WSC-SD Annual Report 2008 by World Student Community for Sustainable Development

The World Student Community for Sustainable Development

Annual Report 2008/2009

www.wscsd.org

Table of Contents Letter to the reader……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 History……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 Report of Student Community Activities…………………………………………….………………………………………5 University of Tokyo Student Community (AGS‐UTSC) University of Tokyo, Japan……………5 Sustainability@MIT, MIT, United States……………………………………………………………………….10 Quark Society, American University of Cairo, Egypt………………………………………………………13 University of St Andrews Sustainable Development Society (SDsoc), Scotland……………..16 Unipoly, EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne, Switzerland………………18 Students for Global Democracy, Uganda………………………………………………………………………22 University of Regina Students for Sustainability, Canada………………………………………………26 [project 21], ETH‐Zurich, Switzerland……………………………………………………………………………29 WSC‐SD Fort Hare, South Africa.......................................................................................32 Students for Global Sustainability University of Nairobi, Kenya……………………………..…….36 Université de Yaoundé I – Association pour le Développement Durable, Cameroon…….40 Chalmers Students for Sustainability, Sweden……………………………………………………………..42 WSC‐SD finances……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..44 Report of the executive board activities………………………………………………………………………………….45 Co‐president………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………45 Co‐president, financial officer………………………………………………………………………………………48 Director of internal relations………………………………………………………………………………………..50 Regional manager: Africa……………………………………………………………………………………………..53 Regional manager: Europe and North America…………………………………………………………….54 Regional Manager: Latin America…………………………………………………………………………………56 Regional Manager: Asia………………………………………………………………………………………………..58 Webmaster…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..60 .

Dear reader, Welcome to the 2008‐2009 annual report of the World Student Community for Sustainable Develoment (WSC‐SD). This report consists of yearly updates from each of our student communities, followed by yearly summaries from last year’s WSC‐SD executive board. During the last year, the WSC‐SD has accelerated in its growth and has extended into new and interesting areas of sustainable development. We are currently between two to three thousand members from a total of thirty‐nine countries. Thus, it goes without saying, our strength is our diversity. With projects ranging from personal initiatives to large‐scale international programs, WSC‐SD members are making a significant difference in their local communities and abroad. The 2008 WSC‐SD year began with the annual summit, which was held in Regina, Canada by the University of Regina Students for Sustainability (WSC‐SD Regina) with a theme entitled ‘Societies of tomorrow’. The year ended with the 2009 summit in Zurich, Switzerland hosted by [project 21] with the title ‘The Realistic Side of the World: Sustainable Development and the Role of Economic and Political Institutions’. At both summits the host communities were able to invite and fully sponsor many of our WSC‐SD members from developing countries who may not have otherwise attended. The summit not only functions as an excellent student‐run conference, but more importantly as motivation for collaborative innovation. During the 2008‐2009 year, we have welcomed student communities from St Andrews, Scotland, Quark Society from Cairo, Students for Global Democracy from Uganda, and WSC‐SD Fort Hare into the WSCSD, where the St. Andrews Sustainable Development Society and Quark now hold full‐member status. It is with great pleasure to state that the WSC‐SD has reached a critical point in our existence. We are now finding countless interesting opportunities, we are becoming much more visible, we are forming many new and important partnerships and most importantly, we are actually launching several collaborative projects within the organization. We have discussed the possibility of collaborative projects for as long as I personally have been a part of the WSC‐SD, and now it is becoming a reality. From the reports of all of our student communities below, it is clear that not only are these student projects innovative, but equally as effective. WSC‐SD members truly are making a difference. Carl Justin Kamp IV Co‐President World Student Community for Sustainable Development 3

