Eco-schools Programme – KOEE

Eco-Schools is an international programme developed by Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in 1994 for schools working on sustainability (environment & socio-economic development) issues. The programme is implemented in over 60 countries worldwide.

Eco-Schools’ mission is to empower students to be the change a sustainable world needs through fun and action-oriented activities. A fundamental value in the Eco-Schools programme is the promotion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). As a strategy for implementing ESD, the programme aims at achieving educational goals as well as sustainable development through schools as entry points to communities. Learn more about the international programme here https://www.ecoschools.global/

Eco-schools Kenya in particular responds to the Green Economy agenda through promotion of green enterprise development in schools and community. Eco-schools is implemented through the following themes: Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, Energy, Waste/Litter, Biodiversity, Sustainable transport, Healthy eating, sustainable agriculture, School grounds, Climate change, Sustaining our world, Global citizenship and Enterprise development.

Promoting Environmental Action-based Learning in Primary and Secondary Schools as a Tool for Development

The Eco-schools Programme has been implemented in Kenya since 2003, growing from a pilot of 12 schools, to over 1000 primary and secondary schools across Kenya as at 2019. The pilot phase was based on five key components of environmental action learning, namely environmental policy, cross-curriculum teaching and learning, micro-projects, school-community partnerships and networks. The main focus themes were water, energy, health, agriculture, biodiversity and waste. Crosscutting themes including HIV/AIDS, entrepreneurship, and disaster preparedness and management were also addressed. The pilot phase was funded by DANIDA and implemented in partnership with Danish Outdoor Council (DOC).

Eco-schools Value-based Education

The Eco-schools Programme introduced a value-based approach to promoting ESD in education as a measure to enhance sustainability. The flagship project was titled Faith-based Education for Sustainable Development (FBESD) developed in collaboration with the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) in 2010. The project aimed at delivering quality education that imparts knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that lead to a holistic development of the learners. The project used faith-based values from Christianity, Islam, Hindu and traditional African teachings, as instruments for entrenching faith-based values into ESD in schools, while promoting action for the environment with faith as the motivation. A total of 50 schools have been involved in the initiative. The project produced a faith-based ESD teacher’s toolkit for primary schools that illustrated an approach of solving society’s development issues using faith. The toolkit was subsequently approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) as a curriculum supplementary material in Kenya.

Eco-schools Litter Less Campaign Project

The Campaign started in Kenya in 2013 as part of the International Eco-schools Litter Less Campaign, sponsored by Wrigley Company Foundation. Its goal is to reduce litter and effect long-term positive behaviour change among youth. The main objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of the effect of litter on the local environment and wider community, increase student knowledge and practical skills in preventing and managing litter, collaborate with other schools to promote ESD, and influence others by communicating with them through multimedia and other channels. Over 45 schools have been reached so far in Kenya and over 3,000 students and 200 teachers have been involved in the Campaign. The Campaign activities include waste management initiatives tackling various types of waste within and around participating schools; community action days for schools to showcase their work to the surrounding community; and joint communication campaigns by schools through social media platforms to create awareness on issues of waste management. More recently, KOEE has teamed up with Mr Green Africa and Unilever East Africa in the Uturn Project – an initiative that is promoting plastics recycling enterprise through Eco-schools. There are 24 schools in Nairobi involved so far and the project is looking to scale up to at least 140 schools.

Green Enterprise Development in Schools

KOEE partnered with the Micro-Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT) to implement the Schools Green Challenge Project from September 2017 – July 2018. The project aimed at helping to transform schools into models of sustainability for communities. Its main objective was to inculcate a greening culture to youth in schools by mentoring and engaging them in hands-on green growth initiatives for sustainability of communities. The project was implemented in 12 primary Eco-schools from Kwale, Makueni, Embu, Kirinyaga, Bomet and Kisumu Counties. The project was financed by the Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya. The Ministry of Education-Directorate of Policy, Partnerships and East Africa Affairs was a technical partner.

A teacher’s guidebook on green enterprise development for schools in Kenya was developed in consultation with teachers from schools participating in the SGC, and the Ministry of Education.

Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project

KOEE implemented a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project in partnership with the Rotary Club of Nairobi between 2016 and 2019 under the Eco-schools Program in Vihiga County. The goal of the project was to improve access and reliable safe water in schools and community. The project entailed:

Sinking 4 simple wells in four primary schools in Vihiga County to enhance provision of water to ensure accessible safe water in schools.
Installing three 10,000 litres capacity water harvesting tanks in three schools together water harvesting system.
Building the capacity of school communities by installing a hand wash point in each of the seven schools; and
Building capacity of communities to practice sustainable water management, sanitation and hygiene through training.