Initiatives supporting participatory environmental and development education (including teaching and learning approaches)

Action Magazine    
http://www.action.co.zw/
   
Action is an environmental and health education project based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Through the format of a magazine, it researches, develops, and publishes education and training materials for children, teachers, and their communities. A high priority has been to develop locally relevant education materials with interesting, engaging activities that use available resources. In its efforts to make the magazine issues more accessible to the target group, Action carries out environmental education research, training of teachers on how to use the resources with pupils, and has back-up library and documentation services for teachers, researchers, community members and learners.

The Communication initiative          
http://www.comminit.com/

This site provides communication resources, with development focus.

Eco-Schools              
http://www.eco-schools.org/
            
Eco-Schools is a programme for environmental management and certification, and sustainable development education, for schools. Its holistic, participatory approach and combination of learning and action make it an ideal way for schools to embark on a meaningful path to improving the environments of schools and their local communities, and of influencing the lives of young people, school staff, families, local authorities, NGOs, etc. On this site, you will find out about the Eco-Schools programme generally, and links and contacts of national programmes. You can discover about some of the projects, and the partners and sponsors which help make it happen. There are news and newsletters, and a special area for schools, with ideas, projects, art and other submissions sent in by Eco-Schools.

Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit        
http://www.esdtoolkit.org/

The Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit will help schools and communities develop a process for creating locally relevant and culturally appropriate education. This Toolkit is based on the idea that communities and educational systems need to dovetail their sustainability efforts. Ideally, local educational systems can reorient existing curricula to reinforce local sustainability goals.

Future Forests         
http://www.fao.org/FORESTRY/fon/fonp/cfu/pub/earthbird/eb_00_e.stm
   
Future Forests is a package of environmental education materials that help young people learn the skills needed to work together so as to use their forests sustainably. Future Forests has been produced in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese and includes a 24-page colour cartoon magazine, a teacher’s guide, a classroom poster and a supplement for using Future Forests to teach English. Future Forests’ message is that we are all dependent on our forests and need to work together to ensure that there are forests in the future. The magazine teaches young people how to identify and analyse environmental problems in their community through learning by doing and then involve their neighbours, schools and government agencies in solving the problems. The Future Forests environmental education materials are being developed and implemented with the participation of partner organizations all over the world.

Helvetas Social Forestry Support Programme            
http://www.socialforestry.org.vn/

Provides information a source of data or sensory input, organized or arranged into a pattern which can be interpreted. on social forestry education programmes, approaches and technologies, including agroforesty.

Knowledge A complex construction of information and individual experience with an interrelatedsocial and environmental dimension. (N.B. many different interpretations of knowledgeexist, and this is one preferred in this Toolkit) centre for small-scale sustainable agriculture     
http://www.tool.nl/~agromisa/

Media for Development       
http://www.devmedia.org/

This site offers various media and materials related to development issues.

SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme           
http://www.sadc-reep.org.za/
           
The purpose of the Regional Environmental Education (EE) Programme is to enable environmental education practitioners in the SADC region to strengthen environmental education processes for equitable and sustainable environmental management choices. This will be achieved through enhanced and strengthened environmental education policy, networking, resource materials and training capacity.       
The SADC Regional EE Programme consists of four major components: policy, networking, resources and training.

Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future       
http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/
           
Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is a multimedia teacher education programme published by UNESCO. It contains 100 hours (divided into 25 modules) of professional development for use in pre-service teacher courses as well as the in-service education of teachers, curriculum a guide for learning which integrates the philosophy and orientation of a trainingprogramme, expected learning outcomes, key content, methodology and evaluation for the teaching and learning process. developers, education policy makers, and authors of educational materials. Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future is rooted in a new vision of education that helps students better understand the world in which they live, addressing the complexity and interconnectedness of problems such as poverty, wasteful consumption, environmental degradation, population, health, conflict and human rights that threaten our future. Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future will enable teachers to plan learning experiences that empower their students to develop and evaluate alternative visions of a sustainable future and to work creatively with others to help bring their visions of a better world into effect. It will also enhance the computer literacy of teachers and build their skills in using multimedia-based resources and strategies in their teaching.