History In 2000, the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) introduced a new educational initiative to provide graduate students and advanced undergraduate students with an opportunity to learn more about sustainable development. The course was designed to be a 2‐week immersion into sustainability. Today, this successful endeavor exists as the Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES), a summer school held every year in Switzerland by ETH Sustainability, the former AGS Zurich. In the summer of 2000, as students from around the world gathered in Braunwald, Switzerland, the seeds for the formation of the WSC‐SD were planted and further developed at the AGS AM 2001 in Lausanne and the YES course in Braunwald in the same year. Just two years later student representatives from the University of Tokyo (UT), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Cocody‐ Abidjan founded the "AGS World Student Community" in San José, Costa Rica and held their first annual meeting. A few months later the name was changed to the current name World Student Community for Sustainable Development, in short WSC‐SD. This change was due to the fact that the students wanted to be an independent organization but still work closely together with AGS. In July 2003, an e‐journal called VISION was launched as a platform through which members of the WSC‐SD could share their ideas on sustainable development, update one another on their activities and get, on the one hand, the opportunity to publish own research in the field of sustainability and on the other hand to read about the newest findings from their peers. Over the years, VISION published more than 200 articles and attracts a large readership of several hundred readers per day! However, the VISION e‐journal is not functioning due to the lack of a VISION team. The VISION journal is currently being re‐launched in partnership with OIKOS international. In the last four years, we have welcomed several new student member groups. Students for Sustainability from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University became a partner in March 2004 and gained membership a year later. The student group from the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon was granted membership in June 2004, and this year in January, the University of Regina Students for Sustainability from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada were successfully accepted as partners and then members a year later. In 2008, we accepted as members the Students for Global Sustainability ‐ Nairobi, from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. During the 2008‐2009 year, we have welcomed student communities from St Andrews, Scotland, Quark Society from Cairo, Students for Global Democracy from Uganda, and WSC‐SD Fort Hare into the WSCSD, where the St. Andrews Sustainable Development Society and Quark now hold full‐ member status. Over the last year, we have received a steadily increasing number of emails from students wishing to be individual members. Welcome! 4

AGS‐UTSC Activities in 2008 ‐About UTSC‐ AGS‐UTSC (the University of Tokyo Student Community) aims to work as an academic platform for students who are interested in varieties of issues related to Sustainability. We would like to introduce a new nickname of our community, ‘SUS+ (SUS‐plus)’. SUS+ aims to be a positive community that brings something more, better and greater (plus!) to global sustainability. It is also meant to be abbreviations of Sustainable Planet and Sustainability platform. Nowadays, UTSC consists of more than 160 members, mainly graduate students. It has 4 Working Groups dealing with topics on sustainability: Climate Change Working Group, Sustainability Education Working Group, Water Working Group and Energy Working Group (g‐Enesis). UTSC connects and motivates students who are interested in Sustainability. Moreover, UTSC has variety of Networks inside university and all over the world; including other student communities, AGS faculty, AGS Network and WSC‐SD(World Student Community for Sustainable Development) consisting of 9 student communities including UTSC. UTSC is broadening these Networks by sending students to international conferences with support from Todai‐AGS.

Activities in 2008 AGS‐AM2008 @ MIT We sent 8 students from UTSC to join the AGS Annual Meeting held in MIT, United States in January 2008. Participants' majors were earth and planetary science, urban engineering, public policy, global agriculture, management of technology and a medicine. We had 6 posters to present during the Poster Session. We joined all the sessions they held and learned, shared the ideas, and made new networks with professors, researchers, and students.

AGS‐AM2008@MIT Student Summit for Sustainability 2008 (SSS2008)

We sent 8 students from UTSC to join Student Summit for Sustainability 2008(SSS2008) held in Regina, Canada in May 2008. About 80 students from 30 countries attended this event. The theme of SSS2008 was "Society for Tomorrow". We learned how to act together to make a sustainable society by presentation from keynote speakers, field trip, and sharing and discussing the various knowledge in their countries.

Student Summit for Sustainability2008@Regina Activities of each working group 1. Climate Change Working Group Exhibition about Climate Change at the May University Festival

At the university festival held in May, exhibition about climate change was made. CCWG played a central role in it. We tried to make visitors understand the issues about climate change as easy as possible. About 100 visitors come to our exhibition each day. For the exhibition, CCWG made history table about climate change to understand the process of recent topics, the table was 8 m wide by 1 m height. CCWG also showed the big mind‐map of climate change. Visitors put their own interests related to climate change topics. Though the exhibition we got a result to see our whole vision about climate change. We showed the photo slide show of COP13/CMP3 that our members attended last year.

Exhibition about Climate Change at the May University Festival

COP14 This year, 4 members of CCWG attended COP14/MOP4 held in Poznan, Poland. 2 of them are students from Graduate School of Public Policy, and the others are students of Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo. Before the conference, they had contacts and interviewed with professors, supervisors, and so on. They researched about forest issues, adaptation, Post‐2012, etc... At the conference, they participated in the formal negotiations of the convention bodies, as well as the side events. Following the conferences they also had casual conversations with delegates and members of the NGOs. During the time, they updated with their colleagues in Japan via emails and video clips on daily basis.

