The Winners of the ESD Okayama Award 2026

The ESD Okayama Award recognizes outstanding ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) activities undertaken around the world.  This year, two projects have been selected for the award from a shortlist of 10 projects that passed in the first round of selection.

This year we received applications of 252 projects from 80 countries worldwide.  Ten projects from Asia, Africa and Americas were selected for the final review.  

The ESD Okayama Award 2026 Ceremony will be held as Part I of the Okayama ESD Forum 2026 on Saturday 14 November 2026 at the Okayama International Center (2-2-1 Hokancho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Japan).  Representatives of the organizations of the winning-projects will be invited to present their projects at the ceremony.

SERES Association

4,11&13

This educational initiative cultivates young leaders to drive sustainable transformation in rural, indigenous, and climate-vulnerable communities across Guatemala and El Salvador.  More than 50% of participants are indigenous youth and 51% are young women. Participants engage in experiential and participatory learning processes focused on sustainability, food sovereignty, climate resilience, and other topics.  It aims to increase youth leadership, stronger community participation, transformation of values and behaviors toward sustainability, improved local resilience, and the emergence of youth-led networks capable of advancing sustainable development from within their own territories. 

【Photos by SERES Association】

Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna

1,3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,15&17

The Lanna Koyori project is a regenerative ESD model that uses culture as the root for solving real community challenges.  Inspired by the Japanese Koyori tradition of twisting delicate paper into a strong cord, it connects artisans, youth, Thai and Japanese universities, professors, students, designers, scientists, technologists, business specialists, language students and community partners into a learning network.  Its goals are to empower craft communities as active co-creators, regenerate cultural wisdom, create dignified livelihoods, bridge intergenerational gaps, and address sustainability challenges through local knowledge and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtk3KKOPX1g 別ウィンドウで開く

【Photos by Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL)】

• Project: Seeds of Change
  【Organization: Foundation for Revive Community Hope (FRECHO)】 (United Republic of Tanzania)

• Project:Cafelab Colombia: Advancing Environmental Sustainability and Strengthening Social Cohesion
  【Organization: Montessori Municipal Educational Institution - San Francisco Campus】 (Republic of Colombia)

• Project: Pathway to Stewardship and Kinship - A community framework for raising children who care for the Earth
  【Organization: Camp Kawartha】 (Canada)

• Project: Women Led Oyster Farming and Mangrove Restoration for Sustainable Coastal Communities in Aceh, Indonesia
  【Organization:  natural aceh】 (Republic of Indonesia)

• Project: GenCAN 'Generation for Climate ActioN' - A Whole-School and Youth-Led ESD Initiative
  【Organization: Centre for Environment Education (CEE)】 (Republic of India)

• Project: SINA Framework: Freesponsible Learning Communities for Youth-Led Social Entrepreneurship
  【Organization: SINA (Social Innovation Academy)】 (Republic of Uganda)

• Project: Women & Water: A Gender and Place-Responsive Surf, Science, and Stories for Sustainable Coastal Futures
  【Organization:  Coast 2 Coast Movement】 (Republic of Peru)

• Project: Hero School ESD
  【Organization:  Long Way Home】 (Republic of Guatemala)