Namibian Change Projects
Namibia has initiated nine Change Projects. Of the nine Change Projects, six of the projects were from the University of Namibia, one from the International University of Management, one from TVET and one from University of Science of Technology.
The focus of the Change Projects is on strengthening the implementation of ESD in teacher / TVET education and basic school curriculum with the aim of contributing to the achievement of SDG 4.
The different institutions are enthusiastic about the Change Projects and have continued to emphasise the importance of constant Change Project peer review meetings as enablers to their Change Projects.
All participants see potential in their Change Projects for contributing to SDG 4, Target 4.7.
Change Project
Stories
The University of Namibia comes up with creative innovations for plastic waste management
‘Don’t just throw it away, throw it into the Eco-bin!’, this is the motto for the University of Namibia students and lectures in the Change Project Team as they embark on a unique waste management project. From used plastic bottles, wires and iron bars the team has created the eco-bin plastic waste refuse collector. These bins store used plastic bottles for upcycling. Christina Utete, a science...
Change Project: School garden enriching the school feeding scheme
Evangelista Endunde, International University of Management (Primary Education focus)
School feeding schemes and their support policies in Namibia are inadequate. Endunde’s vision is to support a school garden which will improve and enrich the nutritional basis of the school feeding scheme, reducing hunger, and cultivating a sense of responsibility towards the community.
Endunde’s policy review shows poor links between theory and practice, and no practice implementation. “There is a need for collaboration between schools, university and community”. Endunde would like to appreciate and make use of community elders to provide local traditional knowledge of gardening methods. Endunde plans to integrate indigenous methods together with conventional methods, creating hybrid knowledges.
“This will allow students and lecturers to have care for teaching and learning, cooperation and compassion towards others and the institutions and environment and practice sustainability around campus. Everything in education is interlinked. We don’t have to work in isolation, we can collaborate to bring more ideas and ways to be more sustainable in all phases.”
Change Project: Biosphere as a resource for Indigenous Knowledge Practices
Evangelista Endunde, International University of Management (Primary Education focus)
Utete wants to address the lack of awareness of integration of Indigenous Knowledge Practices (IKP) on protection of the environment in the SDG 4 context.
She plans to integrate a focus on natural resources management and protection in the curriculum for student teachers. Utete plans to achieve this through educational visits and excursions to conservancies in the area.
“This will allow students and lecturers to have care for teaching and learning, cooperation and compassion towards others and the institutions and environment and practice sustainability around campus. Everything in education is interlinked. We don’t have to work in isolation, we can collaborate to bring more ideas and ways to be more sustainable in all phases.”
Change Project: Establishing or supporting local green skills ‘café’s (repair cafes)
Francois Strauss, Namibia Training Authority (TVET focus)
Strauss’s focus is on establishing or supporting local green skills ‘café’s (repair cafes) for a range of value chains associated with different waste products. Strauss will use methods that introduce circular economy thinking and change.
He aims to establish a repair ‘café’ and make artefacts from offsets and waste, linking to SDG 4 and 14. Strauss would like to involve student trainers in making instructional aids from recycled materials.
“The programme boosted our morale and demonstrated how to implement the SDGs. The focus on ESD helped me to understand it and how to integrate it into the curriculum. I learned about waste material upcycling amongst others. Making paper is a skill I plan to share with others. We are a TVET authority institution. We will drive the CAP-ESD with the explicit emphasis on e-education and the implementation of it. TVET is key in implementing ESD.”
Change Project: Mitigating animal and human conflict through cultural practices
Mulela Beauty Matengu, University of Namibia (Primary Education focus)
Matengu aims to undertake Namibian curriculum policy review, at the theory, practice and institutional level. Working with SDG 15, Matengu will focus on Indigenous Knowledge (IK), curriculum, written materials and stories. Matengu would like to use presentations, field trips and excursions as methods.
The purpose of the Change Project is to educate and train students and learners on how to conserve the natural resources, reduce poaching and human wildlife conflict through cultural practices. Matengu envisions that students will gain indigenous knowledge through interacting with community members, and that this knowledge will enhance their ability to make informed decisions in the future.
“Through the programme I gained insights into Critical SDG issues, knowledge, the use of IK in ESD and ECE, using different approaches such as scientific inquiry and promoting critical thinking”.
Change Project: Strengthen the 3R’s using a Big Book reading approach
Richardine Poulton-Busler, University of Namibia (Primary Education focus)
Poulton-Busler’s vision is to address lack of skills in developing teaching aids for Grade 4 learners. The focus of the project is also to use waste that can address environmental problems, and link to SDGs being addressed.
For example, bottle tops can be used for designing games. Poulton-Busler would like to design criteria to assess recycled teaching aids and their use in ECE by different departments and share ideas with different schools.
“This will enable us to work closer as an institution as we share the same sentiments on ESD goals. By developing teaching aids with recycled materials, we can also have fun as a group.” “I am excited to implement all I learned from this course; it was indeed a very interesting, practical course to stimulate teaching for good understanding through critical thinking. This project has empowered me as a teacher educator to venture on all curriculum topics and think of them as potential Change Projects.”
Change Project: Practical environmental management and sustainability practices on UNAM campus
Rajesh Vaida, University of Namibia (Primary and Secondary Education focus)
Vaida’s project is a whole campus approach project. The project started in 2014 focusing on reducing litter on campus as through recycling. The project has since been scaled into different subject areas including Science and Home Ecology.
For example, as part of the project, Science lecturers integrate Indigenous Knowledge practices in the teaching of Science subjects, whereas Home Ecology lecturers use waste materials such as boxes to develop useful materials such as mats.
Vaida gained new insights through being involved in the project:
“The Change Project is a continuous Change Project. It keeps on changing. There are various aspects of the Change Project; storytelling, educational theory, e-learning”.