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Education for sustainable developmentnetworks, potential and challenge: acritical reflection on the formation ofthe Caribbean Regional NetworkLorna Down a & Henderson Nurse ba University of the West Indies , Jamaicab Erdiston Teachers' Training College , BarbadosPublished online: 27 Apr 2007.
To cite this article: Lorna Down & Henderson Nurse (2007) Education for sustainable developmentnetworks, potential and challenge: a critical reflection on the formation of the Caribbean RegionalNetwork, Journal of Education for Teaching: International research and pedagogy, 33:2, 177-190,DOI: 10.1080/02607470701259473
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Education for sustainable development
networks, potential and challenge: a
critical reflection on the formation of
the Caribbean Regional Network
Lorna Down*a and Henderson Nurseb
aUniversity of the West Indies, Jamaica; bErdiston Teachers’ Training College, Barbados
In this paper we seek to reflect critically on the process of establishing a Caribbean Network for the
reorientation of teacher education to address sustainability. We begin by addressing the origin and
purpose/value of the network. As a sub-network of the UNITWIN/UNESCO International
Network for the Reorientation of Teacher Education to Address Sustainability and as a Caribbean
initiative for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014), the
Network has faced many challenges since its inception in 2004–2005. In critically reflecting on
these challenges, we identify and focus on major foundational problems for any ESD network. In
particular, there is the challenge of how an alliance deals with multiple subject positions, an issue
which the existing literature on networks appears to have neglected, yet one which is crucial
especially for nations whose subjectivities have been threatened. Exploring the concepts of non-
alignment and the in-between space the paper proposes a way in which this problem and others
can be effectively addressed.
Introduction
Amidst flood rains and the threat of a hurricane, the launch of the Decade for
Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) in the Caribbean took place in
October 2005. The launch, ironically enhanced by the natural disasters mentioned,
sharply focused the region’s attention on issues of sustainable development and on
the role that an education that addresses these issues in a systematic way could play
in the development of the region. In keynote speeches and small group discussions,
participants explored the concept of education for sustainable development (ESD),
its ambiguities and its complexities. They reflected on the difference between their
existing educational programmes including environmental education and one with a
sustainability focus. Though the term ESD was new to many, questions concerning
*Corresponding author: The Institute of Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona,
Kingston 7, Jamaica, WI. Email: [email protected]
Journal of Education for Teaching
Vol. 33, No. 2, May 2007, pp. 177–190
ISSN 0260-7476 (print)/ISSN 1360-0540 (online)/07/020177-14
# 2007 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/02607470701259473
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whether or not existing programmes already carried such a sustainability focus, were
raised. What emerged strongly was the need for continuing dialogue—for clarifying
the concept of ESD and more so indigenizing it. These needs are ones that the
Caribbean Network of Teacher Educators was designed to meet.
As envisioned by the leadership of the Network, the launch of the DESD provided
an opportunity to establish the Network, formed the previous year, on a firmer
footing and to extend its membership. The Caribbean Network, whose efforts had
spurred the launch of the conference, and who under the umbrella of UNESCO and
the University of the West Indies along with other partners such as the National
Environmental Planning Agency—the Government body in Jamaica responsible for
environmental matters—helped to plan the conference, was gratified to see the
enthusiastic response to its invitations to join the Network.
The progress of the Network has, however, been slow, despite the fact that
UNESCO, Caribbean office, lists its formation as one of the major follow-up
activities for the UNDESD. Moreover, regional networks are cited as one of the
outputs of UNESCO’s Implementation Scheme for the Decade (UNESCO, 2005).
Partnerships and networks are, in fact, listed as one of the seven strategies for
fulfilling the broad goals of the DESD:
Education for sustainable development is cross-sectoral and engages a wide variety of
institutions. The effectiveness of the Decade will depend on the strength and
inclusiveness of the partnerships, networks and alliances which it is able to develop
among all stakeholders at all levels. (UNESCO, 2005, p. 30)
In describing this less than desirable progress in the Caribbean, this paper will
explore the challenges of establishing a network for ESD by critically reflecting on
the formation of the Caribbean Regional Network, its objectives, particularly what it
hopes to achieve in the Decade, its challenges and the causes for the limitations in its
progress against the background of the Caribbean with its own specific strengths and
needs as a developing region. Specifically, we look at the challenge of forming
alliances, of what needs to be taken into account for effective partnerships in
promoting ESD, including communication in the region and the socio-economic
situation of the Caribbean.
