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<The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment>

An Essay and Workshop for Local Elected Leaders on Environmental Governance
with Emphasis on Adopting Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs)
- Training for Elected Leadership -

Part II - Workshop on the Councillor as Guardian of the Environment
- WORKSHOP -

OVERVIEW

The central challenge of the 1990s as enunciated by the Earth Summit in Rio is to achieve sustainability. Local Agenda 21 stresses the growing importance of local authorities as stewards of the environment. As pointed out in the preceding essay, however, the role of the councillor as Guardian of the Environment is complex and challenging. Few local authorities understand much about the environmental quality of their own areas or how their present actions and decisions affect the ability of future generations to sustain themselves.

The workshop is to create conditions through which councillors can learn to perform effectively as environmental guardians. At the core of the workshop is a progressive learning process that begins with an environmental awareness exercise and ends with a focus on how to achieve environmentally and developmentally sustainable programmes. A principal theme of the workshop is the relationship between development and the environment and the recognition and use of environmentally sound technologies as the creative link between them.

The workshop is planned with several training audiences in mind.

• One of these consists of mayors and councillors from separate local governments. The assumption we make about these officials is that they have not worked together and may not even know each other before attending a Guardian of the Environment workshop. Hence, we use the term "stranger group" to describe this training audience.
• A second training audience consists of mayors and councillors who serve together in the same local authorities and who are invited to participate in the workshop as teams. For this audience we use the term "councillor teams." The learning activities that follow were developed on the assumption that the stranger group format will be the most often used. We have provided the trainer with special instructions for modifying stranger group exercises for use with councillor teams.
• A third training audience might augment the preceding audience with department heads, other local government staff, and even community leaders.
• A fourth training audience might consist of any of the above combinations of participants plus officials from adjoining communities that have or may experience similar environmental problems.

Many options are available for the use of Guardian of the Environment workshop materials. One set of design considerations is related to time. For example, all of the workshop components might be used for a six consecutive training day programme (Sunday afternoon through Saturday noon). Or, the programme might be reduced to three days by omitting the case studies and role plays (Sunday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon). Another possibility is to plan a series of one or two day workshops each focusing on one or more of the components. This format may prove more satisfactory when councillors are unwilling to be away from home more than a couple of days at a time. Finally, one or two of the components might be used for a short workshop before or after a conference of local elected officials to encourage conferees to attend longer programmes planned for a later date.

Other considerations might influence the design of Guardian of Environment workshops.

1. Environmental workshop components might be used in conjunction with concepts, exercises and case study materials from other workshops in the Elected Leadership Series. For example, an exercise on programme evaluation planning in the Councillor as Overseer could be used to provide participants with additional skills in monitoring and evaluation to assure more successful implementation of sound environmental technologies. Exercises included in the Councillor as Enabler and the Councillor as Negotiator could be used to good advantage by a trainer to give participants more skill practice opportunities with coalition building and in using the language of negotiation to get desired results without impairing relationships with important environmental groups.
2. Workshop materials might be used to engage a single council or councils from neighboring communities in environmental problem solving and planning. For this purpose, the exercises on problem finding, focusing, visioning and stakeholder analysis might be employed as a form of environmental strategic planning with the trainer serving the community(ies) as a consultant designer/facilitator.
3. Reflection activities in Part I as might be used as group exercises. One of the local trainers in a field test of these materials in Kenya, for example, used reflection questions as a group exercise to identify stakeholders.

Clearly there is considerable opportunity for trainers to improvise with these materials in workshop design and planning.

The training activities included in this workshop anticipate the active involvement of participants with each other and the learning concepts presented. These activities consist of:

• Instructor presentations that provide participants with relevant concept information at appropriate times to stimulate thinking and reflection.
• Small group exercises designed to lead participants through a systematic process of planning and problem solving relative to their own environmental problems. Although the problem solving process in the handbook is designed to move ahead sequentially, in practice participants might start anywhere in the process, perhaps beginning with the conception of a vision and then backwards to assess the nature of the problem. A model illustrating the interractive nature of the various steps in the process is shown on the next page.
• Questionnaires and checklists to assist participants in conducting environmental self-assessments and to gather relevant data on their respective environmental problems.
• Case studies and role plays that focus participants on realistic, challenging situations selected to encourage reflection and participant interaction.

Concept information is organized into "short burst" presentations, each structured according to well-established principles of instructional design. Rather than concentrated in one or two long presentations, conceptual material is sequenced for delivery just prior to or sometimes just after related skill practice or reflection activities. We call this "just in time" presentation. This approach emphasizes the importance of exposing participants to small amounts of relevant concept material and then engaging them in activities that put the new knowledge or skill to use before moving on to new material. Strongly emphasized is the repetition of ideas and the active involvement of participants with information being presented. Each presentation consists of three sections. The first, focus, is to create interest and introduce participants to the subject. The second, main points, is the body of conceptual ideas to be covered by the trainer. The third, review, summarizes and reinforces the ideas just presented.

Instructions for the trainer called "trainers notes" are provided from time to time in each presentation. Some trainers notes encourage trainers to develop and use questions. Asking good questions at appropriate times can stimulate participant interest, promote understanding and encourage the back-home application of learning. Other trainers notes suggest the reinforcement of oral presentation with visual aids. Simple techniques include printing key points on flip chart sheets for wall display or copying them onto transparent plates for overhead projection. Still other trainers notes describe any advance preparations or special materials that must be available for use by participants during the exercise.

Other handbooks in the Training for Elected Leadership series and various manuals published under separate cover by UNCHS (Habitat) offer valuable guidance for trainers preparing to facilitate these and other learning events included in this handbook.¹

The preceding essay is a rich source of information on the role of the local elected leader as environmental protector and sustainer. It is the conceptual basis for all of the Part II workshops. Any elected official registered to attend a Guardian of the Environment workshop would benefit greatly by reading this essay or portions of the essay selected by the trainer to accompany the components to be included in a planned programme. While there is no guarantee that the materials will be read, officials who have agreed to attend a workshop should be provided with a copy of the selected essay materials at least one week before a programme is scheduled to begin.

Councillors registered to attend a Guardian of the Environment workshop may be asked to complete a pre-workshop assignment. The assignment is to identify and record information about existing and potentially hazardous environmental problems observed during a 30 minute walking or riding tour inside the boundaries of their local authorities. The assignment is meant to demonstrate that environmental problems exist in every community, and they can be identified readily by observant councillors. Home-generated data heighten the realism and immediacy of a workshop experience for participants. It is believed that councillors who complete the assignment will adapt more quickly to the workshop environment and make more effective use of the learning experience after returning home from the training. Although many councillors may not take the time to complete this task, we recommend that trainers include it in their workshop designs anyway and encourage all councillors planning to attend a workshop to bring a completed worksheet with them.

To simplify the task, councillors who are asked to complete the assignment are furnished with a copy of the Environmental Awareness Worksheet (see the Pre-Workshop Assignment Section of the Handbook) several weeks in advance of the workshop.

Table of Contents

• Brochure
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• 



• International Year of Forests
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• World Environment Day
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• UNEP Campaign
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