Today’s ESD training was shorter than usual however no less informative. At 9:30 this morning the group of participants gathered at Potsdamer Platz S-Bahn station for a field trip which would take them to a meeting with Dorothee Braun who is involved with the German Council for Sustainable Development. Once seated in the conference room, Frau Braun was introduced to the group by one of the participants (Supriya Singh) and made a presentation to the group about the work of the council in relation to sustainable development. This started with a brief overview of Germany’s National Sustainable Development Strategy before introducing the issues dealt with by the council. The group learned of how the Council of SD is chosen by the German Chancellor and includes many people involved in different sectors such as NGO’s, Politics, Business and Science among others. She then put the councils work into the context of Education for Sustainable Development and how education needs to be seen as a major indicator of the Sustainable development Strategy.

Supriya then chaired the discussion which followed and allowed the participants to ask any questions on the presentation or the councils work and also allowed them to give their opinion on the issues. When the talk was over the rest of the afternoon remained free and many participants took the chance to see a number of key tourist spots of the area as well as get a tour of Kreuzberg.