Fundamentally, the problem facing the Caribbean Network is a Caribbean issue.
It is a problem that was well-articulated and seriously addressed with devastating
consequences in the seventies by the then Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael
Manley: the problem of alignment or rather non-alignment. In other words, it is a
question of what it means to have a Caribbean Network, how it is to situate itself in
global space and how it will move beyond national/local borders into a regional
body. Though the non-alignment movement might have collapsed, Manley’s theory
(1986) that the Caribbean’s future lies in centring on a regional thrust and not in an
alignment with western superpowers is particularly relevant to a critical discussion of
the formation of a Caribbean Network of teacher educators to address sustainability.
The Caribbean Network is responding to an education thrust that has been defined
in a global, more specifically, Northern context and is attempting alignment with this
context in various ways. The Caribbean Network is also a partnership between the
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Caribbean region and its northern neighbour, Florida. To further complicate
matters, the Caribbean region is not a homogenous group of islands, but mainly
independent nations with many commonalities but also with significant differences.
To move beyond borders, national and regional, is problematic. Finding an in-
between space, (Bhabha, 1994) is perhaps the way forward. That is, ESD and a
regional ESD network have to be conceptualized as participating within the socio-
historical, political, economic and environmental realities of each nation and yet
beyond the specificities of nationhood. This goal is consonant with the objective of
the UNESCO DESD implementation scheme (2005, p. 18) which speaks to the
need for ESD to be ‘locally relevant: addressing local as well as global issues’.
The Caribbean Network and UNESCO DESD implementation scheme
The Caribbean Network is a sub-network of the UNESCO International Network of
Teacher Education Institutions to address education for sustainability (see
McKeown & Hopkins, this issue). The International Network, consisting of 30
teacher education institutions in 28 countries, was created by UNESCO, through
the establishment of a UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair on Reorienting Teacher
Education to Address Sustainability at York University in Toronto, Canada.
The creation of regional networks was the next logical step. Regional networks,
which were part of the Chair’s vision, were established to ensure the wider
participation of teacher educators in regional areas and to focus on issues,
programmes and projects in ESD that are culturally relevant. UNESCO DESD
documentation on objectives and strategies (2005) lists the facilitation of
networking, linkages, exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD as one
of its objectives and acknowledges that cultural relevance is an integral part of the
Strategy. The UNESCO document (2005), in effect, states that how sustainable
development and related educational processes are to be attained will vary from
context to context. Thus there is acknowledgement that ESD will be shaped by the
specific context of each region within the common framework of the four major
thrusts: improving access to quality basic education; reorienting existing education
programmes; developing public understanding and awareness, providing training
and the three spheres: the environment, the society and the economy.
It was, therefore, with the understanding of the need to promote a regional
understanding and approach to ESD that that 33 representatives from across the
Caribbean and Florida met in Florida in February 2004 for the first consultation/
conference of the Caribbean Regional Network of Teacher Educators. Five
Caribbean countries were represented—Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica,
Trinidad and Tobago but most of the participants were from the State of Florida.
Filled with high hopes and expectations this group exchanged knowledge about
sustainability issues and educational programmes for sustainability in the region. It
was clear that the group had many sustainability issues in common and had
attempted in various ways to address these through their educational institutions.
Acknowledging that the whole is greater than its parts and that the capacity of the
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individual can be strengthened as a result of the work of the whole, the group
believed that its members could arrive at solutions to problems together that
individually they could only address in a limited way. By the end of the consultation
there was consensus on the establishment of the Caribbean Network. Initially, two
representatives from Florida Gulf Coast University (there is now only one), one from
Barbados and one from Jamaica were elected to chair the Network. The immediate
task was for each chair to contact members from their sub region and decide on the
next steps. Plans included the setting up of a web site and a List Serve (an online
communication group) to facilitate dialogue among the members of the Network.
The formation of the Caribbean Network—major issues
The formation of the Caribbean Network, however, raises an important issue—that
of the constituents of an alliance, of who and what is represented. It was an issue that
was not considered at the Florida consultation. The alliance between the Caribbean
and Florida was perhaps also not seen as problematic because Florida is often
regarded as part of the wider Caribbean. In Jamaica, for example, it is referred to as
Kingston 30, that is, another postal zone of Jamaica because of the high numbers of
Caribbean immigrants there. Travel between the Caribbean and Florida is frequent,
comparatively inexpensive and easy—there are up to five flights a day to Miami from
Jamaica. Yet such an alliance though it can clearly be mutually beneficial is also
problematic. The cultural ethos though similar is in many respects is also vastly
different. Florida is a state in the United States of America, an imperial power, with
all the privileges that this status confers. The identity of the network, of its
constituency and its constituents, was only raised later and obliquely in an on-line
dialogue in the context of the naming of the Network.
A Caribbean/Florida partnering could mean the enhancement of the work in ESD
development for both groups and one can see Florida as part of the extended region
of the Caribbean. Whether or not Floridians would be happy with being part of a
regional network named Caribbean has not, however, been discussed. This
partnering though it has the capacity to enhance the work of both groups also has
the potential to blur the focus on the local needs of both. There is thus some muted
dissonance. As Bhabha and Manley have articulated in different ways border
crossings are political movements. Yet a ‘liminal space’, as Bhabha argues, between
borders offers a way out of dependency and imperialism, out of the duality of self/
other constructions in north/south relationships. Arrival at that in-between space,
Caribbean–Florida, though an uncertain and complex undertaking, is something
worth exploring as it can offer a model for new ways of partnering for global
sustainability. To ignore this issue or to circumvent it diplomatically is to place such
alliances at risk.
A network for ESD also needs a common understanding of the concept that is the
basis for its formation even as specific regions develop their own definitions. An
initial online dialogue on the concept of ESD undertaken by the members of the
Network proved to be a vigorous discussion about how ESD differed from
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environmental education or indeed whether it differed or not. It was a discussion
that was repeated in a teacher education group at the regional conference launching
the DESD, this time with many different participants. The intensity of the
discussion again highlighted the lack of ease with definitions of ESD. The concept as
espoused by UNESCO documents (2003, 2005) refer to education that addresses
environment, society and economy. Specifically, the UNESCO International
Implementation Scheme (2005) makes the point that the concept is an evolving
one. It then elaborates the three key areas of sustainable development. To
summarize the UNESCO definition—the area of society is seen in terms of social
institutions and their role in change and development, inclusive of participatory
systems. The environment speaks to an awareness of the resources and fragility of
the physical environment and the affects of human on it; the economy is the
recognition of the limits and potential of economic growth and their impact on
society and the environment. The document further states that ‘ESD is
fundamentally about values, with respect at the centre, for others for the
environment, for the resources of the planet’ (UNESCO, 2005, p. 2).
Yet despite UNESCO’s extended definition, the concept of ESD is a contested
one. Caribbean intellectuals, like Errol Miller (2005), have also raised the matter of
the contradictory nature of the term—sustainable development. Jickling’s (1992,
2004) ironic piece ‘Why I don’t want my children educated for sustainable
development’ further discloses problems with this term. Scott and Gough (2004)
define the term as a process through which we learn how to live more in tune
with the environment and how to build the capacity to live more sustainably. They
also assert that sustainable development cannot be a goal, an end state to be
achieved as there are no end states; sustainable development has to be seen as an
adaptive approach to managing human–environment co-evolution. They elaborate
that an overall goal for learning, which defines learning as part of the process for
sustainable development, is preferable to that which sees learning as a means of
implementing sustainable development. ESD is elided in such arguments. Notably
the term itself is absent in the titles or subtitles of Scott’s and Gough’s recent com-
prehensive texts on sustainable development, as if the writers had neatly conspired to
evade it.
