Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future.

Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Chapter 23
The Importance of Local Initiatives and Partnerships
in Education for Sustainability

Talia Raphaely
Sustainably Speaking and
Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University

Ron Boucher
Geraldton Greenough Regional Council (GGRC)

1. Introduction
In March 2005, the Geraldton Greenough Regional Council (GGRC) commenced an
ongoing Waste Reduction and Environmental Activities Grants (WREAGP)
Programme to assist and encourage schools in the Midwest of Western Australia to
embark on, continue, or expand local sustainability education initiatives.

The GGRC is a statutory local government authority established in 1990 by the City
of Geraldton and the Shire of Greenough to plan, coordinate and implement the
removal, processing, treatment, recycling, minimisation and disposal of waste.
Understanding that waste minimisation and recovery concerns sustainability, and
recognising that schools in the region have few resources for new initiatives, GGRC
has chosen to take some responsibility for partnering ESD by providing support and
grants to assist schools undertake sustainability projects and programmes with local
applicability and value. The GGRC manages the Meru Waste Disposal and Recycling
Facility, which is used by a number of Midwest local councils and grants are available
to all schools in these shires. Regional schools currently participating include those in
Greenough, Geraldton, Mingenew, Chapman Valley, Dongara and Northampton,
ensuring the development of a comprehensive regional network of sustainability
initiatives.

The Midwest is currently the sixth largest of nine regions in Western Australia and
with a high projected population growth will be the fourth largest by 20261. Its
population has been increasing steadily over the past 20 years and at June 2005 was
estimated to be just over 50,000, making it 2.5% of the total state population.
Communities are unevenly dispersed with the City of Geraldton and the Shire of
Greenough accounting for more than 65% of the regions total population. The region
comprises a diverse industry base including a world leading rock fishery, agriculture
and gold production, mining and resources industries, fishing, construction and
tourism. Geraldton, a port city situated on the unique Batavia Coast, is the
administrative centre, located just over 400 kilometres from metropolitan Perth. With
its emphasis on fishing, agriculture, mining and resources, construction and eco-
tourism, the Midwest clearly has very specific and important sustainability foci.

To date the Waste Reduction and Environmental Activities Grants Programme

(WREAGP) has over 20 participating schools. During the 2004/2005 financial year
the GGRC donated more than $11,500.00 in cash grants, worm farms and compost
bins to schools, followed by a further $8,500.00 in 2005/2006. The Grants

1
Source of data: http://www.mwdc.wa.gov.au/default.asp?documentid=18, accessed 25.09.2006
204
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Programme will continue in 2007 and beyond in order to continue supporting ongoing
education for sustainable development (ESD) in the region.

This paper describes the model and guiding principles used in the design and
implementation of the Geraldton Greenough Regional Council WREAGP. It briefly
illustrates the value and importance of local level sustainability education initiatives
using a number of case studies to describe the Programmes application and
progress to date.

2. Programme Approach
Using participatory methodologies and approaches, the WREAGP supports and
facilitates locally relevant, hands-on, transformative, creative, non-traditional
education that engages learners in new ways of conceiving, being and exploring the
relationships between their lives, the environment and social systems in a way that
enables them to become actively involved, and ultimately decision-makers, in an
ongoing change process towards sustainable regional lifestyles and communities.

Based on an iterative implementation model of continual improvement (informed by

LA21 and ISO 14001), a number of guiding principles underpin the Grants
Programme including:
Transformative education
Local is best
Encouragement and support
Value for all stakeholders and
Promoting and encouraging partnerships that assist development of a regional
network for sustainability education, a shared vision and greater sense of unified
regional purpose.

These are individually discussed in more detail further in this chapter.

