Global Footprints

A global citizenship and

sustainable development

education project

Global Footprints provides primary schools with the opportunity to participate in a project which aims to empower all participants, but particularly the young, to take steps towards a sustainable future. Working in partnership with their local Development Education Centre (DEC), participating schools will have access to a range of exciting and stimulating activities, which address issues of global citizenship and have an opportunity to explore the social, global and ecological impacts of lifestyle choices.

Principle aims of the project

To provide children with the essential knowledge and skills to challenge and tackle poverty, injustice and environmental destruction both locally and globally and understand the links between the countries of the north and those of the south; to develop effective links
between schools in the UK and programmes or projects in the south or Europe
To use the concept of the Global Footprint as a means of developing an understanding of the social, economic and ecological impact of human activity; to explore this impact in the school context
Through a participatory process involving both the school community and the partnership DEC explore sustainability indicators and methods of measuring footprints: investigate how indicators or footprints might be reduced or improved
To encourage and enable all those involved in the project, but particularly the young, to become involved in decision making within their schools and local community through such processes as school councils and Local Agenda 21
Through working with a DEC and the trials of activities, the school can become a major contributor to the development of the Global Footprints web site which aims to disseminate best practice to a wider audience

The 'Global Footprint'

The project aims to adapt the concept of the 'ecological footprint' which is a measure representing the land area necessary to sustain current levels of resource consumption and waste discharge by a given population. In short it is a measure of human impact on the environment. The Global Footprints project seeks to explore ways in which schools can examine, measure and reduce their impact on the environment, but also explore the idea of the footprint which takes account of the social and global effects of human activity. A school might therefore consider the effects of an anti-bullying strategy on the social development of the school, or the implications of purchasing fair trade products on sustainable development and justice for producer communities in the south

Sustainability Indicators

These are selected indicators which measure the progress being made towards improving environmental, social and economic conditions both locally and globally. These link closely with the concept of the footprint and are an important feature of the government's sustainable development policy and LA21 process.

The development of a core set of sustainability indicators to assess a school's social, global and ecological impact is seen as an important aspect of Global Footprints. Examples of possible indicators include quantitative measures such as the percentage of school waste recycled to qualitative measures such as the effectiveness or influence of a school council.

Activities

Global Footprints has identified certain criteria for the activities used in schools

The activities that will be developed and trials in schools will make links with or be incorporated into the delivery of the national/regional curriculum and particularly through literacy and numeracy initiatives. They will also aim to address key elements outlined in the Oxfam curriculum for Global Citizenship
The activity ideas aim to link well established primary curriculum topics such as food, water, transport, food, homes and shelter, materials and energy to social, environmental and economic issues such as education and work, trade, health, waste and pollution and land use.
The activities developed and trials will be evaluated for their effectiveness in achieving the aims of the project by the teachers, children and the DEC, and contribute towards an activity bank and series of case studies to be disseminated through the Global Footprints web site
The activities, in accordance with the model's ethos, should involve low resource use and make use of well established resources already available in schools, or supplied through the partner DEC

Local Agenda 21 (LA21) stems from the sustainable development action plan agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. This stressed the importance of involving all sectors of the community in working towards more sustainable ways of living and improving the quality of life. Young people are one of the major groups identified as crucial to this process.

For further details of Global Footprints contact:

Sue Weir, Education Officer, GlosDEC

Andrew Bell, Project Officer,

Humanities Education Centre, English Street, London E3 4TA

Tel 020-7364 6405 Fax: 020 7364 6422

email: globalfootprints@gn.opc.org