African Regional RCE Meeting 2018

8-10 August, 2018, Zomba, Malawi

The 8^th African RCE Meeting was held at the Chancellor College in Zomba, Malawi from 8^th – 10^th August, 2018. The meeting was hosted by RCE Zomba, with support from the United Nations Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), the Government of Malawi, the network LEAD, the University of Malawi, and Malawi Environmental Endowment Trust under the theme, ‘Upscaling the Impact of African RCEs in Actualising the SDGs’.

A total of 52 participants took part in the 3-day meeting, with over 15 presentations from 10 RCEs – RCE Minna, RCE Swaziland (eSwatini), RCE Zomba, RCE Zaria, RCE Greater Nairobi, RCE Lusaka, RCE Greater Yenagoa, RCE South Rift, RCE Greater Uganda, and RCE Buea; the RCE Advisors – Prof. Akpezi and Prof. Goolam; and, a representative from UNU-IAS, a postdoctoral fellow from the ESD project, Dr. Leticia dos Muchangos.

Representatives from the African RCEs and other institutions working on sustainability issues met to share experiences and discuss the ways towards amplifying the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) actions, to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, regional and global levels.

The main topics covered by the RCE presentations included the following themes:

• Communities creating and maintaining sustainable environments (urban and peri-urban management, ecosystems protection, health and nutrition)
• Cross-cutting and novel initiatives (technology use, gender issues, youth empowerment)
• Sustainable management of natural and waste resources (plastic waste management, participatory approaches, regulatory frameworks for the SDGs)

In addition, Dr. Chimère, Director General of the African Model Forests Network, facilitated a workshop introducing the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to the RCEs and the guidelines to get involved.

The last day of the meeting included site visits to the communities benefitting from the projects conducted by RCE Zomba and their partners.

Outcomes from the meeting are below, and a full recap of the meeting is available here. 

The meeting report from the host, RCE Zomba, is available here. 

Photos taken by Chancellor College (top left) and UNU-IAS (bottom right)

Programme:

8th African RCE Meeting Programme

Symposium on 'Upscaling the Impact of African RCE’s in Actualising SDGs', Workshop on Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Presentations:

*These materials have been prepared by the RCE listed beside each item. Its contents and features are the sole responsibility of the authors. For questions and comments please contact the authors.

Photos:

Photos from the meeting have been uploaded on Facebook here.