The ambiguity of a concept that is the basis for the formation of a network has
serious implications. Responses that have emerged, as a consequence, include those
where educators claim that ESD is no different from what has been done before or
that it is simply the latest Northern agenda. Clarification/elaboration of the concept
is thus important. Perhaps the soundest response is that of concrete examples that
ground the abstraction of the term. The complexity of, and even uncertainty about
the concept of ESD can also be seen as part of the process of learning how to
transform society, how to make it develop in a way so that there will be quality of life
for future generations. Moreover, this lack of clarity and seeming absence of
definitive connection to existing educational goals, which Jickling and others decry,
can provide the freedom of space for each region to indigenize the concept, to fill in
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the spaces in the UNESCO framework definition. To illustrate this point, we refer to
the Mico Project.
The Mico Project
The Mico Project (2005) was undertaken as part of the UNESCO International
Network of Teacher Educators work in ESD. Using the UNESCO definition or
framework for ESD, a group of lecturers in the Department of Languages, at a
teachers’ college in Jamaica, decided to infuse ESD into an existing literature course
for pre-service teachers. They decided that the course would address the issue of
violence—a major social sustainability issue in their country. In doing so, they
aligned the existing objectives of the course with those of ESD which they
interpreted as a focus on values and on environment, society and economy. The
lecturers explored with their students major environmental problems to make
students aware of the fragility of the physical environment. They also provided the
opportunity for the students to make the connection between social and economic
development with that of environmental concern. Of particular importance was the
drive to take action—which was one of the major differences from the way the course
was taught previously.
The study of violence in relation to the selected texts in the course led to a number
of actions to deal with violence. One was a conflict resolution workshop in order to
give student teachers the tools for dealing with violence and to enable them to work
with students in the classroom who needed these tools. There was also the design of
peace projects, so that these pre-service teachers became focused on working with
communities—to understand that their learning was no narrow ivory tower’s
experience; that their studies were about understanding and transforming their
world. Other actions included journal writing and sharing, which provided a space
for students to express and reflect on their own experiences of and responses to
violence. ESD was defined in this situation as education that actively seeks to
improve the quality of life in the society by addressing (a) major sustainability
problem(s).
A network for ESD can thus derive its understanding of the concept on projects
that its members and others are involved in. Members exchanging ideas and notes
on their projects and their specific contexts can thus provide the group with a clearer
understanding of what it means to educate for sustainable development. The
UNESCO Guidelines for reorienting teacher education to address sustainability
(2005) which has compiled case studies on ESD projects is a tool for further
clarification of the concept of ESD.
Using the actions/projects of its members, a Caribbean Network of Teacher
Educators has the potential to develop its own philosophy of education with
sustainability as a central issue, as it takes into account both the specificity of the
action within the context of regional cultural, economic, social, political and
environmental needs as well as its global reach. If the Caribbean Network arrives at a
clear and substantial definition of ESD and is able to articulate its common vision
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and purpose, it has the potential to influence regional educational systems so that
sustainability is embedded in content and pedagogy. That is, the Network will help
to take education beyond classroom walls into the community where students
actively engage in tackling environmental, social and economic problems not just
conceptually but practically. Hopkins et al. (1996) speak to the stage of becoming
involved and taking action even as one may start the practice of ESD with the
identification of issues and helping people understand where and how they can learn
more about it. The practice of a select few, in a developing region, theorizing in a
safe contained space called a school, a college or a university has to shift to that select
few also finding and enacting the practical parallels to their abstract ideas. In other
words, what is needed is the academic who is prepared to synthesize theory and
practice. In this case, praxis becomes central to the academic programme, informing
and being informed by theory.
The Caribbean context
A brief discussion of the Caribbean context in which the Network is situated will
help to clarify the challenges of alliances, that of the Caribbean and Florida, as well
as those among islands. The difficulties posed by border crossings are not limited to
the US mainland. The discussion will also include a critical reflection on other
challenges related to understanding and affecting an ESD agenda. Moreover, an
analysis of the challenges faced by this initiative for the UNDESD requires reflection
on the Caribbean context as it has influenced the formation and the current progress
of the Caribbean Network.
Independence and self-government are important to Caribbean peoples. As a set
of postcolonial nations, they have been marked by a history of European
imperialism, migration, resistance, with all the complexity, ambiguity and complicity
that are implied in these processes (Fanon, 1952, 1961; Said, 1977; Bhabha, 1994)
and a continuing subjectivity to overt or subtle forms of neo-colonial domination
(Ashcroft et al., 1995). This has led to fierce assertions of Caribbeanness at times.
