Transcript West Africa Rec CC Education

ELABORATION OF REGIONAL
RECOMMENDATIONS ON
CLIMATE CHANGE
EDUCATION
West Africa Regional Group
1. Needs for mainstreaming climate change
education and challenges faced
• Needs
– Comprehensive needs assessment must be undertaken to
identify gaps and areas for mainstreaming
– There are aspects of climate change in courses such as
Integrated Science in Ghana and Science in Benin. There
is the need for UNESCO and UNICEF to team up with
UNEP to apply for funds from GEF to assist countries to
mainstream climate change into existing curriculum and for
the development of training manuals and also to train
teachers.
– Existing curricula that currently do not have climate
change mainstreamed into them must be reviewed
– There is the need for proper institutional framework to
ensure effective mainstreaming
– A lot of emphasis is being placed on formal education.
Non-formal and informal education must also be
strengthened
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Challenges
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Poor intersectoral collaboration. For example in Ghana
and Benin the UNFCCC focal persons can be found in
the Ministries of Environment and there is poor
collaboration with the Ministries of Education.
Poor implementation of recommendations as a result
weak institutional framework.
No clear separation of institutions set up to coordinate
climate change activities and those set up to manage
climate change funds leading to conflicts and
duplication. Example in Mali
No dedicated funding for Article 6.
No committed funds from Governments.
Many interventions in climate change exist but most are
not anchored in national policies.
Technical nature of climate makes sometimes deters
some teachers. especially if it must be translated into
vernacular languages
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2. Specific opportunities from ongoing interventions
On-going reviews of existing curricula in education are
underway in a number of countries to incorporate climate
change.
Developing climate change policies to include climate
change education
Strategies exist in various ministries that can be used to
mainstreaming climate change. For example in Ghana
the Education policy reforms offers opportunities to
mainstream DRR/CCA
Governments are signatory to various international
conventions on CC and education which offer
opportunities to commit resources and seek support
Rich human resource base that can be harnessed. E.g.
teachers and other experts
Natural disasters create awareness on cc and also to
appreciate the severity and to act.
3. What form of partnership do you need to ensure
sustainable climate change education?
• Partnerships with:
– Traditional Authorities such as chiefs and queen
mothers
– Media houses
– Faith based orgs
– ECOWAS
– Major climate change centres eg African Centre of
Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD)
and Agriculture, Hydrology and Meteorology Centre
(AGRHYMET)
– Multilateral organisations
– Ministries of education in various countries