Conceptually, the approach, particularly the principle of transformative action, can

be loosely fitted into a framework of education for change. Projects encouraged and
supported by the WREAGP in one way or another reflect the daily lives of the
community and create opportunities for education and learning for, as and through
social action (Whelan, 2005: 117). For example students from Walkaway Primary
School, a small rural school situated in the heart of agricultural territory, have
received a grant to develop school food gardens using only organic fertilisers and
permaculture principals. Most, if not all, of the students are from farming
backgrounds using extensive artificial fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and related
intensive farming practices. The initiative engages the whole school and broader
school community in more sustainable agriculture options and in so doing
encourages change amongst present and future farmers.

Understanding the pressures and time constraints faced by teachers, and

recognising that bureaucracy is often a disincentive, paperwork and administrative
requirements for grant application are deliberately nominal. Albeit that the paperwork
is simple, GGRC offers and provides assistance in completing grant applications.
205
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Overall, the paperwork, particularly with a clear project concept, should take schools
no more than 30 minutes to complete.

Grants are allocated annually and amounts awarded vary based on the projects
value and merit in terms of meetings the goals and objectives of the WREAGP.
Grants awarded to date are in the range of AU$300 to AU$ 2000. All schools are
invited to apply or reapply each year and are eligible to receive ongoing funding
either to continue existing programmes or to start new ESD projects.

All schools participating in the WREAGP automatically receive free compost bins and
worm farms and are able to use these within the scope of the Grants Programme or
simply as an additional resource at the school.

3. Programme Objectives
The WREAGP has a number of objectives including:
Encouraging the conservation of resources and energy through waste
reduction and recycling
Supporting and encouraging viable alternatives to landfill disposal of waste
Creating awareness of our environment
Enhancing understanding of the interactions between humans and their
environment and the outcomes and impacts (positive or negative) of such
interactions and
Providing educational material, field trips and programmes that assist in
developing community awareness in recycling and waste reduction or/and a
greater understanding of the importance and value of bio-diversity.

Grants are accordingly awarded to initiatives that are geared towards:

Achieving waste reduction, recycling or a reduced impact of waste on the
environment
Developing learning tools for environmental awareness and understanding
Engaging people in new ways of seeing, thinking, learning, working and
exploring the relationships between their lives, the environment and social
systems
Facilitating change and transformation and
Instilling knowledge that facilitates better choices and more sustainable
lifestyles.

All participating schools are asked to share the process and outcomes of their funded
initiative(s) in writing to the Geraldton Greenough Regional Council, and to be willing
to share ongoing information with other schools undertaking the same or similar
projects. A booklet, Snapshots of schools in the Midwest: Working together to make
a difference, describing and documenting the ESD stories within the region was
produced initially at the end of the Programmes first year (December 2005). It
documents and celebrates the sustainability initiatives of regional teachers and
students and hopes to encourage and assists those starting or continuing similar

206
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

processes. The booklet will be published bi-annually to facilitate an environment

where the stories and actions of schools and communities working together towards
a more sustainable world become increasingly commonplace, both within the
regional community and beyond.

4. Underlying Programme Principles

Earlier on, the five key guiding principles that inform the ongoing development and
implementation of the Grants Programme were mentioned. These are individually
expanded on and discussed below:

1) Transformative education
The Grants Programme recognises that education for sustainable development calls
for additional and different processes than those thought of and used in traditional
education. Education for sustainable development is not simply another term for
environmental education (EE) and although EE is an integral component of ESD,
ESD is more holistic in its approach and in the diversity of the issues covered
(UNESCO, 2006: 8). Accordingly, the Grants Programme encourages initiatives that
support a transformative role for education in which students, teachers and schools
are embarking on new ways of seeing, thinking, learning, doing, exploring and
understanding the relationships between their lives and the environment. In keeping
with UNESCOs Decade for Education for Sustainability, in addition to the usual
environmental, economic and social pillars, culture is also recognised as a crucial
component of ESD (UNESCO, 2006). In essence, the Grants Programme supports
creative projects that empower students to collectively learn to live, think and behave
more sustainably and to recognise what is of value and thus important to maintain
and what needs to change. In keeping with concepts of popular education, project
content is preferably anchored to the daily lives and interests of participants in order
to encourage collective social change and action (Whelan, 2005).

