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SDSN Executive Briefing Unveils National Action Plan to Operationalize ESD in Malaysia

By SDSN

On March 17, 2026, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) convened a high-level Executive Briefing and Dialogue with Malaysia’s Minister of Education, Fadhlina Sidek, alongside senior Ministry leadership, Sunway Education Group leadership, experts, and strategic partners. The closed-door session focused on “Operationalising Education for Sustainable Development in Support of the Malaysia Education Plan 2026–2035.”

Following the launch of the Malaysia Education Plan 2026–2035, which positions Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as one of its seven core pillars, Malaysia has entered a critical new phase: translating policy ambition into system-wide implementation. This session presented and discussed a National Action Plan to operationalize ESD and global citizenship across the education system.

The SDSN’s Asia Headquarters, based at Sunway University and supported by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, has been working closely with the Ministry of Education to advance this agenda. This collaboration has focused on driving structural and systemic change, positioning sustainable development not as an add-on, but as a core driver of education transformation.

Opening the briefing, Karen Chand, the SDSN’s Director of Education Studies, reflected on the SDSN’s efforts over the past three years to position ESD as a foundational principle shaping curriculum, pedagogy, teacher development, and school culture, and not merely as additional content.

“Our approach has been to pursue structural and systemic change,” Chand noted. “We conducted research grounded in real needs, developed practical interventions, and piloted them in schools to ensure relevance and scalability.”

A key milestone in this effort has been the development and implementation of educator capacity-building programs in ESD. These initiatives, piloted in selected schools, have since expanded through a Training of Trainers model developed in partnership with Sunway University, enabling broader reach across the national system.

The SDSN and partners from the National Committee of Strategic Partners for ESD also supported the development of Pillar 6 of the Malaysia Education Plan, which, for the first time, positions ESD as a systemic driver of education transformation. The Committee is made up of the Education Policy and Research Division of the Ministry of Education, WWF Malaysia, the Green Growth Asia Foundation, Amanah Lestari Alam, and Arts-ED, as well as the SDSN’s Mission 4.7 team.

The Strategic Committee also developed the National ESD Action Plan, a comprehensive roadmap to operationalize Pillar 6, which was presented at the Executive Briefing. The Action Plan outlines four strategic priorities:

  1. Transforming learning environments to deliver future-relevant competencies through aligned curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment;
  2. Strengthening educator and leadership capacity to lead system-wide transformation;
  3. Advancing partnerships and local action, positioning schools as living laboratories for solving real-world challenges; and
  4. Enhancing governance, monitoring, and evaluation, using data and technology to support effective and inclusive implementation.

These strategies reinforce other Pillars of the Education Plan, specifically Pillars 2 (student outcomes), 3 (educator quality), 4 (infrastructure), and 7 (governance and delivery system efficiency).

The ESD Action Plan guides implementation to ensure that ESD is embedded holistically across the education ecosystem and reflected in teacher development, learning design, assessment, institutional alignment, and everyday school practices.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, President of the SDSN, attended the Executive Briefing and contributed global perspectives on educational transformation. Drawing on international experience, he highlighted how ESD can serve as a powerful lever for countries to align education systems with sustainable development priorities.

“We hope SDSN can accompany the Ministry on its journey to implement this plan. The SDSN’s Asia Headquarters has a talented team located here at Sunway that is focused on education from pre-K to higher and lifelong education. We want to continue to work with Malaysia, to brainstorm with you, to build on ideas that emerge, to share best practices from other countries, and most of all, to spread the word of all the successes of Malaysia to the rest of the world.”

As Malaysia moves from policy to implementation, collaboration among the SDSN, the Ministry, and its partners is increasingly important to realize an education system that equips learners with the values, skills, and competencies needed to navigate an increasingly complex, rapidly changing world.

If successfully implemented, Malaysia’s approach has the potential not only to strengthen national learning outcomes but also to position the country as a global leader in future-focused, sustainability-driven education reform.