2. Sustainability Education Working Group The Sustainability Education Working Group is a group of students dedicated to spreading the concept of sustainability within the Japanese education domain, with a focus on higher education. This year, we studied and experimented with creating workshops (educational materials) that help teach the concept of sustainability. Throughout our experiences, we found that concepts as; 1)Diversity and 2)Educe (the act of bringing out the knowledge from within) are key elements to creating a good learning environment for sustainability. Activities we hosted/participated in are; 1) Educators' seminar on development education Our members took part in the annual meeting of Development Education Association. Through various seminars and hands on workshops of development education, we learned how to use the textbook, workshops and games for development education.

2) Exchange with a pioneer in alternative education

We met with Mr. Funabashi, CEO of a venture corporation offering alternative education material to schools in Japan and hosted a seminar discussing how to enlighten people to alternative education. 3) Hosting workshops This year, we hosted many workshops to practice what we have learnt through the seminars and meetings. For example, we hosted the Trading Game, using what we had learnt at the Development Education Annual Meeting and from Mr. Funabashi. We also did some workshops out of a "Global Education" textbook, an idea developing workshop to experiment on how to educe new creative ideas out of each other. 4) Hosting "Learning Theatre" (movie workshop) Since sustainability is often a difficult concept to get used to, we developed a way of using movies to get people interested in sustainability topics. By watching and sharing thoughts on movies dealing with the sustainability issue, we have been able to approach to new sectors. 5) Joining a students’ advocacy movement to the Ministry of Environment. Our working group joined a meeting with the Ministry of Environment discussing ways to create a better environment for students to learn, think and act for sustainability.

Workshop of Sustainability Education Working Group

3. g‐Enesis Energy conference @ MIT g‐Enesis is the brand‐new Energy Working Group founded two years ago. Every month, g‐Enesis host study sessions about energy. Many students have joined these study sessions.

The last year, g‐Enesis sent two members to MIT Energy Conference on April 11th, 12th. Many leaders in various sectors(technology, policy, industry, finance and so on) took part in this conference to interact with each other, introduce creative technology, and get useful information. Surprisingly, this fruitful conference was organized by students especially in the MIT Energy Club. We got much useful information and did the briefing session in Todai. Fruitful achievement was that we could build the relationship with many Energy Clubs in US.

MIT energy conference

ANNUAL REPORT 2008

Sustainability@MIT This summer 2008, Students for Global Sustainability at MIT joined forces with other sustainability‐ focused student groups Share A Vital Earth, the MIT Generator, S*, and the Sustainability@Sloan Speaker Series to form Sustainability@MIT, a larger group dedicated to environmental sustainability. We now boast 800 members!! With more students involved and stronger connections to faculty and administration, Sustainability@MIT will more efficiently promote green practices and policies on campus and beyond. We have the manpower so that we are simultaneously pursuing endeavors related to campus greening, community activism, curriculum development, green jobs, MIT events, media outreach, and more!

The MIT Generator This movement exists to unite and catalyze student groups working on local energy, environment, and sustainability projects with a campus focus. In October Sus@MIT held the first “Generator” of the year where students pitch sustainability ideas and form groups for actual realization of the successful ideas. Projects from last year gained more support, and a few new ideas were sparked! For more about the MIT Generator see: http://sustainability.mit.edu/Generator

Business As UnUsual Sus@MIT hosted a series of collaborative art events with artist Cindy Snodgrass to better understand how climate unites us all as members of the same amazing earth system with a responsibility to conserve earth's resources for balanced living. During the MIT Family Weekend event and two subsequent workshops, staff, students, siblings and parents contributed to a collaged map of the world depicting the predicted impact of climate change on agricultural yields. They also used wood block stamps to print onto prayer flags, reused t‐shirts, and recycled burlap and other reusable grocery bags. The prayer flags created at MIT were incorporated into a growing wind fabric sculpture: “Wings and Prayers: Blessings for Water and Food,” which went up outside of the student center on both weekends during the event series. Inside, at the Weisner Gallery, the collage map, t‐shirts, and bags went up for a month‐long installation. Together, we imagined, nurtured, and created "substantial" art experience.

http://sustainability.mit.edu/BAU2 The artwork is now displayed in a storefront display case on Massachusetts Ave‐ the main street in Cambridge!

