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The purpose of the Regional Environmental Education (EE) Programme is to
enable environmental education practitioners in the SADC region to strengthen
environmental education processes for equitable and sustainable environmental
management choices. This will be achieved through enhanced and strengthened
environmental education policy, networking, resource materials and training
capacity.
In 1993, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Environment and
Land Management Sector (ELMS) initiated a programme to support environmental
education processes in the southern African region. The initial phase of this
programme included a series of workshops involving environmental education
practitioners in the region. The first workshop was held in Windhoek, Namibia in
1994 and the second in Howick, South Africa in 1996. These workshops were
complemented by other research processes designed to assess the state of
environmental education in the region. Based on information gathered during this
initial phase a formal programme document was developed and submitted to the
SADC Council of Ministers for approval.
The Council of Ministers ratified the proposal and agreed that the Wildlife
and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) should act as implementing
agency of the programme. Following approval in August 1996 the document was
finalised in December 1996 (Harare) and submitted to the Swedish International
Development Developing Agency (Sida) for funding. Sida found the Programme's
recommendations appropriate for responding to the urgent need for environmental
education processes in the SADC region and agreed to fund the first three years
of operation from July 1997 to June 2000. The SADC Regional Environmental
Education Programme (REEP) was officially launched at the Environmental
Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) conference in 1997, and a
Regional Environmental Education Centre was established in Umgeni Valley in Howick, South Africa. The
building was developed with funding from the South African government.
In 2001, after participatory discussions the programme document was further
developed and approved by the National Network Representatives in April 2001.
Sida has recently agreed to fund the second phase of the programme from 2002 to
2005. Denmark, USAID and IUCN - The World Conservation Union, also provide
financial support for different components of the Programme. With the
restructuring of SADC the Regional Environmental Education Programme is now a
project of the SADC Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate.
For more information , go to www.sadc-reep.org.za
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Programs 
