In 2019 in country workshops were held in Botswana, Zimbawbe and Nambia. From these in-country workshops, a group of 30 participants were selected to attend the Regional Training of Trainers Programme which took place at Rhodes University from 25 September to 5 October 2019.
During the Training of Trainers Course participants spent time planning and revising their Change Project Plans. They were also exposed to a number of Education for Sustainable Development approaches, including T-learning or Transformative Learning. Additionally, course participants went on fieldwork trips to sense the environment and to explore different practical approaches that could be used to integrate science, culture and sustainability into Teacher Education curricula and programmes.
Some comments from participants on the Training of Trainers Course experience include:
“Collaboration with other sister countries was valuable, there was brilliant cross pollination of ideas . . . I got to appreciate what is expected in the change projects and what ESD is all about . . . The programme is informative, transformative and worth pursuing”
Following the Training of Trainers Course at Rhodes University, participants have been working in their local communities of practice to develop their Change Projects.
There have also been a number of Change Project Peer Review meetings in the participating countries. Zimbabwe hosted three Change Project Peer Review meetings, in Harare, Masvingo and Bulawayo between 31 January and 14 February 2020. In Namibia two Change Project Peer Review meetings were held in Windhoek and Rundu between 13 February and 21 February 2020. In Botswana a Change Project Peer Review meeting was held on 11 March 2020.
In the month of April all participants will be doing self-reviews and evaluations of their Change Projects and will be reporting on their Change Projects to inform the policy dialogues.