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Environmental Action Learning takes shape in Africa
A workshop to prepare guidelines for Environmental Action Learning (EAL) brought representatives from 14 countries, international and sub-regional institutions and nongovernmental organisations to South Africa, 25-27 February. The framework for EAL aims to put the environment, action and learning at the centre of education at home, work, school, and in the community at large, through education and involvement processes in the formal, informal and non-formal sectors. The Workshop was organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), with the association of Southern African Development Community (SADC), Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and East African Community (EAC). The workshop included high level government participants from Ministries of Environment or Education, as well from UNEP (Nairobi office) and the Indian Ocean Commission, and the Eco-Schools International Coordination (FEE).
The Workshop was hosted in Howick, near Pietermaritzburg (Kwazulu Natal) by WESSA, which is the first FEE Member organisation in Africa, and has been active and successful piloting the Blue Flag and Eco-Schools programmes in South Africa. Eco-Schools is identified as a means of taking forward environmental action learning at the level of schools and their communities. This workshop follows the 2002 "Workshop on Eco-Schools Partnerships in Africa: Plan of Action for the African Region", which most directly involved the eastern and southern African regions. The recent EAL workshop reaches for a wider framework of environmental action learning, beyond just the school and its community, and establishes guidelines for all of Africa.
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For more information: For more information on the EAL initiative, contact UNEP (www.unep.org)
To know more about Eco-Schools in South Africa, contact Ms Kim Ward, National Programme coordinator, at WESSA (email: kim@futurenet.co.za)
The proceedings of the 2002 Workshop on Eco-Schools for Africa, as well as other news, can be found on the International Eco-Schools website, on www.eco-schools.org/countries/africa.htm |
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(February 2004) |
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Eco-Schools Partnerships for Africa Workshop in South Africa a success
The Workshop, entitled “Eco-Schools Partnerships in Africa: Plan of Action for the African Region”, which was funded by UNEP and organised by UNEP and FEE/Eco-Schools Coordination together with SADC, WESSA and KOEE, brought together participants from 14 countries to elaborate a Plan of Action and set of guidelines for the introduction of Eco-Schools in Africa through a wider FEE network. For 4 full days (June 11-14), delegates from governmental institutions, non-governmental organisations, regional organisations and international organisations worked together to identify the background issues, potential benefits, and challenges to the implementation of Eco- Schools in Africa. More specifically, delegates discussed the existing frameworks, policies and initiatives in place in the different countries of Eastern and Southern Africa; institutional, financial and other barriers, enabling processes and events, and issues relevant to capacitation for local, national and regional coordination of Eco-Schools and elements of an active participation in an international network.
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Delegates from Ministries, Institutes and NGOs from Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and China, as well as from UNEP, FEE, SADC-REEP meet in Hilton, South Africa. |
Draft guidelines were produced and are being worked on by the national delegates and institutions involved in the organisation of the Seminar. Eco-Schools can be seen as an effective, practical and participatory way of implementing policies towards environment, sustainable development, community development and global education, among others, at national and regional levels, and indeed, also at school level. This message will be relayed at key events. One such event is the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in August/September, by Heads of State and Ministerial representatives, non-governmental organisations, and child and youth delegates. Follow-on developments on the introduction of FEE and Eco-Schools programme in African countries through the collaborative partnership with UNEP will be communicated in due course.
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Note: The World Summit on Sustainable Development, also known as the “Rio+10”, or “Johannesburg Summit”, will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 26 to September 4. It is a major international event with relevance to the environment and sustainable development. For background information, discussion forum, and updates and highlights during the event, there are many websites available. See, for instance:
- www.johannesburgsummit.org
- www.unep.org
- www.earthsummit2002.org
(July 2002) |
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International Workshop to forge Eco-Schools Partnerships in Africa
A high-level policy Workshop on Local Agenda 21 and the Eco-Schools Programme will take place in Howick, South Africa, 11-14 June. The aim of the Workshop is to establish Partnerships to extend the programme and make links between school initiatives in environmental education in Europe and Southern and Eastern Africa.