Zero Waste Event Info Session & Party

After several successful “Zero Waste” events in the past Sus@MIT has now instilled this principle of minimizing environmental impact into all of our activities, and this semester we decided to share our knowledge and experience to influence other events on campus to make them less wasteful. Key event organizers, staff, department and student leaders attended this zero waste event which consisted of two parts: the first educated groups about how to make their events have less environmental harm (with ease!), and the second demonstrated and celebrated the success of this goal by having a zero waste party ourselves. Information about food caterers, event advertising, food waste, and resources that Sustainability@MIT can offer were presented. Attendees were very enthusiastic in trying new things to minimize waste with the many, many meetings, events, and conferences that they organize on campus! http://www.appropedia.org/MIT_ZeroWasteEvent_PlanningGuide_Wiki

FreeMeet III and IV Given the *huge* success of our FreeMeets last year and many inquiries into more, Sus@MIT hosted FreeMeets at the beginning of the semester and another near Thanksgiving. The idea of this event is simple: Bring stuff to get rid of, take stuff for free. The event itself was simple too: we just needed a large room space, big paper to label the various categories of stuff, and a team of Sus@MIT members working on shifts throughout the day‐long event. Our target for the event was to promote reuse of goods, reduce waste and sending things to the landfill, and reduce unnecessary consumption of new goods. Likely there were more than 350 people who came by! Leftover items at the end were donated and very little “junk” had to be begrudgingly thrown away!

Looking ahead Sustainability@MIT has a strong new executive council that has aims to bring our sustainability work to the forefront of MIT’s agenda and beyond the MIT campus to do some true “community service.”

Already in the works is organization of MIT’s first Sustainability Symposium: MIT and the Transition to a Sustainable Economy (April 16-18, 2009). Sustainability@MIT and others are organizing the 2009 Sustainability Symposium to engage the MIT community and its supporters in a discussion on the Institute's current research, teaching, and service. We will be bringing world-class leaders in research and industry to campus to help guide a discussion on what MIT is and should be doing to speed the transition to a sustainable economy.

The American University in Cairo Office of Student Development

Annual Activity Report Date: 14th of January 2009

Introduction It is really a pleasure to provide us with opportunity to express all our achievement through out the past year. This report completes the mid year report which has covered the period from May 2008 till November 2008. In Quarks mid year report, we have planted the seeds of partnerships, plantings and trainings and I hope through this report to show you what we have ripped. We started to apply many of what we have planed for and it was successfully done. I hope I could be able to transfer to you the image as it is in Egypt.

2008/2009 Highlights: 1 ‐ Scientific Awareness Campaign (Physics): During the last semester AUC Physics Professor Karim Addas conducted a few scientific lectures. In these five lectures Professor Addas tried to explain the basic and deep theory of the relatively new physics branch called Quantum Electro Dynamics (QED). The students, along with three physics professors watched together video lectures of the late Dr Richard Feynman, the author of the Noble winning prize theory of QED. Both the Professors and the Students engaged in critical arguments over the highly controversial new theory and gained valuable insights on the matter. 2‐ Inauguration of the non‐science section at the Quark: Quark Society has inaugurated the non‐science section and was able to welcome 45 members from different non‐science majors who are interested in working in sustainability. This made our overall number of members equal nearly to 120 members. 3‐ Projects: Till now we have 1 masters project which is about the methane gas purification and papers in the following topics • Project for better understanding of the environment ( S3 Zurich) • 2‐A Study of Carbon Sequestration methods (African Climate Change Conference) • Future Cities (3 different papers) (S3 Zurich) • Studentlife.com (S3 Zurich) Quark members are going to submit their final project proposal by the end of January, so we will have more new projects by the end of the current month since they are working intensively in the winter break. 4‐ Extending to Cairo University: Cairo University is the biggest and the oldest university in Egypt and due to the good spreading reputation of the Quark. There has been a large demand on open recruitment in Cairo University and finally we have done that, so wait for news about our many new upcoming projects and may be opening another branch for Quark there. 5‐Quark Leadership training: Since most of our leaders/project managers are more academically oriented, they faced some problems in dealing with their teams. Thus, in co‐ operation with the office of student development we have provided them with a leadership training and team management by one of them most prestigious leaders, Dr.Phil Johnson, the founder of Global Next Research Group. 6‐ IT training: In co‐operation with the Russian Culture center, we have provided a training which we have provided to our members to be able to work on design and programming of a website which serves sustainability. The cost of the training is nearly $ 31,680 USD. 7‐ Quark Winter Training for Researching and Sustainability: After large efforts and negotiations with professors we have finally been able upgrade our training program and add a sustainability program for both science and non‐science majors. The first training session is going to occur on 20th of Jan. 2009.