To illustrate, Manley’s (Marable, 1993) insistence on the sovereignty of Jamaica to
forge its own path and alliances, irrespective of the demands of industrialized
nations, did not falter even when his Government was threatened by economic
sanctions from the superpowers. This assertion of a Caribbean sovereignty, in fact
identity, pervades the region even in islands that are not yet politically independent
or in a region that is still economically dependent on the industrialized North. No
doubt too, the perspective of the Florida members is also shaped by their own
equally strong affirmation of a US identity. Thus the identity of a Caribbean/Florida
alliance has to be carefully wrought.
An alliance of Caribbean nations also faces some difficulties. Perhaps because the
sovereignty of these nations is such a fragile thing, or perhaps because it had to be
fought for so strongly, each Caribbean nation jealousy guards its independence. Yet
the importance of regional unity has always been recognized, to some extent and
there is growing unity among Caribbean countries. Enslavement and colonization by
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Europeans have provided a similar historical context within which the countries have
developed. Slaves from Africa, indentured servants from Asia and immigrants from
Europe and the Middle East have produced a rich and diverse demographic and
cultural mix which gives the region much of its character. Despite the failure of a
major political union—that of the political federation of the islands in the 1960s—
the Caribbean region has been working towards a unified approach to many of its
social, economic, environmental and governance issues. Regional bodies such as the
Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), the Caribbean Court
of Justice and more recently the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, indicate an
understanding of some of the common problems of sustainability that the region as a
whole faces—justice, peace, violence, poverty and economic relations. There is also
the recognition that tackling these together instead of singularly will lead to more
effective use of resources and allow a more creative response to flow from the
synergy created by a more unified region.
Similarities in education systems and programmes of primary, secondary and
tertiary level education exist across the islands. There is a regional university—the
University of the West Indies and a common regional examination for the upper
secondary grades (Grades 11–13, 15- to 18-year-olds) equivalent to the English
GCSE and A levels. Therefore the promotion of ESD in the school curriculum
across the region, though no easy task, is not insurmountable. If regional
Governments put policies in place and train teachers to address sustainability
issues, embedding ESD in the curriculum and educational institutions as a whole
should follow.
The very concrete problem of communication inhibits regional unity. A network is
dependent to a great extent on the quality and the regularity of communication
between its members. In the Caribbean effective communication is a challenge
because of a number of factors. These include the geography of the region. The
countries in the Caribbean lie in a crescent shaped area roughly between North and
South America, stretching from the Bahamas in the north, just off the coast of
Florida, to Guyana and Suriname in the south, on the South American mainland.
The larger countries are Guyana, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (The Dominican
Republic and Haiti) and Trinidad. The population of the region is over 34 million
people. Additionally, there are language differences. English is the official language
of most of the islands but there are also French-speaking and Spanish-speaking
islands in the region. Additionally, there is the issue of Creole—the native
language—in these islands. The Caribbean Network has at this present time chosen
to use English as its official means of communication. In doing so, however, it has
effectively limited the participation of the non-English speaking Caribbean.
Travel between the islands is a difficult and costly undertaking. Travel
distances vary from around 3000 km to under 100 km between countries. With
few ferries carrying passengers among the islands, transportation is predominantly
by air. It can cost as much to travel between Barbados and Jamaica as it does to
travel from Barbados to New York or Florida. Rising fuel prices exacerbate this
problem. Thus the first meeting of the Network was held in Miami, Florida as it was
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cheaper to fly participants from around the Caribbean to Florida than to another
Caribbean island.
Communication is also affected by the limited information and communication
technology (ICT) in the region. The level of technology, moreover, varies from
island to island in terms of both hardware and software on the one hand, and access
on the other. One cannot assume that access to computers is readily and easily
available. Even some teacher educators who have access to computers have this
access only at their institutions and this access may not necessarily be dedicated for
their own individual use.