2) Local is best
The second key philosophical foundation and guiding principle of the Programme is
that sustainability initiatives are most likely to succeed if they are locally conceived,
implemented and supported rather than relying on the ongoing input and assistance
of outside experts or externally designed initiatives. Teachers and schools are thus
encouraged to self-organise and embark on activities they determine are feasible
and valuable. As ESD is ultimately a learning process for everyone involved,
including teachers, schools, students, funders and regional government, rather than
providing ready-made education solutions, the Grants Programme asks schools to
create and implement projects they feel are appropriate and relevant to their
particular and unique environment and context. This is in keeping with the basic
premise of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) that
locally designed initiatives provide an effective and cost effective way to achieve
local, national and global sustainability objectives1. Increasingly, implementation of
ESD is showing that locally designed or adapted programmes, that fit local
circumstances, are proving highly effective, more so than simply rubber-stamping the
same, centrally-designed and then widely distributed programme into multiple
contexts (Barab and Luehmann, 2003).

1
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=global-about-iclei, accessed 25.09.2006
207
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Schools thus design and chose their own sustainability initiatives and GGRCs role is
wholly supportive, enabling and facilitating assisting with funding, related publicity,
network and partnership building and providing other sorts of input and help as
needed.

To assist such local activity, the Grants Programme uses Participatory Action
Research (PAR) methodologies, a 3-pronged activity that integrates social
investigation, educational work and action to address or deal with specific problems
(Hall, 1984). PAR is also an anthropological approach that enables people to find
answers to their unrealised capabilities and potentials (De Oliveira and De Oliveira,
1975), encouraging action and in keeping with the premise that ESD calls for non-
traditional, innovative and new ways of looking at learning and living.

In furthering the belief that local is best, basing the Grants Programme in PAR
methods and approaches (Hall, 1984; Van Vlaenderen, 2004; OFallon and Dearry,
2004):
Ensures projects are community-driven and thus relevant
Fosters co-learning
Understands that analysis of the local problem must be linked to the larger
structural issues
Understands that knowledge is deepened, enriched, and made more socially
usable when it is produced collectively
Ensures cultural appropriateness and relevance and
Involves a combination of methods designed to facilitate social, cooperative,
and collective production and application of knowledge.

3) Encouragement and support

Given the approach and methodology of PAR, the Grants Programme never tells
schools or selects what projects work best and should be undertaken. Teachers and
students must chose their own sustainability initiatives and GGRCs role is a
facilitating one never directing but rather assisting and providing input and help as
needed. Making it possible for community members to participate and direct in this
way, enables them to better articulate and understand their problems and to initiate
the search for solutions to these problems (Anyanwu, 1988: 12). The approach is
thus well suited for community development, an essential component in education
for sustainability and a process which has been defined as aiming to develop
responsible local leadership, to inculcate a spirit of civic consciousness, to initiate
self-sustaining, self-generative and enduring processes of growth; to enable people
to establish and maintain cooperative and harmonious relationships and to bring
about self-chosen changes in the life of communities (Anyanwu, 1988; 11).

4) Value for all stakeholders

The Grants Programme strives to facilitate and support the development of new
attitudes and values within schools and the broader regional community that will
inspire and guide decision-makers of the present and the future. Through maintaining
ongoing contact and communication with all participating schools, the Grants
208
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Programme aims to ensure all projects have ongoing and increasing value to all local
stakeholders, including teachers, students, school communities and the region as a
whole (UNESCO, 2006). This is essential for promoting the mood of cooperation that
must underpin any widespread effort towards sustainability (McKeown, 2002) and for
ensuring that programmes are directly and locally, as well as more broadly, relevant
and appropriate (Nguyen, 2004). It is also important for encouraging the necessary
social change and action needed for increasingly sustainable lifestyles.

