Environmental Education and Capacity Building

The Swaziland Environment Action Plan, (SAEP)which was adopted in 1997, identifies five major program areas for necessary action in the county. These areas are capacity building for effective environmental management; environmental education public awareness and participation ;management and use of biodiversity; resource management for increased productivity; waste management pollution control and environmental health.  Click here to view the summary of the report

The success of each of the other areas is mainly dependent on effective EE. As a result education is identified in most strategies developed for the other program areas a key component.

Strategies for EE, Public Awareness and Participation

• Provide an operational framework for environmental education, public awareness and participation.
• Define the overall goal for EE in Swaziland
• Set out four key program areas within EE
• Define the key means of achieving the overall goal
• Define a set of tasks for each strategy
• Identify implementation agencies
• Recommend institutional arrangements
• Provide a basis for action plans

The strategy recognize four different but interlinked program areas. They are as follows: School and Colleges Program  Community program  Public Awareness, Research, Information and Technical Messages Program  Environment Education & Resource Centers Program

National Environmental Education Programme (NEEP)

The NEEP is an institution under the Swaziland National Trust Commission (SNTC). Its main purpose is to promote and facilitate environmental education and awareness in Swaziland. The specific objectives of the programme are:

• To establish environmental education infrastructure representing all of Swaziland' s ecological zones
• To annually publish 2 environmental monographs
• To facilitate and coordinate environmental education research
• To provide training in environmental education in the country

Go to http://www.sntc.org/ for more information.

Environmental Education Public Awareness and Participation Committee.   This committee is a implementation committee of the SEAP. Membership should include all the four sub-program co-ordinators together with the chairs of the sub-program committees. The functions of this committee are: Coordination of program Monitoring and evaluation of EE activities Source funding for EE projects

Regional Environmental Education Programme (REEP)

Swaziland is part of a regional network under the South African Developing Community (SADC). the regional programme is known as SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme ( SADC REEP).The activities the SADC REEP are centered around issues of Resource development and sharing, training, policy formulation and networking.
Each country has a representative to this network, and Swaziland is represented by the Environmental Information Officer from the SEA. To know more about the SADC REEP visit the SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme