EE/ESD Program

Title of EE/ESD project

Profitable Environmental Management for Schools (PREMA)

Created : Oct 18 2007 / Modified : Oct 19 2007

Organization Name: Center for Environment Education and Communications of China ( CEEC )

Type of the Project

National / Community Level: National
Main contents and field: Energy / Nature Awareness / Waste Pollution / Wildlife

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Financial resources (Granted, sponsored by or partnership with)

Organization/Institution: Heinrich-Boell-Foundation, Germany
Amount: 60,000 Euro per year
(81,339 US Dollar)

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Target area and people: Shanghai, Beijing, Northeast China (Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces), West China (Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai Provinces)

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Background/Problems of the project: In recent years there is a growing tendency to include environmental topics into the curricula. The Profitable Environmental Management approach with its basic module Good Housekeeping (GHK) however, goes further. With active participation of all members of the schools (headmaster, teachers, facility manager, students, parents etc).it strives for increasing economic efficiency and ecological benefits as well as organisational capability of a school. PREMA was originally developed by GTZ (Gesellschaft fu¨r technische Zusammenarbeit) as the so called P3U program for small enterprises (SME) and institutions as a low cost alternative towards ISO 14000. Derived from the training materials and manuals developed for SME Ursula Becker, an experienced P3U trainer and the Eva Sternfeld, a German Expert for Environmental Education working with CEEC developed a training tailored for representatives of Chinese schools. The first pilot program was launched in 2002 for 20 schools in Liaoning province as part of the environmental education activities of the EU-China Liaoning Integrated Environmental Program (LIEP). A second program for 12 schools from Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces started in September 2003 in cooperation with the Centre for Environmental Education and Communication (CEEC) of SEPA and with support of the German Heinrich-Bo¨ll-Foundation (HBF). In December 2004 CEEC with support of HBF started Training of Trainers(TOT) program to train six Chinese trainers. In 2005 CEEC also organised a PREMA training for 22 schools from Heilongjiang province. In 2006, it is planned to extend to more Green Schools all over China. The Chinese schools are the first schools in the world implementing PREMA. P3U has meanwhile has also started PREMA for schools in other countries including Germany and Ethopia.

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Objectives/Significance of the project: Profitable Environmental Management (PREMA) with its basic module Good Housekeeping (GHK) was originally developed by the GTZ for small enterprises and institutions (P3U program) as a low cost alternative to ISO 14000. As a management tool it strives for triple gain by reducing running costs, the environmental pollution and improving safety and health protection through reduction of obvious and hidden costs of so-called non-product output (NPO). According to the experiences made so far by the first pilot schools in China, the PREMA approach can be very well adapted for implementation in schools. Compared to other environmental management approaches, PREMA has several advantages for schools:

*It reduces environmental impacts, improves health protection and economic efficiency , in similar ways as does environmental management according to ISO 14000
*It is a simple low cost approach. Savings can be reinvested in environmental protection or welfare projects. These projects will help students to participate in the process.
*It promotes organizational learning processes
*It promotes environmental awareness among teachers, students and parents
Besides one or two workshops with external trainers in the set-up phase, low/no external support is required as most of the solutions are developed in group meeting of the network of schools participating in the program.
*It emphasizes a participatory approach. Solutions are developed by the group, not by an external advisor.
*It can be the first step for introducing an environmental management system according to ISO 14000
*It is beneficial for the reputation of a school

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Description of the project: During a 5-day workshop head masters, teachers in charge of environmental education or a facility manager receive an introduction into the PREMA method, including introduction into the NPO-concept and checklists for good housekeeping. The use of the checklists was practiced during a school visit. The outcome of the initial workshop was the compilation of action plans for participating schools. In the follow up process the participating schools met a few month later in so called network meetings to discuss the implementation of the program. All schools had documented their efforts and some had achieved very promising results in terms of increasing economic efficiency , and improving environmental and safety standards. A lot of activities were related to electricity saving, water saving, reducing waste including waste of food and the waste of materials especially paper.

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Materials/equipments used in the project:: A handbook including checklists was developed by the trainers in cooperation with participants of the pilot program.

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Pictures and maps

Result/Self evaluation (success or failure) including its reasons: The program is very successful and well accepted by the schools. For schools the environmental education aspect is more important than the economic advantages gained by the project. (this is different from companies were this program has been implemented.

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Other learning from the project: The program is interesting for better equipped schools, it is possibly not so suitable for schools in poorer areas of the country.

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EE/ESD Program

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