This presentation is part of the 2015 RCE Conference of the Americas, 9-12 August 2015, Grand Rapids, USA

1. RCE Americas
Strategic Session I Workshop
Roger Petry
Norman Christopher August 10, 2015

2. Discussion Outline
• GAP Framework Moving Forward
• Grand Rapids RCE GAP Framework
(Draft for Discussion)
• RCE Americas GAP Framework
– Portal Projects
– Case Studies/Presentations
(Draft for Discussion)
• Potential Support Areas for the RCE Americas
– Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
(www.aashe.org)
– Base of Pyramid Learning Labs (www.bopglobalnetwork.org)

3. The GAP Framework
Priority Action Areas:
1. Advancing policy;
2. Integrating sustainability practices into
education and training environments (whole-
institution approaches);
3. Increasing the capacity of educators and
trainers;
4. Empowering and mobilizing youth;
5. Encouraging local communities and municipal
authorities to develop community-based ESD
programmes.

4. Grand Rapids RCE DRAFT
GAP Focus Area Examples
1. Advancing policy
– Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, and Institute of Public Utilities
at Michigan State University
– Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce
– Michigan League of Conservation Voters
– West Michigan Environmental Action Council
– Cities within West Michigan Region e.g. Grand Rapids, Holland
2. Integrating sustainability practices into education and training environments
(whole-institution approaches)
– West Michigan Resiliency Plan
– Business Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association and E3 Furniture
Sustainability Standard
– City of Grand Rapids Sustainability Plan
– GVSU Sustainability Guide for students, faculty, and staff
– Spectrum Health and Practice Green Healthcare
– US Green Building Council and Leading Environmental and Energy Design
(LEED) building certification

5. Grand Rapids RCE Draft
GAP Focus Area Examples Continued
3. Increasing the capacity of educators and trainers
– LEED AP (Accredited Professional) through US Green Building Council
– Greenfellow appointment at Grand Rapids Public Schools
– Groundswell program with GVSU for local colleges, universities, and high schools
for environmental education
– Economicology at City Middle High School in Grand Rapids
– Sustainable Development skillsets required for a job in the New Economy
4. Empowering and mobilizing youth
– Wege Prize Competition at Kendall College of Art and Design
– Plaster Creek Watershed Project with Calvin College and Youth
– Grand Rapids RCE Virtual Youth Conferences
– Grand Rapids Community College partnership with Habitat for Humanity
5. Encouraging local communities and municipal authorities to develop community-
based ESD programs
– Ignite TEDx event for WMCSP partnerships
– Seeds of Promise
– West Michigan Regional Community Sustainability Partnerships (CSPs)

6. RCE Americas Draft
GAP Focus Area Examples
Note:
P = Project
CS = Case Study
1. Advancing policy
Saskatchewan P The Sustainability and Education Policy Network: Leading Through Multi-Sector
Learning
2. Integrating sustainability practices into education and training
environments (whole-institution approaches)
Grand Rapids P ESD + SD Skillsets*
Saskatchewan P RCE K-12 Education Website*
Portland P RCE Greater Portland/GPSEN Launch Party
Portland P E4 Sustainability TeamWorks Team*
Portland P Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Finding Solutions through Sustainable
Development
Portland P Center for Civic Participation's Social Equity and Justice Forum
Portland P Coalition for a Livable Future's Regional Equity Atlas Mapping Equity in Portland
Training
Portland P Coalition for a Livable Future's Regional Equity Stories Exhibit
Tantramar CS "Education for Sustainable Development through the Efforts of RCE Tantramar:
The Development of an Outdoor Wetlands Environmental Science Classroom"
Shenandoah
Valley
CS "Using the Benefit Corporation Model to Develop a More Sustainable Region"

7. RCE Americas Draft
GAP Focus Area Examples Continued
Note:
P = Project
CS = Case Study
3. Increasing the capacity of educators and trainers
Bogota P Environmental Forums and Educational Conference*
Saskatchewan P Living Labs and Ecomuseums: Integrating Sustainability in Higher Education
Workshop, May 8, 2014
British Columbia P Environmental Learning Dissemination Project*
Portland P Social Media
Portland P Networking Socials
Portland P Amy Livingstone's Sacred Art Mandala
Portland P Wisdom of the Elders Film Release
Saskatchewan P Reduction of Pesticide Use in Regina
Saskatchewan P Saskatchewan Ecomuseums Initiative*
Saskatchewan P Small-Scale Fruit Production: A Demonstration of Permaculture Techniques
Saskatchewan CS "Fort Qu'Appelle Ecomuseum"
Lima-Callao CS "Traditional Knowledge in Peruvian Central Andes for Protection of Biodiversity
and Water"
Curitiba-Parana CS "Biodiversity Meetings: Sharing Knowledge and Seeds for Urban Agriculture"
Saskatchewan CS "Mobilizing the Voluntary Sector to Advance ESD: A Partnership with Higher
Education in Saskatchewan, Canada"

