Africa Regional Initiatives

The Africa region launched the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) and its regional Strategy of Education for Sustainable Development for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSAESD)at the biennial meeting of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) at Libreville, Gabon, on 27-31 March 2006.  The Ministerial Statement of Commitment and Call for Support and Action on the SSAESD underlines the importance of ensuring that “African cultures, knowledge systems, languages, ways of life are integrated into frameworks, programmes and activities developed within the Decade”.

Networks
Eastern Africa Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Network
UNESCO-Nairobi is spearheading an Eastern Africa Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Network to support DESD and ESD activities in the Eastern Africa sub-region. This was launched with government representatives from six countries in the region. These include Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda. The ESD Network is a collaboration with National ESD Steering Committees and stakeholders in member countries of the sub-region. It intends to create an Eastern Africa Learning Space for Sustainable Development by translating the objectives of the Decade into the context of local communities in the sub-region. The Network's focus is on policy dialogue and strategic planning; vision-building, advocacy, public awareness; partnership-building; information-sharing such as exhibiting 'best ESD practices' and innovations; training and capacity-building; resource mobilization; research, monitoring and evaluation.
The Network has also set-up a clearinghouse to compile and share a database of expertise in the region, facilitate exchanges and cross-border dialogue and linkages to the global ESD learning space.

Consultations
Southern Africa sub-region

The Southern African Development Community's (SADC) Food, Natural Resources and Agriculture Directorate commissioned a regional consultation process to mobilise support for the UNDESD through its SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme. This involved country-based consultations in 14 southern African countries with major ESD Stakeholders (Ministries of Education, Environment and Natural Resources, Health, Energy, national NGOs, UNESCO country offices etc.) to establish possibilities for participating in the UN DESD. The countries include Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. This has led to the development of 4 consultation reports providing useful baseline information and inputs into the UN DESD. The reports were released in November 2006 and are available on the SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme website www.sadc-reep.org.

Southern African Guidelines for Participation In The United Nations Decade Of Education For Sustainable Development
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been in existence since 1980, when it was formed as a loose alliance of nine majority-ruled States in Southern Africa known as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), with the main aim of coordinating development projects in order to lessen economic dependence on the then apartheid South Africa. The founding Member States are: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Guidelines for Participation in the UN Decade for ESD  were developed through a broad-based consultative process involving local level consultations, a series of national level workshops in each country with key stakeholders; as well as international consultations over a two month period (July - August 2005). The guidelines serve as a regional level document, but can be applied to strengthen policy and practice at national and local levels. The guidelines draw on local, national and regional level experience and examples of practice, and will be developed for all sectors involved in education, training and development practices to further the aims of sustainable development in southern Africa.
The SADC Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Directorate commissioned the SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme to lead the process of developing the guidelines. In line with the UN Decade of ESD Implementation Plan, a range of educational groups and sectors active at all levels contributed to the guidelines. These include health education, gender education, environmental education, economic education, agricultural education, as well as groups concerned with Education for All and Literacy education, as these are all crucial areas for ensuring a more sustainable future for southern Africans.
The website www.sadc-reep.org provides the formats and guidance on local consultation in the form of a consultation tool kit, available in English, French and Portuguese. The website provides an interactive forum for ESD practitioners to share case examples and discuss on issues of concern to them.

South Africa DESD Framework for Action
The South African government (Department of Education) has initiated development of a Framework for Action for DESD.

Windhoek Southern Africa ESD Sub-regional Meeting, 27-30 November 2006
The sub-regional meeting organized by the UNESCO Headquarters and its offices at Dakar, Windhoek and Harare, with financial support from the Japanese ESD Funds-in-Trust, discussed and clarified the multi-sectoral dimensions of ESD, as related to environmental, economic, social, cultural and political issues and their implications for education (curriculum development, materials production, teacher training and policy making) in the Windhoek and Harare cluster countries. The meeting emphasised on the synergies between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Education for All (EFA), United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD), Education for HIV and AIDS (EDUCAIDS) and the African Union Second Decades of Education in Africa. The need to view these frameworks as complementary, and not as parallel or contradictory mechanisms was highlighted. UNESCO’s role in fostering the understanding of that link among policymakers and practitioners was viewed as crucial. The participants made a strong commitment to initiate or join in concrete Action Plans at national levels with support from their governments, the SADC Secretariat, UN agencies, the private sector, NGO and bilateral development partners. Each country agreed to identify a focal point and a lead institution for implementing DESD Action Plans. Participants also expressed the need for a monitoring and evaluation mechanism and the development of ESD indicators for the African Region.

Projects and Initiatives

Mainstreaming Environmental Education in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa (MESA)
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) together with its partners, drawing on experience gained from previous programmes of working with universities in Africa , and with universities worldwide, is supporting a partnership programme to mainstream environment and sustainability concerns into the teaching, research, community engagement and management of universities in Africa:
The MESA (Mainstreaming Environment & Sustainability into African Universities) Partnership includes the following:
• An Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Innovations short course developed and implemented by partners (to strengthen capacity to establish ESD innovations in universities);
• Seminars for university leaders
•  A biennial conference providing an opportunity for universities to report on ESD innovations associated with the university's triple mission of research, teaching and community engagement, and to engage in North-South dialogue; and
• Pilot programmes linking universities, communities and business and industry in sustainable development partnerships.
The MESA Universities Partnership strengthens UNEP's special focus on Africa and is constituted as a major contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). The MESA Universities Partnership also supports the New Partnership for Africa 's Development (NEPAD) environmental action plan and the objectives of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.
UNESCO Dakar in collaboration with UNEP is implementing MESA in partnership with the Association of African Universities in 15 francophone countries in the region. The MESA in francophone countries project involves translation of the MESA Universities Partnership - Education for Sustainable Development Innovations Course Toolkit and organizing a training of trainers workshop on the MESA kit. The project is being implemented by the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA).

The MESA Universities Partnership aims to enhance the quality and policy relevance of university education in Africa through the implementation of sustainability as an underlying topic in diverse curricula and as practice in all other aspects of university life. The overarching goal is to create a scientific knowledge base about Education for Sustainable Development in Africa, for all students and staff, and to develop action competence and awareness which will benefit the lives and careers of the direct programme participants.  (www.unep.org)