Centre for Environment Education (CEE) is a national institution engaged in developing programmes and material to increase awareness about the environment and sustainable development. CEE was established in 1984 as a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Education, supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India. It is affiliated to the Nehru Foundation for Development.
CEE's primary objective is to improve public awareness and understanding of the environment with a view to promoting the conservation and sustainable use of nature and natural resources, leading to a better environment and a better quality of life. To this end, CEE develops innovative programmes and educational material, and builds capacity in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD). To test the validity and effectiveness of its programmes and material, CEE undertakes demonstration projects in education, communication and development that endorse attitudes, strategies and technologies which are environmentally sustainable.
CEE is committed to ensuring that due recognition is given to the role of education in the promotion of sustainable development.
Centre for Environment Education, CEE was created in recognition of the importance of environmental education in India's overall environment and development strategy. The result of a unique partnership between government and a non-governmental institution, CEE was established as a Centre of Excellence in 1984, supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India.
CEE has inherited the rich multi-disciplinary resource base and varied experience of Nehru Foundation for Development, its parent organisation, which has been promoting educational efforts since 1966 in the areas of science, nature study, health, development, and environment.
At the time it began its activities, CEE was perhaps the only organization actively engaged in environmental education in the country. While carrying out programmes in different parts of the country, it was located only at Ahmedabad. Within five years of activities, it was realized that for a country as vast as India and its diversity, physical presence was important for effective implementation. Based on this, the first regional office was opened for the Southern region in 1988-89. Since then it has been a conscious effort to have an office or presence in the geographical area of work.
After completing a decade of activities in 1994, it was decided to move more from environmental education to environmental action. This was an outcome of the learnings and experiences in the first ten years. CEE began more pilot, field-level and demonstration projects towards sustainable development which could be scaled-up and replicated. Within the next ten years, these projects formed a major chunk of Centre's activities.
Today, CEE works for a wide range of sectors, target groups and geographical areas. CEE sees a major opportunity in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-14) to further contribute towards sustainable development.
Samvardhan – Improving quality of life of tribal in south Gujarat Project is implemented through a community-based approach in 24 villages of three south Gujarat districts – Valsad, Dang and Surat. These villages are divided into four clusters (Kaparada, Mamabhacha, Subir and Hindla), with 6 villages in each cluster.
The keystone of the project is the Community Entrepreneur (CE) – graduates of the Rural Higher Education Institutes (RHEI) involved in Samvardhan I. In the current intervention CEE has moved from the conventional development programmes to more of cadre-building approach which has roots in Nayee Talim pedagogy. It has worked towards building the foundation of education in both primary and higher educational level. It has also worked towards building local-level institutions i.e. village committees and Self Help Groups (SHGs) and linked them to mainstream developmental initiatives. The project has three focal points – drinking water, education and livelihood – which are essentially interlinked.
Since its inception, CEE's activities and programmes have been rooted in, and guided by, certain strategies for maximisation of quality, effectiveness and impact:
Informing EE with state-of-the-art thinking, developments, innovations and perspectives in the areas of Environment and Sustainable Development.
Adaptability to different geographic, cultural, social and economic contexts.
Partnerships utilising complementary strengths of other organisations to avoid duplication of effort, and to network effectively for synergistic convergence of ideas and goals. CEE tries to ensure that its programmes do not re-invent the wheel .
Developing programmes and materials to build on existing strategic opportunities and facilities for EE.
Encouraging and supporting other agencies in the field of EE and ESD to develop similar materials and programmes based on their specific needs and situations.
Building synergies between Government, NGOs and CEE for comprehensive impact.
Identifying key entry points for different thrust areas, and key targets for initiating and consolidating gains, to achieve a multiplier effect .
Facilitating networks at local, national and regional levels, through a number of tools such as dialogues, directories, newsletters, etc.
The main theme of the Samvardhan Project, water and sanitation, involve volunteers in variety of work like awareness generation in the village regarding water and sanitation, construction of soak pits and toilets, survey of the village, PRA, cleaning of village and school campus and organising competitions in the school in regard to sanitation. As part of networking with WASMO, formation of Pani Samiti is initiated in the Samvardhan programme village. Sanitation camps are organised under Samvardhan Project in collaboration with National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers. In many programmes members of UNICEF come as resource person and inform students about water and sanitation.
As part of livelihood intervention enhancement of skills of the marginal and landless farmers is given priority. Under this effort, the training in poultry farming and the diesel engine training programme are conducted. The identification of the activity is done after detailed discussion with the stakeholders. The main purpose of this training programme is to provide additional income to the families and to enhance the skill by which income generation process will be sustainable.
“Samvaad” means dialogue is an important form of communication to deal with all possible processes. On a larger canvas, development-related issues need a similar platform. The objective of Samvaad is to share, actions initiated and learning among villagers, explore the future perspective and formulate an action plan for the area, highlight local-level resources and discuss ways and means to share these with participating villages for collective benefit and forge linkages with various government departments for getting schemes and programmers for village development. As part of the ongoing process, one such dialogue was held in the southern part of the Gujarat which is infested by tribal population.
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