The Okayama ESD model, embedded in tradition and ‘kominkan’

Professor Atsufumi Yokoi, vice-president for global engagement at Okayama University in Japan and a UNESCO chair holder, isn’t going to stop talking about the criticality of incorporating education for sustainable development (ESD) into higher education.

Indeed, Yokoi is the mover and driver of the Okayama ESD model, which is deeply embedded in the traditions of the Okayama region, where historically education for citizens focused on the Japanese ‘kominkan’, or community learning centres.

“The focus of kominkan for citizens is on multiple joint projects of non-formal or social education in cooperation and collaboration with multi-stakeholders for sustainability and well-being,” explained Yokoi to University World News. “The concepts are not about competition, economic growth and rankings based on hierarchy.”

“Okayama University promotes this ESD vision as a transformative change in higher education, business and local government,” said Yokoi. The university is one of the Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) in sustainable development of the Global RCE Network.



The Okayama University concept is described as a whole-institution approach that supports expanding the ESD lens to promote study of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

That approach was recognised at the “First RCE Thematic Conference: Towards achieving the SDGs” held in December 2017, jointly hosted by RCE Okayama, Okayama University and the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability.

Among the many accolades Okayama University has won for its ESD programme was its selection in 2007 as the first UNESCO chair in Asia, in education for sustainable development.

ESD, kominkans and Okayama City

Okayama City’s official 37 kominkans, which are linked together, embody the successes and challenges of the ESD model. More research is needed to support ongoing programmes and implement new ones at the community learning centres, which actively support local residents to solve local and international issues.

Science-based programmes are being advised and implemented by Okayama University with the collaboration of academia, business and volunteer experts. Funding and human support are extended by the Okayama City government.

Keiko Hattori, manager at the SDGs & ESD Promotion Division of the Okayama City Office, told University World News: “Support for the ESD role of kominkan is solid in Okayama City.

“With the introduction of ESD into kominkan activities, we see changes such as a wider involvement of generations, and the introduction of current issues and youth participation.” She said the objective is to harness the capacity of people working together for social well-being.

Okayama kominkan education won global recognition back in 2016, when UNESCO awarded the UNESCO-Japan Prize in ESD to the Okayama region.

Another boost was the selection in 2022 of the Kyoyama Kominkan – the kominkan in the Kyoyama district of Okayama – as Japan’s best ESD learning centre, by the Japanese government. The award noted in particular ongoing student activities with children on protecting local biodiversity, and food cafeterias launched with local companies.

The Global Engagement Office at Okayama University

ESD towards the SDGs at Okayama University is led by Yokoi whose organisation, the Global Engagement Office (GEO), was launched in 2020. One of the priorities he has championed is an “adaptive” operating system, as a driver for positioning “ESD for 2030” to be integrated into core university operations.

“The GEO, together with the UNESCO chair, is a powerhouse of shared leadership, creativity, organic engagement and applied learning focus, bringing greater synergetic benefit with Japan’s deep-rooted traditional hierarchy-based operating system, signalling a critical reform in higher education,” Yokoi told University World News.

“A tree, for example, has a dual mode of networks: main branches and leaves. With the interplay of the two systems by establishing GEO, we could unleash powerful new levels of organisational agility and transformative change capability for achieving a transdisciplinary agenda and initiatives like [the] SDGs.

“Leveraging Okayama University’s global presence and our status as an ESD regional centre is a major incentive to reduce tensions between the two operating systems,” Yokoi pointed out.

Advisors are from international backgrounds and include Her Royal Highness Dr Princess Abze Djigma from Burkina Faso; Professor Charles Hopkins from York University in Canada; Mirian Vilela, executive director of Earth Charter International at UPEACE; and Adjunct Professor Utak Chung of Kyung Hee University in South Korea.

Research and postgraduate training

The university is spearheading ESD research and new doctoral and masters programmes, especially into competency frameworks for ESD teacher training engagement, with UNESCO chairs and kominkans to disseminate the Okayama ESD model locally and globally.

