The Asia-Pacific region faces an urgent and interconnected crisis in adolescent health, well-being, and gender equality. In response, the ‘Transforming Teachers and Teaching for Adolescent Health, Well-Being and Gender Equality – A Regional Forum’ was convened in Bangkok from September 23-25 2025. The forum brought together 160 key stakeholders, including 29 government representatives; 98 youth, civil society and UN agency representatives, and 33 academia and education experts from over 20 countries.
This high-level multi-stakeholder forum was co-convened by the Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), UNESCO (Regional Office in Bangkok and Regional Office for South Asia), UNICEF (East Asia and Pacific Regional Office and Regional Office for South Asia), UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office, and Education International Asia-Pacific, in collaboration with the SDG 4 Youth and Student Network, and YPEER Asia-Pacific Center.
The forum’s consensus was clear: teachers are the single most critical agents for delivering transformative change, and the strategic priority must shift from if we should teach sensitive content to how we can empower and professionalise educators to do so effectively. The high-level, multi-stakeholder forum focused on three thematic pillars: (1) Curriculum; (2) Pedagogy; and (3) Monitoring, Measuring and Learning. The discussions represent the collective synthesis of implementation evidence, research, and practitioner experience of participants from across the region. Some of the key discussions included:
- TEACHER WELL-BEING IS A PRECONDITION FOR STUDENT WELL-BEING.
- PEDAGOGY MUST SHIFT FROM ‘WHAT’ TO ‘HOW’.
- SUSTAINABILITY REQUIRES INSTITUTIONALISATION AND CO-CREATION.
Key gaps identified for future work include expanding digital equity (prioritising offline-accessible tools), strengthening inclusion (with a specific focus on learners with disabilities and LGBTIQ+ youth), and adopting robust monitoring frameworks (like SERAT) to prove the long-term value of CSE to policymakers. The core message of the forum is that the future of transformative education depends on recognising the indispensable value of the CSE teacher. This report is a call for a coordinated, multi-stakeholder effort—combining political will, robust financing, and skills-based pedagogical reform—to empower educators for the work ahead.
The outcome document of the Forum is the Transforming Teachers and Teaching for Adolescent Health, Well-Being and Gender Equality: A Technical Brief.