing a critical role to sustain the result of each project on the ground especially in the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic.

Theme A: Education and governance to achieve inclusive development

Development of the Inclusive Education System Model for Learning Improvement in Developing Countries (Hiroshima University)

This project helped to improve the educational system in Africa and Asia, which is encapsulated in Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project focused on the multi-faceted and interrelated nature of educational inequality that is peculiar to each locality of Asian and African countries and aimed at developing a model of an inclusive education system for learning improvement in which stakeholders participate. Through undertaking and sharing the results from “Learning Improvement Research”, “Issue Driven Research”, the project has established a model of “University–Policy–Practice Partnerships (UPPPs)” as a system model for educational development to build a community of collaborative problem-solution including local universities and education administrators which are essential for commitment, ownership, and sustainability. This model enables to institutionalise the inclusive learning improvement system to be continuously enhanced as a feedback result from the counterpart universities’ own understanding and upgrading.

(Photo: Lesson Study in Lusaka, Zambia)

Knowledge and skills which lead to decent work: The development of a skills assessment module for TVET graduates and curriculum evaluation in developing countries. (Nagoya University)

This project developed a module for assessing supply-demand gaps of expectation for skills and improving the relevance of training in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Ghana. Based on a comparative analysis, tracer study, and reliability test, the project aimed to improve the applicability of skills training in Africa to the real needs of the labor market. The results of the project contributed to develop the skills assessment module and the module has been operationalised in the online system. Furthermore, in Ethiopia, the project result was selected to be disseminated as the Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Project, and also UNESCO Dakar International Educational Planning Institute (IIEP) requested the project to conduct the assessment of skills to produce evidence for their policymaking.

(Photo: Technical skills assessment of TVET students in Ghana)

Strengthening Social Resilience through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): Building a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and Improvement Mechanisms. (Tokyo University)

The project developed an ESD/GCED evaluation conceptual framework based on research evidence at the global level and a set of indicators tailored to the regional contexts of Asian countries. The evaluation results indicated that supporting efforts to address global issues through teacher training and other means in the future is highly needed. For example, the results of the survey in Indonesia revealed that while students’ knowledge and awareness of global environmental issues and the enjoyment of diversity are high, understanding international relations and the SDGs is still low. Through the feedback of the results of this project to a wide range of stakeholders (i.e., from ESD practitioners in schools to research institutions and international organisations), the project will contribute to the expansion of ESD at the local and global levels.

(Photo: Sustainable village workshop in Haruku island, Indonesia)

Theme B: Solutions to the challenges faced by the Earth’s systems

Enhancement of urban disaster resilience through activities of local participatory platform. (Kyoto University)

The project aimed to enhance resilience of cities against natural disasters through capacity building of the stakeholders in cities. The project produced a localised action plan and it contributed to establish a practical disaster preparedness system that can be locally operated and create a flow of actions – risk assessment, response designing, and stakeholder training. In Nepal, the project supported local stakeholders to produce the ward-level-disaster risk reduction (DRR) action plans which became the first case in the whole country. Additionally, in Myanmar, school-centered DRR management action plans have been developed for the first time in the country.

(Photo: Local DRR platform in Katmandhu, Nepal)

Incorporation of biodiversity indicators into ecosystem-service forest certification towards achieving synergy between biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest use. (Kyoto University)

This project empirically examined and resolved the technical issues of the “Forest Certification for Ecosystem Services (ForCES)” which was developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) by incorporating biodiversity-mapping techniques into the auditing procedure of ForCES in Indonesia and Malaysia to contribute to the sustainable conservation and management of tropical forest and biodiversity. In Indonesia, the ForCES approach which the project has advanced by incorporating biodiversity-mapping techniques has been applied to examine the Ratah Timber company to certify its non-negative influence on the local ecosystem, the first case in the world. The project results were also applied as one of the outcomes indicators of FSC Biodiversity Conservation monitoring.

(Photo: Group photos after the training session at Sabah University)

Theme C: Solutions to the challenges encountered by cities and residential areas

Strategies for adaptation to sea-level rise in urban atolls through conservation and rehabilitation of natural processes of island formation. (Ibaraki University)

This project aimed to develop environmental measures and technologies for the conservation and rehabilitation of sand production processes for healthy island formation as a means to counter rising sea levels in Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. It identified challenges in the wastewater outfall system and developed a sustainable wastewater treatment technology for atoll-island nations. With the development of monitoring methods of large benthic foraminifers, habitat distribution by UAV technology which contributes to easy and quick monitoring by various counterparts, local adaptation strategies were developed with various local stakeholders to develop a cross-sectoral administrative network.

(Photo: Flow of polluted water from the broken sewage pipe)

Theme D: Solutions to Challenges Regarding Women’s Empowerment and Gender

Improving maternal and child health and wellbeing through gender mainstreaming in Cambodia. (Tokyo University)

This project focused on neglected issues in health and welfare among women, children, and other caregivers under rapid economic development, change in the industry and employment structure, and female employment expansion, which had been seen in many low and middle-income countries, particularly in Asia. While the coverage of maternal, newborn, and child health services has been improved substantially in many low and middle-income countries, this project revealed that the coverage could differ by combining caregivers’ employment status and eligibility for the public health insurance scheme. This project had advocated the importance of addressing the issue of diversifying the types of caregivers. The research framework and checklist developed under this project enable monitoring the progress of health and wellbeing statuses related to diversifications of the type of caregivers.

(Photo: Discussion meeting with local health administrative officer)