Ironically, the major sustainability problems that the region holds in common
clearly unite it and create an urgency for a network. These include unsustainable
exploitation and loss of natural resources (overexploitation of the fisheries, for
example, has led to stock depletion and biomass reduction and poaching by foreign
flag vessels exacerbates this problem). The region’s dependence on strategic imports
(such as oil for most of the islands), a narrow export base and unequal, unjust
trading agreements with industrialized countries pose serious threats to a sustainable
economic base. These countries have to deal with globalization, in the form of the
forced opening up of their markets to cheap imports with which their own small
producers cannot compete. High levels of unemployment and poverty, crime and
violence are also major social development problems. These social, economic,
environmental problems are all inter-connected and if not addressed seriously will
continue to destabilize the region.
Despite all of this, no Caribbean regional policy for ESD exists. Caribbean
Governments have signed all the relevant international agreements but have
not formulated regional or national policies for ESD. The result is that there is a
fragmented approach to addressing ESD. Although there are many agencies
that deal with social, economic and environmental problems, Caribbean
Governments appear not to recognize the interrelatedness of these problems,
nor do they seem to focus on education as the basis for developing a sustainable
society.
The Caribbean Network: implications for ESD networks in general
In reflecting on the Caribbean Network in the international context of the
UNDESD and the regional context of the Caribbean, we cannot escape the
problem of what it means to work in alliance with those beyond one’s own national
borders. What is clear is that conceptualizing how the design of a network for ESD,
how it should work is as challenging as conceptualizing the guiding philosophy or
vision of that network.
The literature on networks speaks to the importance of structure, workplans
(Roussel, 2006; Creech & Willard, 2001) membership, communication (Creech &
Willard, 2001) and relationships (Gomes-Casseres, 2005). A systematic, structured
and disciplined approach to the organization of a network has been posited as
essential for forging a good alliance. This in effect points to the need for outlining
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leadership roles, for working out clear decision-making mechanisms and having a
well-defined plan on how the network will operate. The literature also draws
attention to the importance of communication for networking and suggests different
ways of doing this. Selective membership is further suggested as an important
element for an effective network. Creech and Willard (2001) argue that it is to the
network’s advantage to select members based on their connection to decision-
makers that the network wishes to influence and also in terms of their skills. They
highlight two key skills: research capability and communication expertise. Of course,
the skills required depend on the needs/purpose of the network. These are all
important factors and yet a key factor, the need in an effective alliance for that in-
between space has been omitted. At the centre of any network is the question of
relations. Networking is essentially about relationships and relationships are
generally conceptualized in terms of power, hierarchies of leadership of who decides
what. These features of relationships lead to general concerns about strategic
alliances in a network.
If an ESD network is to espouse the qualities identified in the UNESCO DESD
Implementation Strategy (2005) it will make respect and participatory decision
making central. It will need to move to relationships based on cooperation and
participation and interconnectedness. For such networks it will be necessary to forge
relationships based not only on a common vision, but on participation and
empowerment. Sterling’s description of an ecological worldview that speaks to ‘a
shift of emphasis from relationships based on separation, control and manipulation
towards those based on participation, empowerment and self-organization’
(Sterling, 2001, p. 49) is particularly useful as networks chart their course. So too
is Capra’s (1997) analysis of an ecological community that emphasizes the
interdependence, interconnectedness of a network of relationships as well as his
outline of the ecological principles of the cyclical flow of resources, cooperation, and
partnership.
The challenge is how to move from the usual power broking to these more
organic, ecological relationships. It is important to recognize that regions like
individuals are constructed in particular ways—shaped by their specific history and
culture. Members from a region come therefore to an alliance with a particular
perspective on its status—shaped by their location within their own context (class,
race, economic and political power) and their prior relationship with others. In a
North/South alliance shadowed by relations of subordination and domination, one
can choose to ignore a priori ways of being and allow the Caribbean alliance to be
subverted or one can confront these and change them.
Manley’s (1986) call for Caribbean non-alignment can be seen as an insistence on
the Caribbean’s populations need to formulate and assert their subjectivities—a
necessary first step if one is expected to move beyond subjectivity to alliances.
