Education, Citizenship and Youth
To view PDF files, you must have a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available as a free download.
81 KB)Manitoba Grants for Education for Sustainable Development
Successful recipents have been selected for the 2008 Manitoba Grants for Education for Sustainable Development.
The Grants | Priority Areas | Eligibility | Selection Criteria | Applications | Unit Planning Support
Are you a Kindergarten to Grade 12 educator who is interested in preparing students to live sustainably on the planet?
Would you like your students to become informed and responsible decision makers? Would you like to provide your students with opportunities to play active roles as Canadian citizens and contribute to social, environment, and economic well-being now and in the future?
If so, we invite you to apply for a grant that will help you accomplish this goal.
The Grants
Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth (MECY) and Manitoba Hydro have introduced Education for Sustainable Development Grants to promote professional learning for sustainability in classrooms. MECY and Manitoba Hydro want to support schools in which educators work together to plan and teach sustainability-focused units. The grants will provide up to $2000 to cover expenses, such as teacher release time, professional development, and teaching/learning resources for sustainability education. MECY staff will also provide grant recipients with unit planning support.
The objectives of the grant are to:
- Support schools in their efforts to help students acquire the knowledge, skills, values, and life practices that contribute to a sustainable future.
- Contribute to effective practices in education for sustainable development.
- Provide students with opportunities to make decisions and analyze sustainability issues, and to participate in action aimed at achieving a sustainable future.
Priority Areas
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) involves learning about social, environmental, and economic factors in relation to quality of life. Priority areas (or sustainability topics) in each of these three dimensions are identified in the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) Framework and the 2005 Provincial Sustainability Report for Manitoba.
| Socio-Cultural |
Environmental |
Economic |
|---|---|---|
| Human rights Peace and human security Justice Gender equality Cultural diversity and intercultural understanding Community and culture Health HIV/AIDS Governance Demographics Equity and rights |
Natural resources:
Rural transformation Sustainable urbanization Disaster prevention and mitigation |
Poverty reduction Corporate responsibility and accountability Market economy Energy efficiency and conservation Consumption and waste management Economic performance Agricultural viability Mining Employment Education |
Unit topics selected for development should clearly link to one of these priority-area topics, but each topic must be examined from the sustainable development viewpoint, which incorporates social, environment, and economic factors.
For information about the priority areas and their connections to Manitoba Kindergarten to Grade 12 learning outcomes, please visit MECY’s Education for Sustainable Development website.
Teaching / learning units should be:
- Interdisciplinary and holistic: where learning for sustainable development is embedded in the whole curriculum and is not a separate subject.
- Value-driven: where the shared values and principles underpinning sustainable development are made explicit, so that they may be examined, debated, tested and applied.
- Applicable: where the learning experiences offered are integrated in day-to-day personal life.
- Locally relevant: where local issues are addressed, allowing students to make connections with their community.
Teaching / learning units should also address:
- Critical thinking and problem solving: where students develop their confidence in addressing the dilemmas, challenges and opportunities of sustainable development.
- Multi-method: where students use text, art, drama, debate, experiential learning, and a variety of strategies to explore sustainability.
- Participatory decision making: where students participate in decisions on what they learn and how they learn it.
- Team Work/ Collaboration: educators and students learn and work together to acquire knowledge, skills, values and life practices in their school and community that contribute to a sustainable present and future.
Eligibility
Kindergarten to Grade 12 English, Français and French Immersion public schools in Manitoba are eligible to apply. Applications from urban, rural and northern public schools are encouraged.
Fifteen (15) projects will be selected and up to $2000 will be awarded to the school to support the planning and teaching of a sustainability-focused unit. The unit planning and implementation must be completed by the 2009-2010 school year.
Tree planting projects are not eligible. Schools wishing to pursue tree planting projects should submit an application to the Manitoba Hydro-Forest Enhancement Program. For information call: 474-4934 or visit the Manitoba Hydro website.
Selection Criteria
The planning and development of the unit must:
- Involve students in collaborative goal setting, and planning.
- Address a topic from a sustainable development viewpoint, incorporating social, environmental, and economic perspectives.
- Be interdisciplinary in nature, ideally involving two or more educators with different areas of expertise, who work together to plan and teach a unit focused on a sustainability topic (e.g., a language arts teacher and a science teacher may work together on a unit that will be delivered as part of both courses).
- Have a local connection, involving students with their community.
- Involve students in analyzing issues and making decisions leading to actions aimed at achieving a sustainable future.
Applications
Deadline for applications is February 13, 2009.
A selection committee including educators, MECY and Manitoba Hydro staff will review applications. Successful applications will be informed by April 2009.
Successful recipients have been selected for the 2008 Manitoba Grants for Education for Sustainable Development. 
Application Form:
Printable (
33 KB)
Fillable (
81 KB)
Mail, fax, or email applications to:
Education for Sustainable Development Grants
Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth
Instruction, Curriculum and Assessment Branch
1567 Dublin Avenue
Winnipeg MB R3E 3J1
Fax: (204) 945-1704
Email: anne.macdiarmid@gov.mb.ca
Assistance in completing your application may be obtained by calling Anne MacDiarmid:
Telephone: (204) 945-6943
Toll-Free: 1-800-282-8069, extension 6943
Unit Planning Support
MECY staff will provide unit planning support to grant recipients by addressing topics such as:
- integrated unit planning
- ESD resources
- ways to engage students/involve students in decision making
- format for submission of final units to MECY
Note: The submission of completed units and a summary report will be required by May 31, 2010.
