What is it?

MEdIES is the major educational and training tool of MIO-ECSDE (www.mio-ecsde.org). It is an initiative on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), launched in Johannesburg during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, 2002). It closely followed birth and implementation of the UN Decade on ESD (2005-2014) in Greece and the Mediterranean countries, and currently follows several international post-DESD initiatives and processes such as the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD and its Action Plan, the UNESCO/GAP Programme, etc.

What does it aim for?

MEdIES aims to facilitate the educational community at large to contribute in a systematic and concrete way to Sustainable Development Development Goals (SDGs), through the successful application of innovative educational programmes in all countries around the Mediterranean basin.

The educational programmes developed by MEdIES are usually based on cross-cutting themes in the existing school-curricula of the countries. Such themes include freshwater, solid wastes, consumption, diet/food, etc. giving emphasis on the methods applied within ESD. Special emphasis is given to the role of students/learners as "messengers for sustainability" to their families and local communities. The exchange and close collaboration of countries of north and south in the Mediterranean allows the development of a methodological framework that could be further implemented in other regions of the world.

What are the main activities of MEdIES?

(a) Educational materials: MEdIES proposes educational programmes to be applied in various countries, based on cross-cutting interdisciplinary themes. The common challenging issue of water shortage around the Mediterranean was addressed in the first educational material of MEdIES entitled “Water in the Mediterranean”, produced in 2002. Since then the original English material has been translated in French, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Croatian language. In some cases, i.e. Turkey the material was slightly modified and adapted to meet the needs of the country.

Several other materials have been produced to support the educational community on issues of common interest such as:  “Wastes in our Life” (in Greek, English and French language)   “Mediterranean Food” (in English, Arabic, Greek, Italian, and Portuguese language), the “Handbook on Methods used in EE & ESD” (in English, Arabic and French language).

Most of these publications have been produced in hardcopy, some solely in e-format. All of them are available for free download in MEdIES publications section. Meanwhile a “basket” of ESD lesson plans, ideas for games etc. has started to develop, aimed to be evaluated and enriched by the MEdIES e-members. These are also available here.

(b) Conferences, trainings: MEdIES organises seminars for educators and trainers at national and international level, youth exchanges, visits to schools, etc. Seminars on ESD have been organised in many Mediterranean countries such as Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Turkey & Tunisia.  In 2005, MEdIES provided the secretariat for the “Launching of the UN Decade on ESD for the Mediterranean Region”, a conference attended by 240 participants from 26 countries (Athens, November 2005). At the end of the Decase MEdIES has strongly supported the adoption of the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD (2015) and its Action Plan (2016).

(c) The webpage: The MEdIES webpage itself provides a platform for exchange of experiences and know how in educational issues. The site provides useful material for all those engaged with ESD through formal and non formal systems and serves as an interactive point for sharing information and browsing for relative institutions active in the Mediterranean. All MEdIES publications and lesson pans are available online to interested individuals who become members of the MEdIES e-Network.