Alliances require movement beyond fixed subjectivities and thinking; beyond
narratives of originary and initial subjectivities (Bhabha, 1994). Bhabha’s elabora-
tion of the in-between spaces, produced in the articulation of cultural differences, as
providing openings in which to shape strategies for individual and communal
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identity as well as collaboration and contestation, is a useful theory for exploring the
process of networking.
The in-between space in alliances needs to be considered. Failure to acknowledge
the usefulness or even necessity for this liminal space is likely to reduce the
effectiveness of a network. A Caribbean Regional Network requires an alliance with
people beyond its region and with a concept formulated in an international space.
So, too, do many other regional networks. Bhabha’s argument for an in-between
space does not, however, address how individuals or communities can operate there.
This space requires careful treading as it calls for the giving up of aspects of one’s
sovereignty and power as well as being open to different ways of being and different
languages.
International alliances for ESD call for a mutual move to this interstitial space.
The extent to which those in the North can secede from its economically privileged
position by relinquishing aspects of privilege and expectations of dominance as well
as by opening up to ways of being and acting differently from their own subjectivity
is uncertain. It is equally important that individual Caribbean nations find that
middle ground that requires both an openness to others and a relaxing of self-
definitions. This fear of being remade by the other, which attends movement to this
middle space, comes because we forget that no subject is totally self-constituting and
that the self is formed in interaction with others. Yet this interstitial space between
the self and the other offers possibility for the creation of something rich and new,
transformative and sustainable.
Nonetheless, if an alliance is to survive in this critical space, dependent on
particular kinds of relations, then it is essential to build trust—an element, given its
abstract nature and perhaps its association with the feminine that is often ignored.
To build trust necessitates ongoing dialogue and communication in various forms.
Though a long-term activity, the building of relationships is a foundation for the
progress of a network. Within a context where each member recognizes their
interconnections with others, where there is mutual trust and where there is a high
level of cooperation, there follows commitment to and support for the network. A
sense of being a part of a group becomes established. Interestingly, Ben Gomes-
Casseres in his presentation on ‘Mastering alliance strategy’ (2005) emphasizes the
importance of the organic process of growing relationships and not just doing
pragmatic deals that are important for building effective alliances.
These are challenges that the Caribbean Regional Network will have to deal with
effectively. There has, however, been some progress. The Caribbean Regional
Network has established an online communication group, where members are able
to discuss various issues and plans related to ESD. Though communicating online as
a group is still in its infancy, it is a step towards consolidating membership, and
growing relationship. Significantly, one of the first discussions is about what the term
ESD means.
Translating the UNESCO DESD definition into a regional one is a necessary first
step for a network. Operating on the idea of an-between space, of allowing space for
different subjectivities, for crossovers and hybrids, there will be that conceptual
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muddle, against which Jickling (1992) protests. The argument here is that the
allowance of multiple perspectives, even a plethora of definitions, styles and
approaches to ESD will make for a richness of voices. If this richness is responded to
with respect, listened to without demanding mimicry of or the speech style of some
superior selves, these voices, can through group synergy, arrive at a unique and
hopefully harmonious expression. This, in effect, responds to UNESCO’s emphasis
on ESD as ‘fundamentally about values, with respect at the centre: respect for
others, including those of present and future generations, for difference and
diversity, for the environment, for the resources of the planet we inhabit’
(UNESCO, 2005, p. 5).
The corollary to this is diversity in membership. Creech and Willard’s (2001)
proposal to select members based on their connection to decision-makers that the
network wishes to influence, their research capability and/or their communication
expertise is a limited one. Aiming for diverse membership recognizes that skills and
connections will fill only some of the roles of a network—a network which aims at
participatory democracy, collaboration, transformation of society will need members
who are emotionally intelligent; able to relate well to others, to listen effectively, to
perceive the group wisdom, to be nurturers rather than experts, a goal also
articulated in the UNESCO DESD Implementation Strategy (2005). The
discussion about the Caribbean Network, framed by questions of non-alignment
and the interstices between self and other and between regions, has been grappling
with the issues of vision, ownership and process: whose network, what purpose(s),
how will these be effected and by whom? It seems that in the final analysis ownership
of the Network will be determined by who participates and how.
