During the period 30 October – 2 November in Monterey, California the Transformative Education Forum (TEF) hosted a global strategic planning event with over 70 attendees from every continent to participate in an intensive three-day workshop addressing the most critical needs in raising global levels of education.  Educators from Hong Kong to Sweden, Costa Rica to Cameroon, Malawi to Canada, joined UN and other diplomatic officials to focus on transforming education at all levels, in order to improve social health, empowerment, and environmental sustainability in global communities.  There was a special emphasis on the impact of education on women and youth.   Two significant achievements resulted:

• The group produced recommendations on Sustainable Development Education that was transmitted to the “RIO +20” Summit.

• The conference brought together local officials of Salinas, California and Kumbo, Cameroon to share experiences on developing community-based agriculture. This resulted in a pilot project and establishment of a governing board to explore global values through experiential learning.  It also provided the catalyst for the Sustainable Development Forum below.