A group of pupils and teachers visited Germany in the end of February. The visit took place within a project “Local Agenda 21 in Schools”, implemented with the support of the Federal Government of Germany Programme of Assistance to Belarus.

“Act locally, think globally”

The idea of “Agenda 21I” was first enunciated at a United Nations Environmental Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action aiming at achieving sustainable development on Earth in the 21st century. This programme was supported by 170 UN member states, including Belarus.

Sustainable development is meeting today's basic needs of development without compromising future generations' ability to develop. Such needs include housing, drinking water, food, qualitative medical care, participation in decision making process, social adaptation, cultural and spiritual self-actualization, etc.

“Act locally, think globally” is a basic principle of the Local Agenda 21, providing a framework for implementing own sustainable development plans at the local level. Belarusian schools are actively involved in the process of identification of such agendas.

First Local Agenda 21 in Belarus came from Novopolotsk Secondary School No 12 in 2002. They started with setting up environmental club in primary school, collecting for recycling paper and other second hand materials, equipping computer class, fixing school greenhouse.
Other schools of Belarus joined the process of elaboration of their own Local Agendas too. Ten representatives from these schools visited Germany to study German experience in implementing Local Agenda 21.

Lots of bureaucratic barriers

Belarusians say that there is a lot to learn from Germans.

“In one of the schools in Dortmund we have seen an “Eco-Shop”, says Natalia Sianiagina, Deputy Director of the Secondary School from the village Grebenka, Chervensky Region of Belarus. “It was a small shop, fully set up by pupils. There they sell goods they made themselves or produced using environmentally sound technologies. For instance, there were notebooks made of recycled paper. Children earn money and send it to Zambia as humanitarian aid. It was extremely interesting to see children managing their shop by themselves, they make decisions on their own about what to sell, where to buy and at what should be the price”.

There were no problems with opening such shop in Germany. A decision to open the “Eco-Shop” was made at a school conference and approved by the school administration. Following that the local government immediately issued its permission. The school shop is not liable for any taxes. Obviously a comparison with Belarus would be relevant here.

“If we decided to initiate the same project, we would face lots of bureaucratic barriers. I think it would be complicated and perhaps impossible at all”, thinks Ms. Natalia Sianiagina.

Learning about life itself

Among other ‘wonders’ seen in German school was a very impressive ‘wild nature’ garden.

“Here the schoolchildren would be equipped immediately to clean up stale leaves to make everything look orderly and neat. The garden there is left untidy intentionally, so that children could observe natural cycles in reality. They can watch trees growing, leaves falling, rotting through and turning into a natural fertilizer…”

Almost every German school had a ‘wonder chest’, which made the Belarusian delegation envious. There they keep chemicals that allow schoolchildren to make an instant scientific research, for example, chemical analysis of water.

“Normally, German pupils publish results of their research immediately on a special website in the Internet. The data for the database located on this website is being uploaded by all schools. Then scientists use information collected by children to draw their conclusions, for example, about climate changes in the region or about the state of the environment. Similar system exists in our schools as well! We only wonder why scientists are not interested in the data we collect”, regret Belarusian teachers.

Ideas without financing are a waste

In the end, principal differences between Belarus and Germany in this regard do not lie within particular actions or projects of educational institutions. Belarusian schools also implement Local Agendas, for example, when children from Borisov or Novopolotsk collect paper for recycling, place containers for collecting different types of recycled waste, promote energy efficiency and plant school yards. But…

“Implementation of Local Agendas in Germany is supported by the Federal, Regional and local governments”, says one of the project co-ordinators, Ms. Anzhelika Baiko. “For instance, local governments hold competitions to identify the best Local Agenda in their region and allocate funds for its implementation. Here it is all done in a different way.

In Belarus, there is National Strategy of Sustainable Development. Local Agendas also exist in some schools however there are no local Agendas on regional or oblast level. For this reason a school cannot implement its Agenda on the regional level and count on financial support. In one of the regions there is a settlement that elaborated its own Agenda however the local government has not been willing to include it into its social and economic development plan for 2 years already”.

Without local authorities’ support it is almost impossible to implement some aspects of school Agendas, such as purchase of computers, replacement of old windows, reconstruction of school greenhouse, bearing in mind its money consuming nature.

“It is all due to the fact, that there are no legal grounds or other legally binding documents that could make the local officials responsible for incorporation of such Local Agendas into their social development programmes and make them liable for elaboration of their own Agendas to be implemented on their territory”, thinks Ms. Baiko.

It turns out that Local Agendas in Belarus are initiatives of private individuals only. However the situation could still be improved, thinks professor of the Belarus State University of Culture and Art, Mrs. Nadzeja Samersava. “It is significant that we stared working with schools in this direction. We are raising future managers and administrators that in the near future will be making decisions about sustainable development of their regions. The new generation will be aware of the Local Agenda 21 and it will be understanding what it is for and how it works”.