5) Promoting and building partnerships

The Grants Programme specifically seeks to build and promote partnerships and to
provide opportunities to create and consolidate a shared vision and a greater sense
of unified regional purpose for sustainability. Schools generally interact with
government services, industry groups, NGOs, the media and other organisations.
Often these organisations come to schools with their own perspectives and there is
usually little, if any, link between the various sustainability projects. So in order to
maximise the collective impact of the various local sustainability initiatives (past,
present and future), and to work synergistically in a unified direction, it is crucial to
develop and promote partnerships and build synergies at the community level
(Bessette, 2006).

5. The Grants Process: Continual Improvement

Recognising that the journey towards sustainability has no preordained, tried, tested
or previously mapped-out route, the WREAGP uses an iterative model to ensure
ongoing development and improvement through a continual and cyclic process of
planning, implementing, monitoring, reviewing and evaluating (see Figure 1). This
model is adapted from the ISO 14000 Family of Standards for Environmental
Management Systems (EMS)1. It also draws on aspects of LA21 (Srinivas, n.d).
Figure 1. GGRC grants programme model

1
http://www.p2pays.org/iso/emsisofaq.asp, accessed 25.09.2006
209
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

During Phase 1: Planning, GGRC plans and considers the direction and parameters
of the WREAGP for the next 12-month period taking into account any feedback from
experience, consultation, review and evaluation. Any directional changes,
approaches and objectives are clarified and consolidated.

During this phase, GGRC also contacts and assists schools in planning their new or
ongoing ESD project(s) for the year. Current or planned activities and projects are
discussed, areas for grants are identified and the necessary paperwork is completed.
This feeds into and further informs the planning process defining the Grants
Programmes direction and expedites and streamlines the process both for schools
as grant recipients and for GGRC as the grant administrators.

During Phase 2: Implementing, grants are awarded and schools begin or continue
their sustainability activities. GGRC is available to provide support and to facilitate
the projects as required.

Phase 3: Ongoing Implementing, Liaising, Supporting and Monitoring: Here the focus
is on maintaining contact and liaising with each participating school in order to
facilitate grant use, assist where necessary, provide ongoing support and monitor
progress in order to understand the journey and reconsider, amend and change
initiatives as appropriate to achieve desired project outcomes. Whilst this is ongoing
throughout, Phase 3 also specifically concentrates on the ongoing process of
partnership building and consolidation for individual and collective sustainability.

Phase 4: Assessing and Reviewing: During this component, GGRC and the
participating schools together assess and review whether the Grants Programme has
been successful, addressing, amongst other questions, the following considerations:
Have schools achieved desired and stated outcomes?
Have grants been used as intended and if not, why not and what does this
indicate?
Do stakeholders consider activities have been a success and how would they
improve or change things in the future?
Are activities ongoing? If yes, why? If not, why not?

Phase 5: Evaluating and Reporting documents the assessment and review outcomes
and discusses whether the Grant Programme is achieving its short, medium and
longer-term goals and maintaining ongoing value and relevance to sustainability
education. Lessons learnt are explored and described, together with
recommendations for incorporation back into Phase 1, Planning.

6. Examples of Initiatives
Examples of some projects currently underway at participating schools are briefly
described in the table below. The wide range of initiatives illustrates the creativity and
transformative value of programmes being developed and implemented and more
importantly, the value of ESD initiatives thinking globally but acting locally using
local skills, resources and relevance. All the projects described (see Table 1)
demonstrate achievement of the WREAGP goals. They meet the following
Programme objectives:
210
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Achieving waste reduction, recycling or a reduced impact of waste on the

