Participatory Materials Development in Rural Zambia

The World Wide Fund for Nature Zambia Education Programme (WWF ZEP) has been implementing and supporting environmental education activities in selected rural communities in Zambia for more than ten years. These activities have been developed in support of recent environmental policies in Zambia. The aim of these programmes has been to develop the capacity of communities to manage natural resources sustainably in context, and to identify alternative strategies of resource management and use in order to alleviate poverty. This paper provides insight into ways in which community members in Chieftainess Chiawa’s area (a community context in rural Zambia) participated in the development of learning resources in response to environmental issues that affected their livelihoods. Members of this community firstly identified the environmental issues affecting them, their causes and effects. They then explored ways of mitigating these issues by developing posters that would be used in a community environmental education programme. The posters were developed through participatory processes, using an action research orientation and process, with support from WWF ZEP. A number of insights associated with participatory materials development processes in community contexts emerged from this research. They include the role of the existing social and political structures, ethnicity, language and literacy, local knowledge, the roles of different actors, and decision making and power relationships in a community context

Underlying Mechanisms Affecting Institutionalisation of Environmental Education Courses in Southern Africa

This paper discusses the underlying causal mechanisms that enabled or constrained institutionalisation of environmental education in 12 institutions in eight countries in southern Africa. The study was carried out in the context of the Southern Africa Development Community Regional Environmental Education Support Programme’s Course Development Network (CDN). This paper reports on part of the author's doctoral study and draws on critical realism as the ontological lens. Data analysis was done by means of a retroductive mode of inference, as articulated by Danermark, Ekström, Jakosben and Karlsson (2002). The paper demonstrates that there are a number of underlying causal mechanisms, which may enable or constrain institutionalisation of environmental education. They include factors at play at both national and institutional level; namely, responsiveness to national and institutional needs, recognition and ownership, accreditation and certification, institutional culture and politics, short course support structure and support from colleagues. As part of the discussions of the results of the study, I have advanced some retroductive theories that suggest causal mechanisms beyond the empirical data based on the participants’ experiencesand events in the CDN

Viewpoint: Responding to Risks and Vulnerability Issues Through Interdisciplinary Curricular Teaching- A case example from the University of Zambia

This paper emerges from a keynote presentation at the School of Education, Department of Teacher Education of the University of South Africa Research Indaba in September 2010. The paper introduces the concepts of risks and vulnerability by means of two examples of what happens when development ignores social and environmental impacts. Specifically, it introduces risks and vulnerability in the context of the construction of the Kariba Dam between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and informal settlements in South Africa. It examines what is meant by interdisciplinary approach to curriculum teaching in responding to risks and vulnerability issues. The discussion of interdisciplinary teaching draws on the experience of the University of Zambia which introduced an interdisciplinary taught environmental education undergraduate degree programme. The case of the University of Zambia provides insights into interdisciplinary curricular teaching in environmental and sustainability education. The paper further provides the basis for critical reflections and recommendations on interdisciplinary curricular teaching as a response to risks and vulnerability

Methodological Decisions in Context: The Dilemmas and Challenges of Novice African Scholars

This paper emerges out of a panel discussion during a PhD week and subsequent 8th International Environmental Education Invitation Seminar held at Rhodes University in 2004 and 2005 respectively. It illuminates some insights into our struggles (as novice African researchers) in trying to respond to contextual realities as we research education and social change in African contexts, seeking insight into what counts as legitimate research in this context. The paper considers our struggles at conceptual, methodological, analytical and data generation levels, and in a politics of research. This is done by means of examples drawn from five current doctoral research projects being undertaken in east and southern African regions, using a review framework that represents fairly common dimensions of PhD research. We conclude that research, when defined rigidly within research disciplines/paradigms (as have been defined in some – primarily Western – research trajectories) may fail to take into account African social and contextual realities when applied uncritically. We argue that there is need for researchers in Africa to consider a multiplicity of approaches if research is to be meaningful in, and responsive to, social and contextual realities. In particular, we argue for taking account of socio historical and socio-cultural contexts in creating African epistemology in and through research