The UNESCO DESD publication on Objectives and Strategies for ESD (2003)
suggests seven strategies that stakeholders can apply both in their institutional
frameworks and in the networks and alliances in which they function: These are:
vision-building; consultation and ownership; partnership and networks; capacity
building and training; research and innovation; use of information and commu-
nication technologies (ICT); monitoring and evaluation. Significantly, networks and
alliances are also listed as strategies for building larger networks.
Alliances within alliances are thus advocated as a way forward. Recent ESD
workshops held by the Joint Board of Teacher Education at The University of the
West Indies, the Jamaican body responsible for teacher education curriculum and
assessment, in association with the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA), the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) Environmental Action Programme
(ENACT) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) for teacher educators in Jamaica, Belize and the Turks and Caicos
Islands emphasized the need for ongoing support of teacher educators. While
lecturers in teacher education institutions explored the concept of ESD, discussed
whole college approaches to sustainability, reflected on transdisciplinary approaches
to lesson planning and left the workshop with action plans, it was evident that for
these plans to be effected these lecturers would require ongoing support. The
Network is designed to meet such a need and is being called upon to meet this need.
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Significantly, the ESD workshops were led by some members of the Caribbean
Regional Network.
What the partnership that organized these workshops showed is that although the
reach for the Caribbean Regional Network is beyond national borders, what happens
locally/nationally is crucial for its development. In effect, a dialogic relationship
between national and regional groups is essential for effecting meaningful change.
The perspectives offered by Manley and Bhabha have to be seen as mutually
reinforcing. Without narratives of initial subjectivities, the in-between space will
simply be a place of loss for most. Working on the ground nationally is as important
as the work across national borders, and in fact reflects the UNDESD proposed
situated learning model (UNESCO, 2005).
Moreover, a network does not exist as an end in itself. Even as the Caribbean
Regional Network struggles to get off the ground, one has to bear in mind that a
network is being formed in order to address the environmental, social and economic
problems of our times, to create a better future. The goal is as UNESCO (2005)
frames it is to encourage changes in behaviour that will create a more sustainable
future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for
present and future generations. Precisely how that goal will be worked out by
regional networks will evolve as the networks grow.
Conclusion
The Caribbean Regional Network faces many challenges at both the conceptual and
practical level. It has to determine what it means to educate in the Caribbean region
for sustainable development. The abstractness of the concept and its origin in a
Northern/international space require that members reflect on and indigenize its
meaning. It is hoped that such theorizing (which seems excessive in the current
literature on ESD) will be informed by action, which in turn will deepen as it is
reflected on.
It is equally clear that the Caribbean Regional Network, like any other ESD
network, has the potential for clarifying and communicating the concept of ESD,
assisting with the reorienting educational systems, identifying and sharing innovative
practices and for making recommendations to Governments on how to incorporate
ESD into policy and national curricula. Making alliances with various national
organizations is pivotal, for on the ground work will provide it with the necessary
experience to enable it to fulfil this potential. Its present bottom-up approach with a
group of teacher educators is crucial. Not only is it engaging teacher educators on a
broad basis but also the many pre-service teachers at their institutions.
The challenges being faced by the Caribbean Network have to be acknowledged as
part of the process for facilitating and enhancing the collaboration needed in teacher
education as it works towards a regionally and globally sustainable future. Moreover,
many of these challenges are inherent in any alliance—their particular shape
acquired by the specificity of their location. Most important, the basic issues of how
to allow for multiple subject positions in an alliance, to ensure space for different
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voices and different styles and how to use a UNESCO frame for defining ESD in
regional terms are crucial issues that have to be addressed in order to have an
effective network. What is needed now is for these challenges to be openly discussed
by Network members and a clear plan of action articulated so that the Caribbean
Network along with other ESD stakeholders can tackle the enormous problems of
sustainability concretely and so contribute to the transformation of our region and
world.
The potential for a network that is able to create a hybrid space where, to use a
choral metaphor, the self sings but at a volume that allows it to hear the voice of
others—is tremendous. In the final analysis, such a network will provide that much
needed model for sustainable North/South relations, a subject too often indirectly
addressed on the sustainable development agenda yet one which lies at the heart of
this world’s future.
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