environment;
Developing learning tools for environmental awareness and understanding;
Engaging people in new ways of seeing, thinking, learning, working and
exploring the relationships between their lives, the environment and social
systems;
Facilitating change and transformation; and
Instilling knowledge that facilitates better choices and more sustainable
lifestyles.
Table 1. Sustainable Initiatives funded by WREAGP, 2003-2004
School ESD initiatives funded by WREAGP
Allendale Extended a successful organic garden project by developing another
Primary garden box and enlarging the shade house and potting shed to
School enable whole classes to participate in potting cuttings and seedlings
and to undertake investigations into composing and worm farming
activities. The whole school was involved in a variety of ways in
these activities. The project is ongoing
Beachlands Developed a swale (using funding from a Federal grant) to capture
Primary water previously lost from sumps, rainfall, road run-off, dew and fog.
School The School needed a Peizometer to gather evidence and
understand what is occurring in the underground watertable and
related information and data. The project is ongoing, the whole
school is involved, and, results will be shared Australia-wide.
Younger classes undertake a range of composting and waste
reduction activities using compost bins and worm farms during Balay
Mayu (kids time).
Bluff Point Built a shade house for ongoing vegetable production using compost
Primary made from lunchtime food scraps processed in GGRC-supplied
School compost bins and worm farms. A number of students who are
involved in the Gardening Club as a result of the Schools Behaviour
Management and Discipline Strategy are also active participants in
the related activities and this has proven beneficial. The project is
ongoing.
Chapman Using gardening equipment and materials funded by the grant are
Valley improving the school fruit and vegetable gardens and creating native
Primary gardens to encourage wildlife. The school also undertakes a range
School of composting and worm farming activities and, as part of the Grants
Programme, are re-vegetating and maintaining the local tip.
Dongara Received grants for a water tank and materials and plants to
District High establish a unique, local, water wise garden, the creation of which
School included participation from the broader community. The garden,
organics recycling and water management projects are ongoing.
Students throughout the school are also involved in a organic waste
recovery projects related to their worm farms and compost bins.
Geraldton Vegetated and stabilised bare ground around a trial eco-lake and set
Grammar up compost bins and worm farms to support a horticulture plot using
School permaculture plants and principles.Both projects are ongoing.
211
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Holland Requested a reliable, safe paper shredder to be used as part of

Street School students vocational education and work-readiness competencies
preparation whilst simultaneously raising awareness amongst the
school community of the need for recycling, sustainability and
environmental respect and care. The paper-shredding activities at
the school are managed as a business providing needed funding for
the students and involving the wider Geraldton community. Arts and
crafts made from the shredded paper are sold as an additional
business activity.The project is growing and getting stronger.
Mingenew Started a business, SOS, Save Our Society producing, packaging,
Primary marketing and selling garden wine from worm and compost farms.
School They have also adopted and rehabilitated a local park, raising
student and community awareness of a local heritage, cultural and
environmental asset. Due to the success of SOS, the school has
used a fraction of their grant money. The projects are ongoing.
Northampton Created an organic garden incorporating composting and worm
District High farming. They are also restructuring the school grounds so they are
School more nature-friendly and water-wise. A particularly local project
facilitated by the grant is studying, mapping and promoting a natural,
pristine site close to the school to enable cross-cultural activities
about traditional sites and ensure the pristine bushland area is
identified, demarcated, conserved. Projects are ongoing.
Strathalbyn Received a grant to develop and study the benefits of permaculture
Christian and, particularly, the use of organic fertilisers (compost) and the
College importance of water management (through trialling a range of
techniques). Produce from the highly productive gardens are sold to
the community with a portion of the income donated to a school in
Indonesia. The project is ongoing and growing.
St Lawrence Adopted 3 endangered animals from Perth Zoo to research lifestyle
Primary and habitat, understand the dangers of habit destruction, species
School extinction and human impacts on the environment, write to the
relevant authorities, network with conservation groups and suggest
ways of increasing numbers.
Waggrakine Focusing on the creation and maintenance of an organic garden
Primary using compost and worm-farm fertiliser from school waste/resource
School recovery to produce organic vegetables.
Walkaway Created and are maintaining a large, organic vegetable garden box
Primary using fertiliser produced in their compost bin and worm farm.
School Particularly illustrates the value of acting locally in ESD as most, if
not all, of the students at Walkaway Primary come from farming
families extensively using artificial fertilisers. Recognising that high
quality fruit and vegetables can be produced using natural fertilisers
has the potential for a far-reaching paradigm shift. This ongoing
initiative is consciously encouraging change through example in a
rural agricultural area.

