Voluntary Social Change
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Resources: … For more information, read WESSA’S Mobilising Human Capacity for Sustainability: A WESSA Programme, 2nd edition. Share-Net, Howick. |
Theme: Environmental Education
‘Voluntary Social Change’
"If you want one year of prosperity, plant corn.
If you want ten years of prosperity, plant trees.
If you want one hundred years of prosperity, educate people."
— Chinese proverb
South Africa, like the rest of the world, is facing critical challenges and opportunities relating to the environment. But are we ready to tackle them?
In South Africa, a chronic shortage of competent professionals in the environment and conservation sectors has arisen as a consequence of a sustained lack of focus on capacity development in these areas.
One example of this lack of focus is the National Skills Development Strategy 2005-9 which ignored the capacity development needs associated with the environment and sustainable development.
This oversight, and others, has produced dire consequences. They have hindered the speed and scale of transformation in the environmental sector and limited the development of community-based environmental workers who have the potential to reach out to communities, act as role models, and serve as agents of meaningful social change. Ultimately, they have endangered our ability as society to deal with the very real challenges facing us all.
Despite the critical significance of the environmental sector, the responsibility of engaging with environmental issues and risks has been left to a relatively small number of committed individuals in the NGO and civil society sectors, some government departments, and isolated units within industry. Migration to the business and government sectors of existing human capacity in response to the trend towards mainstreaming of “the environment” has further curtailed the ability of the NGO sector to work creatively and collaboratively with all sectors, particularly those poorer communities which were historically excluded from environmental decision-making.
WESSA’s Mobilising Human Capacity for Sustainability Programme (see box) is part of a coherent strategy to address this human resources shortage and encourage greater grassroots public involvement in environmental matters.
Involving government departments and other organisations, the programme aims to mobilise knowledge, capacity and support for sustainability by providing education, resources and networking opportunities. In so doing, it builds the capacity of individuals and institutions in the sector to take ownership of projects, and play a leading role in forging a sustainable future.
Last, but not least, it also aims to encourage participation from ordinary citizens and empower them, either as individuals or through civil society formations, to become voluntary agents of in the collective journey towards sustainability.
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WESSA's Mobilising Human Capacity for Sustainability Programme Key objectives :
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