8. RCE Americas Draft
GAP Focus Area Examples Continued
Note:
P = Project
CS = Case Study
4. Empowering and mobilizing youth
Bogota P National Environmental Youth Network
British Columbia P EcoCity Youth
Grand Rapids P Youth Virtual Conference on Water Issues*
Grand Rapids P Wicked Problems of Sustainability
Grand Rapids P Youth Virtual Conference on Sustainability
Grand Rapids P Plaster Creek Stewards
Portland P International Virtual Youth Conference
Bogota CS "RCE Youth Ownership of Water Resources Through Education for Sustainable
Development Programs"
5. Encouraging local communities and municipal authorities to
develop community-based ESD programs
Grand Rapids P Seeds of Promise
Portland P Nature in Neighborhoods: Conservation Education Grant
Saskatchewan P Nature City Festival, Saskatoon
Greater Portland CS "Empowering Communities through the Heroic Imagination Projects, the Social
Sciences, and Education for Sustainable Development”

9. Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability Education
www.aashe.org
Resources:
– Campus Sustainability including operations, planning,
administration, and engagement resources
– Education and Research
– Sustainability Tracking Assessment Rating System (STARS)
– International college and university members

10. BoP Global Labs or Innovation Centers
www.bopglobalnetwork.org
The first BoP Lab began in the US was a consortium of companies, NGOs, entrepreneurs,
multilateral organizations, and academics working to discover and implement business
solutions to global poverty. Established in 2000, it grew out of the research and writings of Dr.
Stuart Hart in the late 1990s. Today, the Labs represent a vibrant community of academics and
practitioners in more than 20 countries that engage in knowledge creation and dissemination
about the theory and practice of creating sustainable businesses at the base of the economic
pyramid. With a focus on concept, theory and practice of the emerging field of BoP enterprise
development, they have three primary purposes:
1) Generate specific action research.
2) Disseminate knowledge through workshops, seminars, conferences, case studies,
publications and the media.
3) Identify, design, incubate and promote innovative business models with
companies and other stakeholders that will improve the social and economic
lifestyles of BoP communities.

11. The Base of the Pyramid
Clouds of Crises!
• Governance
• Healthcare
• Job Creation
•
•
Education
Resiliency
• Terrorism
• Malnutrition
• Sanitation
• Literacy
• Disease
• Food
• Job and Wealth
Creation
• Housing
• Health and
Wellness
• Educational
Attachment
• Safe Community
• Social
Entrepreneurship
“Quality of Life”
“Wellness”
“Survival”
Source: Adapted C.K. Prahalad and Stuart Hart, The Fortune at the
Bottom of the Pyramid
Top of
the Pyramid
1B+
(Quality of Life)
Base of the
Top of the
Pyramid
(Wellness)
Middle of the Pyramid
2B +
(Access to Services)
Base of the Pyramid
4B +
(Survival)
World Population
7B +

12. BoP Global Labs or Innovation Centers
BoP Lab Location
• Medillin and Bogota, Columbia
University of EAFIT
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
(Centro de Excelencia emvarejo-
FGV-EAESP)
• University of Vermont
• Lima, Peru
(University del Pacifico)
• Bogota, Columbia
(University Externado)
• Guatemala
Web Address
www.eafit.edu.co
www.cev.fgv.br
www.uvm.edu/business
www.up.edu.pe
www.portal.uexternado.edu.co
www.alterna.impact.org
General Activities of
BoP Labs
o Sustainable development
across private, public,
academic, and municipal
sectors;
o Emphasis on social
responsibility and social
venture innovation;
o ESD focus areas such as
Sustainable Enterprise
MBA program at the
University of Vermont;
o Provide network,
marketplace solutions,
impact and value
creation.

13. REGIONAL CENTRE OF EXPERTISE
ON EDUCATION FOR
SUSTA INABLE DEVELOPMENT
Second Americas Regional RCE Conference
28 February 2013 - 2 March 2013
Lima, Peru
DRAFT SUMltIARY REPORT
ACKNOWLEDGE D BY
. -': UNITED NATIONS
·._ UNIVERSITY
Annex 5
Draft Partnership Agreement for RCEs in the Americas
A G R E E M E N T O F fN T E N T ' TO F O R M A P A R T N E R S H .f P O R G A N I Z ATIO N
A R J S J N < j F R O M
T H E SECO N D I N T £ R N A T IO N A l . MEETING O F H E R;CJ;s O F T H E
A M E R. f r n
l n t e n . _
W e , t h e U N U niv e r s i t y R e g io n a l C e n t r e s o f E x pe r t is e in E d u c a t i o n f o r S u st a i r t a b l e
D e v e o p m e n t ( R C E ) £r o m t h e A m e ,-ic a s i . n a t t e n d a n c e a t o u r S e c o n d ln t e r n a t i o n a t
M e et " i n g u n a n i m o u s l y e x - p r e s s e d t h e i r 'in t e n tlo n t o e x p l o r e t h e f o n n a t i o n o f c1n
o v e r a r c h i : n g P a r t n e r s h ip o r s i m i l a r o r g a n l z : a t l o n . a J m e c h a n i s m t o s . t r e n g t h e n o u r
a biH t v t o s e t v e o u r c o m m u nit i e s n o w a n d in t:h e y e a r s a f t e r t h e U N D e c a d e o f
E du c a t i o n f o r S u s t a i nable D e v e t o p m e n t ( 20 0 5 - 2 014 ) . W hit e e a c h R C E w i l l m a in t a in
it s o w n c u r r e n t l y c o n s t i t u t e d In d e p e n d e n t s t a u s a n d d e c is i o n m a J c ioR,. t h e
p r o p 0 $ e d P a r t n e r s h i p w o u l d s e r v e a .s a n e w o o n - a o v e r n r n e n t a l o r g a n iz a t i o n ( N G O )
t o f a c i li t a t :e c o U e c . ti v e a c t i v t i e s b e t w e e n o u r R C E s a n d a c c o u n t . a ble t o t h e R C E s . T h e
g o a l o f t h e n e w p r o p o s e d N G O s t o a s s i s t R CEs w ork n g o n m u t u a l ly a g r e e d u p o n
i n i t i a s . T h is a s s i st a n c e m a y b e in t h e f o r m o f s e 4!!-k n g r e s o u r c e s , f i n a n c i a l o r
h u m a n .. o r r e p r e s e n t jn g t h e c o t l e c t iv e v ie w s o f t h e RCE.s. R C E r n e n ,b e r s o f t h e
P a r t n e r s h i p I d b e r e e . t o jo i n a n y s p e c if i c in t i a t i V e t h f e e l 'NOUld b e o f
b e n e f i t .

14. Rat ional
The RCE.s of the Amer icas have found that while we come from communities as far
apart as Northern Canada to in BrazU, there are numerous social, economic and
environmental sustainabHity issues that we hold in common that would benefit
from ESO. One such examp le is under-educated and unemployab le youth.In
sharing our experienc e we reafite that by working coUectively the RCEs coufd work
more effectiVely onissues. Some examp lesident ified are those that:
• have a common theme such as energy con.servatron o, waste reduction
• would benefit from intercuttural communk ation and perspectives
• are of global concern such as climate change or the loss of indigenous and
trad tional knowledge
• need teaching/training materials that are of a common language but too
expensive for one community to produce

15. S h a r e d P T in d p t e s
T h e RC€.s s u g g es t t h a t t h e p r o p o s e d P a r t n e r s h ip c o n t in u e s t o a d h e r e t o
t h e p r i n c i p l e s of" t r a n s p a r e n c y, in t e r c u J tu r a l r e s p e c t, t h e s h a r in g o f k n o w le dg e
a n d e x p e r t i s e Fo r aff m e m b e r RCEs . T h e P a r t n e r s h i p s hould r e a f f i rm t h e e x i s t in g
R CE p r in d p te s a l r e a d y tn h e - r e n t i n t h e g lo b a l R C E c o m m u n i t y a s e stab H s h e d b y
th e U n r t e d N a t i o n s U n iv e r s it y _
The Partnership woutd e nh anc e t h e c u rr e nt pr ind pfe of timufating dialogue and
interchange among our euttures that provide a souf'"Ce of inspitationto address the
f un da m e ntal susta n a.bHit y p:roblem s f a d n g o u r communities no w and in t h e
fm-es e ea ble futu re.
The n e w Partne rship w ifl re search ,. demo:ns t r a t and gen erally prom ote the use of
educationao public awareness, and training commonly referred t o as Educatio n for
Sustainable Development (ES.D) as. a crucial means to address t h e co m plexity
inherent in creating more susta!nable soc:ieties...
• Ptovidtng their members such ascornpanies government s non
governmental organizations (NGOS),, universities, schools and the general
pubfic withthe knowledge.. in fo rm ation, toots and better practices to
con.tribute to the .creation of a sustainable future for all.
• Prioritiztng incJut i.on and equtty i:n auoor RCE actions toimprove wettbelng
throughout the Ame.rlcas.
• Innovat ing ln a s:ynergtsti<: manner t.o demonstrate both collective and
competitive approachesof attaining an activet productive and sustainable
fife w ith social coh esion.
• Guaranteeing that the vah.tes. , prindpfes and practices · of ESO are
incteasingty put tnt o the core operatio ns of private, public, govemm enta•
and academic sectors within ouT r ions and beyond

16. The peopJe pre.sent in this Second Meeting of the RCEs of the Amaricas,. commit
toexptore creating a Partnership or simiia.r organizational mechanism that will
enab ethe RC.Esto:
• Work together on mutually agreed upon future projects and share the
progress, findings and the resources/expertise so developed
and in do ng so, alsocommitto:
• Promote the partid pat1on of students and teachers rn future RCE events
and meet ngs. Hopefully at feast, one student wUI accompany each RCE
defegation in alt the global antf r lonal meetings. Students stloufd be
transparently chosen by th eir RCE from secondary schools, institutes or
universities etc.
• lnd ude one or more 1eaders from the pdvate, gC>vernmental; non
governmental, pubfic sectors and other institutes and universities of the
RCEarea to attend further meetings(}f the R.CEsofthe Americas.