7. Conclusion
The variety of initiatives created and currently underway as a result of the WREAGP
illustrates the value of acting locally using local skills, resources and relevance.
Collectively and regionally, the initiatives are likely to have as much, if not a greater,
212
Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

impact on the quest for sustainability than traditional projects that are designed and
managed by remote control. Working closely with regional schools and teachers,
GGRCs Grants Programme aims to facilitate an evolving and continually
strengthening regional network for sustainability education that will benefit all those
involved individually and as a community. As described by GGRCs chairperson
Councillor John Sewell:

The Grants Programme is GGRCs commitment to ensuring that

sustainability education initiatives are supported in a way that facilitates,
promotes and instils at an early age, the necessary values, attitudes and
behaviours to ensure a good place to live now and into the future. We are
all stakeholders and although each of our expectations and needs may
differ we will all feel the impact of the relative success or failure of such
initiatives. Circumstances, needs, realities and experiences are often
unique to particular areas and places. A strong partnership between local
government and regional schools has the potential to develop these in a
way that targets local sustainability considerations in a hands-on, tangible,
meaningful way. Such partnerships will make a difference locally, and
ultimately globally, shaping us all and ensuring that now and into the future
we all benefit from the grassroots groundwork that is being laid.
(Personal communication, 2005)

References

Anyanwu, C.N. (1988). The technique of participatory research in community

development. Community Development Journal, 23, 1115.

Barab, S.A., & Luehmann, A.L. (2003). Building sustainable science curriculum:
Acknowledging and accommodating local adaptation. Science Education, 87,
454467.

Bessette, G. (2006). Facilitating dialogue, learning and participation in natural

resource management. In Bessette, G. (Ed.), People, land and water:
Participatory development communication for natural resource management
(pp. 331). London: Earthscan and the International Development Research
Centre.

De Oliveira, R.D., & De Oliveira, M.D. (1975). The militant observer. Geneva: Institute
d'Action Cultural (IDAC Document 9).

Hall, B. (1984). Research, commitment and action: The role of participatory research,
International Review of Education, 30(3), 289299.

McKeown, R. (2002). Education for sustainable development toolkit, Version 2.

Energy, Environment and Resources Centre: University of Tennessee.

Nguyen, H. T. (2004). Stakeholder analysis in development of environmental

education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) in schools of
Vietnam: New approaches and case studies. In UNESCO/Japan Asia Pacific

213
 Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in
action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Environmental Education Research Seminar. http://www.eec.miyakyo-u.ac.jp/

APEID2004/pdf/Nguyen.pdf (accessed 04.12.06).

OFallon, A. A., & Dearry, L. R. (2002). Community-based participatory research as a

tool to advance environmental health sciences. Environmental Health
Perspectives, 110, 155159.

Srinivas, H. (n.d), Localising Agenda 21. http://www.gdrc.org/uem/la21/x-planning.

html (accessed 04.12.06).

United Nations Education and Scientific Cooperation Organisation (UNESCO)

(2006). Education for sustainable development, United Nations Decade 2005
2014. Highlights on progress to date. Paris: UNESCO.

Vlaenderen, H.V. (2004). Community development research: Merging communities of

practice. Community Development Journal, 39, 135143.

Whelan, J. (2005). Popular education for the environment: Building interest in the
educational dimension of social action. Australian Journal of Environmental
Education, 21, 117128.

_______________________________________________
Author Email: T.Raphaely@murdoch.edu.au or
sustainablyspeaking@westnet.com.au

214

The author has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate.