SADC
Regional Environmental Education Programme

Evaluation

This evaluation comes at a point in SADC-REEP's history where its future is to be decided and, if it is to have a future, what future shape it might take.

The report consists of seven sections which can be read independently of each other. The background to the evaluation and details on the process are found in Section 1. Sections 2-5 present the evaluation findings in relation to the four components of the SADC-REEP project, such as the Course Development Network. Section 6 presents findings regarding Programme principles, with particular attention to reflexivity, sustainability and relevance. Section 7 summarises our findings and recommendations, and readers in a hurry can proceed straight there. Appendix A summarises SADC-REEP outputs against objectives. This evaluation has focused on the more qualitative indicators and processes, through in-depth probing of case examples, interview data, documentation and observed events.

The value of evaluation is diminished if it is not used as a basis for informed action. SADC-REEP's 2002 Programme Document advised that the Programme works with a reflexive approach which means inter alia to continuously review actions and learnings in order to enable the Programme – and environmental education in the region – to ‘do' better. The Programme Document (p.25) describes reflexivity as “a process of critical and contextual review and action … through which participants … work together to understand the Programme and the context in which it is coming to present, and use this understanding to inform the ongoing shaping of the Programme”.

It was not the primary intention of this evaluation to confirm whether the Programme was a success or not, but rather to probe more deeply, in order to inform future decision-making. This report does however illuminate considerable achievements. Not only does SADC-REEP meet and often exceed its delivery targets, it does so in innovative, principled and catalytic ways which galvanise action and equip practitioners. Its principles constitute a non-technicist, participatory and responsive orientation to capacity-building processes; a practical commitment to research, evaluation and reflexivity; and context-responsive and open-ended development processes. The implementation of these principles contributes to the international recognition the Programme enjoys as a centre of excellence in environmental education practice.

The evaluation report also identifies other critical factors which contribute to the Programme's success, and which should therefore be nurtured and sustained in future developments. In addition, it highlights axes of tension which need attention in any further shaping process. Among them are flexibility vs structure (particularly with regards to management, staff support and decision-making in, for example, seed funding); product vs process (particularly in relation to ‘learning through doing resource materials development'); responsiveness (for example, in relation to the limits to which one Regional Centre can respond).