RCE Cairo-2012

rce_proj_title
Submitted by RCEcairo on Mon, 2012-08-06 00:00
1. General Information
Contact Name(s): 
Hani Sewilam
Organizational Affiliation : 
RWTH Aachen
Role in the project: 
Project Coordinator
E-Mail Address(es): 
sewilam@lfi.rwth-aachen.de
Project-relevant information: 
http://www.educamp.eu/
2. Project Information
1. Project title: 
Education for Sustainable Development beyond the Campus
2. Project Description: 
In line with the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) and the Egyptian Education Reform Policy (2008-2010), this project aims to promote the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the Egyptian society. The project is the first initiative in Egypt that brings universities and schools together in a structured mechanism. One of the specific objectives is the establishment of seven Centers of Excellence inside the Egyptian universities to offer ESD services to schools.
To achieve the objectives, a consortium that represents different stakeholders was chosen, that have the required capacity and know-how. Therefore, the consortium includes 7 EG and 3 EU universities, 2 SMEs, 3 NGOs, 2 Ministries, and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Four Regional Centers of Expertise (RCE) on ESD which are members of the ESD Global RCEs Network are involved in this consortium. The two Education Ministries will ensure the successful implementation, access to schools, and project sustainability.
The direct target groups are the university professors & undergraduate students. The indirect beneficiaries are the schools, teachers, & children. The proposed mechanism enables transferring and sharing ESD knowledge and promoting SD in at least seven governorates including Cairo.
Summary of the Project EduCamp
3. Project Status: 
Ongoing
4. Key Words
Key Words: 
Poverty
5. Project categories
Project categories: 
Education
Research
Material production
6. Expected outcomes:: 
The specific objectives are:
a) establishing seven Centres of Excellence inside the Egyptian universities to offer ESD services
b) Developing ESD teaching kits for basic education
c) developing innovative ESD teaching methodologies for school children
d) developing and implementing a training of trainers programme for school teachers
e) constructing a virtual environment for sharing knowledge on ESD.

The expected results of the project are:
a) Educating teachers on ESD principles and develop capacity to apply activities in their teaching
b) Development of innovative teaching methods
c) 5 educational resource kits that link the existing curriculum with the surrounding world of the students and wie local problems
d) engaging schools and universities in a structured mechanism for collaboration
7. Duration of the Project:: 
October 2010 - October 2013
3. Project Leadership & Vision
8. Project coordination (e.g. teams): 
The project work plan consists of 9 work packages, each of which is headed by on of the project partners, who reports directly to the project coordinator. Each of the first 5 packages is aiming to achieve one of the five objectives. The other 4 packages are covering dissemination, sustainability, quality control & management. The leaders and partners responsible for each package have been carefully selected to achieve the planned 52 deliverables over the three years.
9. Leadership structure
a. Administration: 
2
b. Transactional: 
2
c. Transformational: 
6
4. Project results
10. Project results : 
What are the current results of the project in terms of Outcomes:
- Needs Analysis to identify the tasks and facilities of the Centers on ESD has successfully been carried out
- Terms of Reference for the establishment of the ESD Centers has been finished
- Assessment of the available rooms and infrastructure of the universities in order to assess the needs for further equipment to enable them to run the center
- Report on the Assessment of School Curricula for Grades 5 to 9
- Report on worldwide avaliable school ESD kits.
- development of about 250 activities in the areas of agriculture, biodiversity, water, energy, and general sustainability issues
- Trainee Selectio for the Training of Trainers Module and respective report
- 3 Trainings have been carried out so far: General Introduction to ESD, Thematic trainings on the biodiversity activities and the general sustainability activities
11. Contribution to reforms and innovations: 
The project contributes imensely on the organisational level. Since the resource kits are in line with the requirements of the Egyptian school curricula, they are immediately applicable by teachers and provide an innovative tool for the way topics are taught in school. At a later point of the project, when when the Center of Excellence are running scope of influence is even extended and thus the materials contribute to a reformed approach of teaching within the existing curricula.
13.Core Partners: 
1. RWTH Aachen University (Applicant/ Germany) 2. Karl-Franzens-University of Graz 3. University of Limerick (Ireland) 4. UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) 5. Centre of Studies, Information & Education for the Envirnment (CEIFA/ Portugal) 6. INGENIEURGESELLSCHAFT DR.ING. NACKENMBH (Germany) 7. Cairo University (Egypt) 8. Alexandria University (Egypt) 9. Suez Canal University (Egypt) 10. Fayoum University (Egypt) 11. Zagazig University (Egypt) 12. Heliopolis University (Egypt) 13. American University in Cairo (AUC/ Egypt) 14. Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt) 15. Ministry of Higher Education (Egypt) 16. Fayoum Governorate - Ministry of Education (Egypt) 17. SEKEM Development Foundation (SDF/ Egypt) 18. Wadi Environmental Science Centre (WESC/ Egypt) 19. Future Generation Foundation (Egypt) 20. The American-Mideast Education and Training Service (AMIDEAST/ Egypt)
5. Partnership and networking
14. Project Network
a. Information network: 
1
b. Knowledge network: 
2
c. Innovation network: 
7
6. Participation
15. Type of involvement: 
The consortium partners are closely working together in work groups for the development of the resource kits as well as in the other work packages. That way a vivid exchange of knowledge and ideas is assured.
16. Participation opportunities
a. Informational participation: 
4
b. Consultation participation: 
3
c. Decision influencing participation : 
3
7. Education & Learning
17. Educational activities: 
1. Training of Trainers Module: Professors of the 7 Egyptian partner universities are being trained on teaching teachers on how to implement the developed activities in their lessons.
2. Teacher trainings: after the ToT module and the establishment of the centers there will be a pilot implementation phase where the trainees develop their own strategies on how to transmit the content to the teachers. Teachers will learn about ESD and will be enabled to include interactive easy-to-use activities in their lessons.
18. Learning activities: 
Reflection between the project partners is ensured by by anually management meetings, where the status of the project as well as the tasks lying ahead are being evaluated.
19. Educational activities
a. Theory: 
5
b. Discussion: 
2
c. Interactive and Multidimensional "action oriented education": 
7
8. Research Integration
20. Research & Development (R&D): 
The task of developing the educational resource kits in the 5 thematic areas (biodiversity, energy, water, agriculture and general sustainability) was distributed among the partners. In order to develop state of the art activities, three steps were carried out. First the curricula of the grades 5 to 9 were examined closely in order to see where links to the 5 focus topics can be made. Secondly a report about the world wide available resource kits has been written to inform the involved partners about the state of the current practise. The partners had to carrie out research in the thematic area for which they developed the activities in order to make sure the activities are allinged to the real needs and challenges of the Egyptian context and in order to ensure the preparation of state of the arte activities.
21. Research partners: 
1. University of Limerick (Ireland)
2. RWTH Aachen University (Germany)
3. CEIFA Ambiente (Portugal)
4. Karl Franzens University Graz (Austria)
5. Alexandria University (Egypt)
6. Cairo University (Egypt)
7. American University in Cairo (Egypt)
8. Fayoum University (Egypt)
9. Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development (Egypt)
10. Suez Canal University
22. Description of research
a. Disciplinary: 
5
b. Interdisciplinary: 
2
c. Transdisciplinary: 
3
Type: 
Project Reports
Country: 
Egypt
Region: 
Africa and Middle East
Community: 
Higher Education
Issue: 
Higher Education
Country: 
Egypt