Research also includes co-creating brand new activities based on the Japanese government’s Digital Garden City Nation initiative, which aims to achieve rural-urban digital integration and transformation, and which backs the inclusion of science-based education and the use of digital tools in community learning.

Assistant Professor Hiroko Shibakawa of the department of education at Okoyama University is a key player on this front. She told University World News that her ESD research focuses on the “whole community” approach, where university students and faculty work closely with kominkan and participating local organisations.

“My students, who will graduate to become teachers, are required to participate in kominkan activities regularly. I believe their knowledge exchange from this activity contributes to developing an enabling environment to transform society,” she said.

Her research is based on the interactions between three sub-systems – education, social and the natural environment – towards creating a new social values system. An example is her workshops and dialogues on flood control held at the Minan Nishi Kominkan, which also serves as an evacuation centre for a population of over 30,000.

Shibakawa and her students are active at the kominkan in sharing disaster science information. Discussions on social challenges are led by residents including junior high school students, with responses leading to better community risk reduction – an example of activities towards a more sustainable and resilient society.

Once a rural area, Minan has undergone rapid urbanisation during the past few decades, leaving the community facing typical urbanisation issues such as social gaps between newcomers and older residents. To reduce social isolation, the kominkan provides baby sitting and child rearing activities that have brought together new parents with the elderly.

“My research and experience have definitely shown a transformation in my students who engage with kominkan that collaborate with local organisations. Not only are they doing it to gain credits, but they acknowledge the valuable input from learning on the ground,” said Shibakawa. An example is Kurashi no Tane, or ‘Seeds of Life’.

On the global front, in 2021 Atsufumi Yokoi started a Young Female Scientist Programme specifically for developing countries. It is a joint project with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD. The programme aims to build human capital in science, technology and innovation-related fields by bridging the gender gap.

Female scientists from countries in Africa and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations receive short-term fellowships to engage in cutting-edge research activities at Okayama University for 14 to 30 days.

The participants gain hands-on research experience in their fields – many of them health-related – guided by top faculty at Okayama University. The young scientists are expected to contribute to achieving the SDGs in their own countries, building on their research experience in Japan.

Okayama University is well known for medical breakthroughs in Japan and this ESD programme represents its global reach.

An ESD vision

Okayama University, established in 1949 in west Japan, like other universities, faces Japan’s higher education crisis over population decline, which is creating competition for students and public funding. Yokoi believes Okayama University’s visionary action on ESD gives it an edge, and is a key landmark for a sustainable future.

He should know.

Yokoi, who believes deeply in the promise of ESD for achieving human and planetary well-being, embarked on this path during Japan’s massive triple disaster in 2011 when the northern Tohoku region was devastated by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant explosion.

“Working with the survivors to regain normalcy exposed the inherent strength of community collaboration. The lessons from the ground instilled the merits of a triangular ESD strategy for 2030 based on the well-being of the planet, nation and people,” he said.

Yokoi jointly launched the TOMODACHI US-Japan Youth Exchange Program along with the American Councils for International Education towards disaster recovery. The project connected high school students from the United States and Japan with local communities and schools in stricken areas through cross-cultural activities and social entrepreneurship to encourage hope and confidence.

That learning is now used in the US Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship programme at Okayama University, when 25 selected American university students study alongside their Japanese counterparts at Okayama. Other successful activities include encouraging selected high school students to participate in UN-related international youth conferences.

“The Japanese students return home with a new confidence after their exposure and are ready to take leadership in transforming,” said Yokoi. He sees this international collaborative learning as addressing the decrease of Japanese university students studying abroad.

Yokoi explained that a key challenge facing ESD practices is fostering a new mindset that can embrace the powerful changes that the Okayama ESD model advocates for a planetary vision.

“Learning to transform oneself and society demands a mindset to transform oneself before transforming the world,” he said.