African countries are facing some of the most extreme impacts of climate change. Over the past decade, Burkina Faso has seen 470,000 hectares of land degraded each year as a result of erosion, flooding and drought.

In Senegal, climate change could push over 2 million Senegalese into poverty by the middle of the century, while over time, erosion threatens 75% of the country’s coastline.

Meanwhile, Madagascar and Togo show extremely high levels of child vulnerability to climate risks.

To better understand how environmental issues are integrated into teaching and learning, five civil society coalitions – CN EPT Burkina Faso, Coalition Éducation France, CONAMEPT Madagascar, COSYDEP Sénégal, and CN EPT Togo – came together to explore the concerns and initiatives led by teachers, civil society, and institutional partners in these countries.

The report examines how and to what extent environmental education is integrated into school and vocational training programs – whether at the level of teachers, NGOs or institutions – along with the challenges faced, including gender considerations.

It also looks at cross-sectoral coordination between the education, environment, health and protection sectors, as well as the sustainability and institutionalization of these practices.

As a result, the study titled “Environmental and sustainable development education issues in Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Madagascar” is now available.

Key findings from a multi-country collaboration on environmental education

The study involved over 500 stakeholders in various consultations and adopted a multi- and cross-sector approach.

The innovative multi-country collaboration, funded by GPE’s Education Out Loud and France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, allowed for cross-referenced analyses, context comparison and sharing insights.

The study revealed that the challenges and findings regarding environmental education and education for sustainable development are strikingly similar across the countries surveyed.

While these topics are increasingly seen as priorities, political commitments outlined in texts are not matched by substantial government action, resources or dedicated budgets. In fact, none of the four countries’ education sector policies allocate a specific budget for these topics, leaving the gap between intent and implementation wide.

Taking teachers’ realities into account

Although widely supported, most of the teachers surveyed as part of this study stated that they dedicate less than two hours a week to environmental education and education for sustainable development.

This is because the effective implementation of these topics faces several obstacles in the countries studied.

• In Senegal, 81% of teachers surveyed stressed the lack of tools;
• In Togo, 71% of teachers said they would need more teaching time to cover these subjects;
• In Burkina Faso, 65% teachers felt that they lack the training
• In Madagascar, only 18% of teachers have a teaching qualification in these subjects.

In all four countries, between 43% and 63% of teachers surveyed stated that students respond positively to environmental education activities, especially those that go beyond theoretical teaching and engage students in practical activities related to environmental protection (environmental clubs, green schools, eco-school committees, school gardens, awareness and reforestation days).

Implementing these types of activities requires additional training and resources for teachers.

While some civil society organizations and institutional stakeholders wish to see the creation of a specific subject on environmental education and sustainable development, this view is not widely accepted among all teachers: only 18% of teachers surveyed in Togo, 17% in Madagascar, and 26% in Senegal favor the creation of an additional subject as it would burden the school programs.

Instead, teachers suggested integrating the topic into existing subjects to ensure this content is covered within the school curricula.

Education advocates are part of the solution

The civil society coalitions of the countries partnering in this study are already using the evidence collected and conclusions of the study to advocate for more and better environmental education action.

In Burkina Faso, during the results-sharing workshop of the study, the Transitional Legislative Assembly called on the education ministry to finance environmental education and education for sustainable development. As a result of these efforts, a Transformative Climate Education Youth Network was created, which launched a digital campaign.

In Senegal, the National Education Coalition is using this experience to ensure environmental education is at the center of their work. With the support of the CLÉ Program, the coalition has drawn up an environmental strategy to guide their work until 2028.

In France, the education ministry has made environmental education and education for sustainable development a strategic priority and the government has already included them in the international strategy on basic education for 2024–2028, which now better integrates environmental issues to support the transformation of education as a strategic focus.

In the coming months, the project stakeholders will continue to strengthen their collaboration: they will develop recommendations based on the findings of the report and engage in multi-country and transnational advocacy activities to enhance the prioritization of environmental education in educational and climate policies and practices.

This advocacy will target regional bodies and national governments and focus particularly on continuous dialogue with government authorities, the creation of multi-stakeholder consultation frameworks on the issue, participation in high-level meetings, and the implementation of strategic communication actions involving youth organizations.