Consultation
Environmental Education Resource Pack for Child-friendly Schools
1 August, 2007Yaounde, Cameroon
Donna L. GoodmanProject ManagerEnvironment and Young People
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Outline
• Environment and the MDGs?• Children and environment – what is the relationship?• What are child-friendly school and community
environments?• Physical/facilities based challenges and solutions• Participatory methodologies and curriculum• Children’s degree of control over decisions: dimensions,
standards, indicators (plotting examples)• Impact, sustainability and institutionalisation of children’s
participation
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Millennium Development Goals
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Target 9: To integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
Target 10: To halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
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MDG 7Targets 9 & 10
8. Global Partnerships
1. Poverty and Hunger
Linkages with other MDGs
3. Gender equality
4. Reduced child
mortality
6.Combating disease:
(HIV, malaria...)
2. Universal primary
education
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Unsafe water
Poor hygiene and sanitation
Air pollution – indoor and outdoor
Disease vectors
Chemical hazards
Injuries and accidents
EMERGING ISSUES – such as :
Climate/global change and its various consequences
Environmental challenges
to children
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Unsafe water
Poor hygiene and sanitation
Chemical hazards
Ambient Air pollution
Indoor Air pollution
Disease vectors
Injuries and accidents
CLIMATE – GLOBAL CHANGE
WHERE ARE THE MAIN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL WHERE ARE THE MAIN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISKS?HEALTH RISKS?
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COMPLEX, INTERRELATED PROBLEMS,
REQUIRING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES
AND
JOINTLY COORDINATED INTERVENTIONS
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Environmental Education Resource Pack for Child-friendly Schools
Child-centred solutions
• School environment: gender, current situation (ie: drought, flood, access to water? toilets?)
• Technical solutions: rainwater harvesting; solar or wind generated electricity and water pumps; toilets; school gardens; trees; waste disposal; watershed cleanups
• Lesson plans: what do these solutions have to do with my life? (lifeskills based, cooperative learning)
• Methodologies, guidelines: participatory tools, training for teachers, youth leaders, peer-to-peer
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Voices of Youth…
“We, as children and young people pledge to be involved in designing, implementing and evaluating child managed water and sanitation projects and other initiatives.”
(Children’s Water Manifesto, Kyoto Japan March 2003)
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Why should children participate in WES?
Convention on theRights of the Child
“To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene, environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents.”
Article 24, 2 (e)
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Participatory exercise
• What can individual children do to help create better environments at home, school or in the community?
• What can two or three children do?
• What can a group of children do?
• What can adults do to support you?
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How can children contribute?Many ways are possible; very few involve the stereotype of Children Delivering Messages. In the simplest analysis we can think of …
One child Pass(es) knowledge to younger child/children at home or in school
Two or three
Children
Teach skills to same age child/children at home or in school
A group of children Demonstrates by example to
their family/families
Works
together with
the community
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• Children in families
• Children as information gatherers
• Children in groups as a force with school and community.
• Children as spreaders of mass information
What are some of the most common ways in which ‘Children for Environment’ approaches play out: ?
The latest methodology often combines these.
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Family
School
National
Intergovernmental/Global
Ministry ofEnvironment
Community
Gender-sensitive lifeskillseducation
Tree planting
Communityclean-ups
Activities
Renewable energysolutions
Green schoolsconstruction
Participatory tools
HIV/AIDS,Malaria,Cholera
Mes
sen
ger
of b
ehav
ior
chan
ge
Gender&
ExclusionSchool gardens
ClimateChange
Deforestation
Rainwater harvesting
Professionaldevelopment
EcologicalSanitation
BiodiversityEcosystems
IndoorOutdoor
Air Pollution
Ministry of
Education
Government
Policies
United Nations
NG
Os,
CB
Os
Kyoto Protocol
Dec
ade
of W
ater
for
Life
Montreal Protocol
Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development
International Yearof Sanitation
Convention on theRights of the Child
Private Sector
PoorHygiene
&Sanitation
EndangeredWatersheds
Lack ofAccess
to Water
Other r
elevant
Ministri
es
Lack ofenergy
Clean-up ofstagnant water
Provision ofbednets
Sexual reproductivehealth educ.
OUTCOMES• Environmentally-aware and empowered children
• Children, families and communities prepared for environmental emergencies
• Healthy/sanitary environments support improved learning capabilities
• Gender equality
• ‘Green’ schools
• Reduced vulnerability to climate change related risks
• Restored watershed areas
• Reforested, stabilized environments
Legend: •Triangle: Threats•Software/participatory solutions: Green•Hardware/environmental solutions: Blue
MDG
s
Educa
tion
for A
ll
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Young people’scontrol over
decisions
Better services by consulting young people
Buildingcapacities ofyoung people
Young people’scontributions
Young peoplehave information
for survival
Young people’s participation in
WES
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Children’s access to environment-related information
• Children who have access to information about water, environment and sanitation are better able to survive and to protect themselves.
• Information is essential for children to realise their right to survival. Where children are denied access to information about health matters, their survival is put at risk.
• It is the responsibility of governments, teachers and the education system, parents, community and religious leaders, the media and the private sector to ensure that children and young people have access to this vital information.
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Develop children’s capacities
• Children who are able to express themselves and are being listened to at home and in school learn and develop better. They develop an interest in their own health and will take better care of themselves and others
• If adults listen to children, give them time to articulate their concerns, provide them with appropriate information, children will acquire the confidence and ability to contribute to their own environment. It encourages children to take more responsibility.
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Consulting children
• Research and assessment results are better if they are based on information from children and adolescents
• Consulting children leads to better understanding of children’s own environmental and health-related needs and concerns
• Water, environment and sanitation services are better if children and young people have control over their design, operation and maintenance
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Dimensions, standards and indicators
Impact of child and youth participation and degree of children’s control over decisions
Sustainability and institutionalization of children’s participation
Quality of children’s participation
Costs of children’s participation
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Children’s citizenship
Children’s participation rights
Child and adolescent development
Governance
Informationfor and bychildren
Expression,opinions
Children’s skills& capacities
Decisionmaking
ServiceContributionsResponsibility
Child-ledorganizations
Child and adolescent participation
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Thank you
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