Planetary Academy

Empowering Youth For Peaceful & Sustainable Futures

The world will not meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN Summit of the Future 2024 declared that national and international decisions should take into account the interests of future generations. We must now empower youth to codesign the future of learning to enable them to “learn to be the change they want to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi).

However, today’s Education systems are often ill-equipped to prepare students for the complexities of contemporary challenges. Students need to learn essential competencies such as collaborative problem-solving, critical thinking, and sustainability science and practices to build peaceful, sustainable and inclusive societies.

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In response, we are committed to launching a new form of Planetary Academy, to empower learners to become planetary citizens.

This worldwide initiative is designed to transform learning experiences into a catalyst for the systemic shifts needed to achieve global peace and sustainability.

This Academy will offer diverse multilingual experiential learning opportunities, both online and on the ground, across three levels:

  • Students: To develop key 21st-century skills for peace and sustainability
  • Teachers: To equip them to guide students in acquiring these skills
  • Leaders: To enable them to design impactful training programmes for both teachers and students

Key Principles of the Planetary Academy

  • Transforming Learning Approaches: Participants engage in hands-on research to explore issues through a scientific lens, design and implement community-based projects to prototype practical solutions, and develop essential skills for addressing real-world challenges

 

  • Co-constructing and Co-Leading with Youth: Through the annual Youth Design Challenge, young people worldwide submit ideas for innovative and impactful educational programmes. This ensures that the Academy remains inclusive of future generations and responsive to their evolving needs. In addition, youth representatives, empowered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and collective intelligence tools, play an active role in the Academy’s governance, offering continuous input on key decisions that affect them.

 

  • Leveraging Existing Research-Based Initiatives: The Academy will build on key networks and initiatives of UNESCO, United Nations University, the Learning Planet Institute and their partners. Its content, tools and methods will be nurtured by participatory active research on “Learning Transitions”. This research explores three critical dimensions: the transitions of learning,  the learning of transitions and  the transitions of learners and learning organisations in the AI age.

 

  • AI-Enabled Personalised Learning at Scale: Training will be delivered both online and on-site through a global network of university and community partners,  supported by AI-driven tools that facilitate personalised learning, collective intelligence and collective decision-making. Students projects will be documented in an open-source database, fostering continuous improvement of the initiative.
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Targets, Impact & Benefits

  • Youth-Led Change: The Academy will nurture a new generation of young leaders equipped to drive meaningful change within their communities, fostering more peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies.

 

  • Empowered Teachers through Lifelong Learning: The Academy will deliver targeted training programmes to equip teachers with the tools to teach 21st-century skills, knowledge, competencies and ethics. These programmes will empower teachers to inspire their students to face the challenges of our time.

 

  • Capacity Building for Systemic Change: Through leadership training and advocacy, the Academy will champion the adoption of innovative pedagogies across all age groups. By expanding access to sustainability education and innovative learning programmes, it will drive institutional reforms, demonstrating the impact of real-world learning on both young people and their communities.
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