“Partnership for capacity building in environmental management for sustainable development is a key requirement in the follow up to the implementation of Agenda 21 and the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN). UNEP is honoured to invest in the future today by developing this kind of partnership. It is one among the UNEP activities being implemented in the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) framework by emphasizing the need to actively engage the UN family, governments, NGO's and other development partners in enhancing young people's involvement in environmental management.” Donald Kaniaru, Division Director, Environmental Policy Implementation - UNEP.
Organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in cooperation with Share-Net, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Environmental Education Programme, and the Kenya Organisation of Environmental Education (KOEE), the Workshop will bring together senior government officers in charge of environmental education, and representatives of non-governmental organisations and universities from 12 countries (Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and also China, Portugal, and Germany) to identify existing capacities and initiatives, and draft guidelines for the implementation of the Eco-Schools programme.
“The Eco-Schools programme offers immense opportunities for linking communities with their schools. This linkage enables schools and communities to work together in solving and preventing environmental problems and thus implement Agenda 21 at the local level. As a direct benefit, schools have set up income generating micro-projects such as waste recycling and composting for school and family kitchen gardens as a way to alleviate poverty, and improve nutrition as they keep their environment clean. Together such local action will eventually translate into global action”, added Mr. Kaniaru.
The Eco-Schools programme aims at achieving sustainable environmental management at the local level through schools. Developed by FEE in 1994 with European Commission support, the programme promotes the importance of education and youth in working towards sustainable development as identified in Agenda 21, adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Active pupil participation and community involvement are hallmarks of Eco-Schools. Presently there are over 7000 schools in 24 European countries taking part in the network, but the workshop will examine similar initiatives and programmes in Kenya, China and southern Africa and expand on UNEP’s environmental education programmes in the African region within the framework of the New Partnership for African Development, NEPAD.
“I am delighted that the Eco-Schools programme, already so effective in Europe, may, with adaptation, be replicated in Southern and Eastern Africa, where FEE and UNEP are keen to establish Partnerships as the first step in expanding the programme as a model global approach to Environmental Education.” Prof. Graham Ashworth, President – FEE”.
The Workshop, to be officially opened by the Minister for Environment and Tourism of the Republic of South Africa, is one of the first joint actions by UNEP and FEE in a Partnership to develop Eco-Schools as a model global environmental education programme to help achieve sustainable development. Using its regional reach, UNEP will identify partners for the implementation of the Eco-Schools programme, starting with Africa, then Asia and the Pacific and later in Latin America and the Caribbean. This networking will enable South-to-South cooperation and capacity building, as well as North-to-South/ South-to-North cooperative learning.
For more information, contact:
Mr Levis Kavagi (levis.kavagi@unep.org) - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Mr Sérgio Santos (eco-schools@feee.org) - Eco-Schools International Coordination, FEE
Notes to Editors/ Journalists:
NEPAD: New Partnerships for African Development is a programmatic framework in which the African Heads of State pledge based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development, and at the same time to participate actively in the world economy and body politic. NEPAD recognizes that the range of issues necessary to nurture the region's environmental base and sustainable use of natural resources is vast and complex, and a systematic combination of initiatives is necessary in order to develop a coherent environmental programme. NEPAD recommends the development and adoption of an environment initiative- a coherent action plan and strategies- to address the region's environmental challenges while at the same time combating poverty and promoting socio-economic development. This Environmental Action Plan for the 21st century is a response to address such challenges. It is prepared through a consultative and participatory process under the leadership of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN). The plan is about Africa's common and shared sustainable development problems and concerns. It is a body of collective responsibilities and actions that African countries adopt and will implement to maintain the integrity of the environment and ensure the sustainable use of their natural resources through partnerships with the international community. It provides an appropriate framework for the establishment of a strong partnership for the protection of the environment between Africa and its partners based on the commitments contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration (Document can be found at www.un.org)
(May 2002) |
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Blue Flag 
Green Key 
LeAF 
YRE
