Kenya to Host the 8th Global RCE Conference in November 2013

The world is observing the United Nation decade on Education for sustainable Development (UN DESD 2005-2014) within which all UN member countries are meant to put in measures to promote the goals of the decade. One of the strategies for ESD implementation is the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE). By December 2012, 101 RCEs (17 from Africa) had been registered by the United Nations University (UNU) while a host of others are in the process of being registered.
Kenya has four (4) acknowledged RCEs and this is the highest number in Africa. The 4 RCEs are RCE Greater Nairobi, RCE Kakamega, RCE Mau complex and RCE Greater Pwani.
The United Nations University mooted the idea of holding an annual RCE conference to provide space for learning, networking and sharing good practice amongst RCEs. Since then the global conferences have been held as follows:

 Kenya requested to hold the 8th Global RCE Conference.
The 2012 conference in South Korea was held under the theme ‘Co-existence: Harmony among Cultures, Being and Natural world for our Sustainable Future.’
Kenya due to her leadership role in RCEs in Africa was invited to make a presentation during the policy makers’ round table discussion on engaging ESD and RCEs. The session was attended by high-level policy makers and renowned professors from RCEs. The key objectives were to understand the nature of policy support given to RCEs and how governments work with RCEs. Japan, Kenya, Korea and Indonesia presented their case studies. Each case was unique. Japan was noted to be actively engaging at international level by funding activities at the UNU-IAS. Japan also has Environmental Education Law, which strengthens ESD interventions. Kenyan RCE activities were mainstreamed in the workplan of NEMA where the Authority plays 4 roles including capacity building, funding, lobbying and conflict resolution. Korea’s TongYoung Municipality was seen to be actively involved in the RCE as the focal point. RCE Cebu in Indonesia presented a case whereby they actively involved the communities in coming up with and implementing interventions.

2013 global RCE conference
NEMA made a presentation on the country’s preparedness to host the 2013 conference stressing that there was a collaborative effort, involving continental RCEs, UNU and UNEP.  The participants lauded Kenya’s request and endorsed it. Thus Kenya will host the 2013 RCE Global Conference at UNEP Headquarters from 25th – 29th November 2013.