Schools Programme Manager, Greenrock, The 2016 Foundation for Environment Education, held its National Operators Meeting for Eco Schools in Johannesburg, South Africa in the first week of November. The NOM is an annual conference for the 64 countries that participate in the Eco Schools Programme. Hosted by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa it was simultaneously eye opening, intellectually stimulating, and just plain fun!

This year’s conference focused on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and how to ensure that they are incorporated into our work going ahead. Also known as Transform our World, the SDGs are a set of global goals dealing with issues such as ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests among others.

The Eco Schools programme looks at eight of the 17 SDGs, and more, such as ending poverty indirectly. By participating in the Eco Schools programme students truly are able to view their selves as global citizens with direct impact on the world around them.

The first day of the conference proper focused on FEE and the delivery of the Eco Schools programme. Jim Taylor of WESSA opened the conference, followed by Laura Hickey, Director of Eco Schools USA, and Brid Coneely, the International Director of the Eco Schools for FEE. Not having been to a NOM before, they all set the tone for the conference, letting me know that I was not only a welcomed member, but also going to have a lot of fun.

I was thoroughly impressed by the all the sessions. Not only were they informative and useful but they were delivered in a way that was engaging, got people moving, and interacting with each other. Even the session on monitoring and evaluation was interesting, which is a feat in itself as far as I’m concerned.

The second day of the conference looked at Eco Schools in practice. We started the day with a visit to Monde Primary School in Guateng Province. Monde has been an Eco School for more than a decade and holds the Platinum Award, the highest Eco Schools award designation.

As a public school it does not receive much in the way of funding so the savings that working the Eco Schools pathways has helped it save funds for other programmes such as feeding the students breakfast and lunch as the student’s families do not have a lot of funds.

I was so impressed with Monde Primary School! Not only did they really roll out the red carpet for us greeting our contingent with a band and drum corps, the way they had incorporated the pathways around the school was truly impressive. They had a large garden growing vegetables which they used at the school and shared with neighbouring families. They had a community recycling programme where residents brought them their recyclables to be separated at the school and recycled for additional funds. There were JoJo tanks on several buildings to collect rainwater and each toilet tank had a large bottle of water inside to reduce the amount of water used with each flush. I think my favourite innovation was the solar cooker built by students.

At the end of our Eco tour the students and staff showed their appreciation of our visit with singing and dance performances. One dance, performed by Zulu students, had costumes made out of recyclable materials. We finished the morning with these delicious cakey biscuit-like treats and soda. I absolutely loved the hospitality we were shown. The school was so grateful to us and we were so grateful to them.

While Monde was our morning, the afternoon found us back in conference where several countries made presentations on best practice. India, Singapore, South Africa and France stood out to name a few. There were several items that I will be looking to implement going forward here in Bermuda.

The last session of the conference was “Burning Questions You’re Just Dying to Ask”. This was a free-for-all of questions on different topics and some used the time to garner support for future activities such as the Conference of Paris 22 forum and teacher training conferences in Malaysia.

We ended the conference on a real high. Our group of 80-95 people were treated to a night of African dining at the Moyo Zoo Lake. Some dressed in native clothing from their respective countries (I need to get a pair of Bermuda shorts).

We dined on foods both known to us and a little bit foreign. I decided to be a little adventurous and have some Kudu. A little dry for my liking but not bad tasting at all. While the conference itself had all the things you expect (interesting speeches, workshops and breakout sessions) it was the small touches that made the conference extra special. Each night upon return to our room there was a small present. The first night there was a paper with South African slang. It was hundreds (excellent). The second night there was a small bottle of Amarula, a cream liqueur made in South Africa and finally a South African flag made of small beads showcasing the creativity of the South African people. WESSA really went out of its way to ensure that all NOM participants felt comfortable, welcome and most importantly had an appreciation for the culture of South Africa.

I know I left the continent feeling enriched in many ways and I look forward to next year’s NOM for a similar experience.