Climate Box: Climate Change Education and Awareness Project

Raising awareness on the possible effects of climate change on nature and humankind with an interactive learning toolkit

Towards a Solution

To address this challenge, the Government of the Russian Federation supported the development and implementation of an innovative interactive learning programme and toolkit on climate change called Climate Box, through the Russia-UNDP Trust Fund for Development. The goal of the programme is to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (ECIS) region by promoting climate education and awareness, changes in consumer behaviour and a shift towards low emission- and resilient societies.

The Climate Box toolkit and school curriculum, targeting children aged 7 to 16 years, were developed by an interdisciplinary team of Russian experts. The toolkit includes an illustrated textbook for students, ‘Climate Quiz’ game cards, a wall map featuring possible effects of climate change and a poster with tips on reducing carbon footprints. Climate Box enables school teachers to share up-to-date climate change knowledge with their students and inspires young people to take climate action. The curriculum is flexible, with group activities, projects and experiments. There are also materials that students can use individually. The toolkit has allowed teachers and youth to take control of climate change education, engaging interactively with the subject matter and learning while having fun.

Over time, Climate Box has evolved from an interactive toolkit into a comprehensive climate education programme that engages with education ministries, schools and informal education activities. It has received strong support from national educational authorities in participating countries. The climate education approaches piloted in Climate Box are relevant in the context of a broader education reform towards more open, integrated, engaging and forward-looking learning methods. The programme has excellent potential for advocacy and youth mobilization and supports cross-border cooperation and exchanges between educational institutions, teachers and students. The current stage of the programme (2018–2020) builds upon previous activities. The Climate Box textbook and curriculum were initially developed and piloted in Russia (2014–2015). Then they were adapted for three Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (2016–2017). The new phase of the programme targets five additional partner countries: Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which were selected following negotiations among the Government of the Russian Federation, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) and the relevant UNDP Country Offices.

The programme includes three main components. The first is to replicate the Climate Box toolkit in the new partner countries: Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The second is to provide support and capacity-building to introduce Climate Box into the educational process in the eight beneficiary countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The third is to promote climate change awareness and advocacy and enhance regional cooperation based on the Climate Box platform.

In each country, the programme helps to bring together schools, formal and informal educational institutions, non-governmental and academic organizations, international agencies, national ministries of education and ministries in charge of climate change issues. Russian experts, who piloted Climate Box in Russia, have been closely involved in implementing programme activities by leading training sessions, providing technical advice on localizing the toolkit, facilitating international activities such as teacher conferences and youth competitions, and supporting the programme’s global communication and outreach.

In addition to the North-South exchange of good practices and knowledge, there is also horizontal sharing of expertise and practices between participating countries of the ECIS region. For example, representatives from the pilot Central Asian countries have co-led trainings and workshops on Climate Box in new target countries, sharing their successful experiences and lessons learned with peers. Experts from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have helped to develop a Climate Box User Guide, a monitoring and evaluation system and tools for the Climate Box programme that are being used by new countries.

Moreover, all eight beneficiary countries have been equipped to continue the project, and there will be less support needed at the regional level. The UNDP IRH team has organized a series of working sessions for UNDP programme managers in the target countries to discuss the programme’s sustainability. There are already successful examples of the programme’s development. Partnerships have been established with national educational programmes, and other initiatives have been promoted beyond the scope of the activities funded through the Russia-UNDP Trust Fund for Development. All countries have conducted follow-up activities locally. These include additional training sessions for teachers, meetings with educational experts and collaboration with non-governmental organizations, without the engagement of international experts.

Moreover, under the third component, to promote climate change awareness and advocacy and enhance regional cooperation based on the Climate Box platform, the programme is undertaking broad global and regional outreach through digital technologies, awareness-raising campaigns, regional and international teacher platforms, student contests, advocacy events and engagement with government authorities and other partners in promoting and distributing Climate Box.

Encouraged by Climate Box, students in eight countries implemented practical climate-related projects in their schools and communities. The best projects in each country were presented at the first international school competition in two categories: reducing carbon footprint, and climate change and water resources. Three winners from each of the seven beneficiary countries, three from Russia and two from the partner ‘Ecopolis’ toolkit project implemented in the Moscow Region were selected to take part in the final round of the international competition in Almaty, Kazakhstan in April 2019. An additional 16 students prepared posters of their projects for the event. The eight winners received an opportunity to travel to an international thematic summer camp in Russia in June 2019. The camp focused on energy efficiency and personal involvement in nature conservation. The Climate Box educational programme was also presented to 100 young people from the ECIS region attending the camp. 

Two international conferences on climate education for teachers and education experts from the participating countries were organized during this phase of the programme. The first conference took place in Yerevan, Armenia in November 2018, with over 55 participants. The second conference was organized in Almaty, Kazakhstan in April 2019 and welcomed over 80 participants. Both conferences were opened by representatives from the national Ministries of Education, diplomatic missions of the Russian Federation and representatives of UNDP Country Offices. Conference participants recommended a new educational climate module for teachers, which is currently being developed by an international team of educational and climate experts from the participating countries.

To date, the programme has reached over 50,000 students and 3,000 teachers in the 8 beneficiary countries and Russia. In addition, special editions of localized toolkits were self-funded and developed in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Moscow Region, Russian Federation. In 2020, Serbia has voluntarily joined the programme, and countries beyond the ECIS region have already expressed interest in participating in Climate Box activities. Climate Box is available in 13 languages, including Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish, as well as the national languages of the participating countries. It has been presented at the United Nations Climate Conferences in Paris, Bonn, Katowice and Madrid.

The geographical scale of the project ensures its replicability. The existing toolbox, which has already been translated to several languages, helps to extend this good practice more broadly.