What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country, for example)?
Investment in education is the foundation for developing a sustainable society. Since 1992, numerous initiatives for environmental education have been launched in the Middle East. Specifically, Jordan and Egypt have implemented educational reforms, updated their curricula, incorporated environmental education in formal and informal settings and created environmental initiatives.
One such initiative is the Arab Network for Environmental Education and Learning (ANEEL), a non-governmental organization with a mission to promote environmental education, which will lead to a better understanding of environmental issues, eventually increasing sustainability. The network is linked with the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (DVV International, 2013).
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
Environmentalists, scientists and educators of the Arab region collaborated to create the Arab Network for Environmental Education and Learning (ANEEL) in 2007. The network focuses on raising awareness of environmental issues in the Arab world, encouraging problem solving and developing better decision-making patterns that align with achieving sustainability. It creates, shares and exchanges programmes, curricula, courses and educational events concerning the environment.
The Egyptian Environmental Education and Outreach Programme (E3OP) concentrates on environmental education in primary and pre-schools, assessing and improving the existing materials and developing new ones.
Apart from distributing materials to schools directly, materials can also be delivered through the environmental education and outreach resource centre. Teachers are trained to encourage their students to take better care of the environment, analyse environmental issues, discuss them, initiate discussions and work towards finding solutions. Within the framework of the project, the centre prepared an Arabic-language journalism training curriculum and materials, published and distributed environmental education newspapers nationally and published numerous articles on environmental awareness in the Egyptian press (DVV International, 2013).
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
Stakeholders representing both the public and private sectors are involved in the design and implementation of this initiative. The Ministries of Education of countries of the Middle East, the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) work closely with schools, communities and public and private sector institutions. Organizations such as Friends of the Earth – Middle East (FoEME) support the initiative. Other stakeholders include environmentalists, scientists, educators and the media (DVV International, 2013).
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Who does it benefit and how?
The studies show that despite the availability of programmes concerned with environmental education, knowledge on and awareness of environmental impact is still scarce. Participants of the programme involved in different environmental activities demonstrated a better understanding of the environment and its conservation in more practical terms. However, their technical knowledge was limited. There were examples of apathy towards environmental issues; some participants expressed the view that taking care of the environment is the government’s problem; nevertheless, most were against littering. For certain groups of people with challenging economic backgrounds, a high unemployment rate was a bigger priority than environmental issues.
Interestingly enough, participants with higher incomes were not as environmentally aware as representatives with lower incomes expected them to be. The most environmentally conscious group was the middle-class youth. This group demonstrated more profound knowledge on global environmental problems than their peers representing other social classes. Personal experiences and various sources such as television and media provided the basis for their knowledge. Employment status was not connected to environmental awareness in the middle-class group since all test subjects demonstrated similar knowledge. The difference was in their attitude towards energy and water conservation – employed people received training on water and energy conservation, which positively impacted their perspective (DVV International, 2013).
References
DVV International, 2013. Adult Education and Social Change. [Online] Bonn, dvv international. Available at: https://www.dvv-international.de/fileadmin/files/ipe_67_final_web.pdf [Accessed 4 November 2021].