Vision

Each RCE is a combination of partners who decide on the regional and specific goals and objectives. The coordination team provides the day-to-day running of the RCE. Alongside an RCE interacts with many stakeholders.

In fact RCEs accomplish their work by acting as a catalyst for institutions that promote ESD through formal, non-formal and informal education, and by providing suitable platforms to share information and experiences whilst promoting dialogue among regional stakeholders through partnerships for sustainable development.

RCE Southern North Sea was set up as an inter-regional RCE to focus on the regions of Belgium, France England and the Netherlands that border the Southern North Sea – Flanders, Nord Pas de Calais, Kent and Sussex, and Zeeland respectively. The coordination team is located in Brugge, Belgium at the United Nations University Centre for Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS).

The regional and specific objectives of RCE Southern North Sea are to develop ESD through resource effective means, such as the generation of business tools for progression in sustainable development; the development initiatives to help promote sustainable development in education through educating youth leaders or empowering young people; and the development of community links with higher education institutes.

RCE Southern North Sea plans to raise awareness of sustainable development in the region whilst providing a suitable framework for the best practice of sustainable development, with goals being:

  • Developing knowledge and awareness of sustainable development and education for sustainable development within the Southern North Sea region by facilitating the exchange of knowledge, ideas and networks within this context.

  • Supporting stakeholders in integrating local sustainable development challenges into the formal and informal education and training practices of the region.

  • Stimulating dialogue between a wide range of local stakeholders such as NGOs, industry, social partners and different levels of government.

  • Initiating inter-regional collaboration with other RCEs.