8‐ Quarks Website: Quarkians have finally developed a website which represent one‐way of marketing as mentioned. Also, all our trainings and presentations will be posted on this website as well as the WSC‐SD WIKI to be accessible to everybody around the world. Please Visit http://clubs.aucegypt.edu/quark There on the website you will find a link to download our toolbar which represent one of the important ways of communication. This toolbar could be apart of your internet explorer/netscape/firefox, where you receive automatically our announcement, messages and access all our links. Partnership/sponsorships Quark society members are always searching and seeking for partnerships but it doesn’t easily come as it is in Europe, Japan and the USA. Currently we have nearly finished our deal with International Development Research Center, who is going to sponsor our training and provide us with trainers as well. Also, we are working currently on deals with Nestle and Henkel. Finally, Quark society during the previous year has improved in a very noticeable way. We are recognized as the best of the academic clubs; also, we have gained a large reputation among the professors. Moreover, our marketing campaigns and adding the sustainability theme to projects has encouraged more students to join us to work on sustainability projects and contribute to the society. Lately as mention before, 45 students joined as delegates to work and learn about sustainability and I believe that Quark with the WSC‐SD will fulfill this mission. 15

University of St Andrews Sustainable Development Society (SDsoc)

Annual Report 2008 Who We Are The Sustainable Development Society is still a relatively small society at the University of St Andrews, but is quickly attracting the interest of a larger part of the student body as the number of students enrolled in the corresponding undergraduate degree programme at the university multiplies. The society’s membership base reflects the diverse student body, and has members from a number of nationalities and academic backgrounds, ranging from economics, international relations, modern languages to sustainable development and the natural sciences. In its two years, SDsoc has primarily concerned itself with disseminating information and raising awareness for issues of sustainability within the university and the local St Andrews community, addressing both the “town and gown” aspects of St Andrews. Past and Current Events/Projects Plastic‐bag free St Andrews – This project, initiated in the spring of 2008, is still a work in progress, and is due to be launched in March 2009, to coincide with the university’s “Green Week”. The desired outcome of the project is for the use of plastic bags to cease in St Andrews’ retailers, and is to be encouraged by the launch of a re‐usable, fair‐trade, organic cotton bag emblazoned with a St Andrews logo which is to be sold for £1.50 in the local shops. It is a joint project with the St Andrews Merchants’ Association, the St Andrews Preservation trust and the University’s Environment Team. A significant benefit of the scheme is that it encompasses both the student and the local communities, raising awareness for sustainability under a common denominator. http://www.plasticbagfreestandrews.com “Reality Check” Seminar Series – SDsoc has in collaboration with the school of Sustainable Development hosted a series of seminars during the autumn term with guest speakers on a wide variety of subjects including “Approaches to GM Foods” and “Fife Diet” a publicized experiment on how to live healthily in Fife eating only locally produced foods. The seminar series will continue in the spring term with further details of speakers to be determined. SA Sustainability Committee – The Student’s Association (student governing body) at the University has a Sustainability Committee in which representatives from the society have been participating, especially in the planning for the University’s annual “Green Week”. Fun Events – To raise interest in our society, the SDsoc has also hosted a number of more light hearted events, introducing new members to the society and fund raising for among other things the WSC‐SD student summit in Zurich. These included social events such as barbecues with locally grown produce, and pub quizzes where students could pick up some sustainability trivia. Debates – St Andrews University has a very active debating culture, and the debating society is one of the most successful in Europe and the UK. Members of SDsoc have periodically

participated in sustainability themed debates, particularly during the 2007/08 academic year. Furthermore, in the run up to the American elections, SDsoc participated in a mock debate between the presidential candidates, grilling them on their environmental policies and the 2009 Copenhagen climate change talks. Film Screenings – The film screening of topical documentaries, sometimes preceded by a speaker have been some of our most well attended events in 2008. During the 2007/08 academic year we hosted screenings of among others Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”, “Manufactured Landscapes”, “Peak Oil” and “The Corporation” which stirred up some critical thought. WSC‐SD Student Summit 2009 – SDsoc has devoted much of its attention during the autumn term preparing for the Zurich summit. In the weeks running up to it, we have held weekly meetings discussing the meeting’s topics, Geopolitics, Global Financial Markets and Non‐ Monetary Incentives. Also, fundraising for the summit has been an imperative, to allow the opportunity for the maximum number of delegates to attend.

www.unipoly.ch

Association for Sustainable Development EPFL SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ‐ LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE

UniPoly EPFL Pavillon Diane Case Postale 15 1015 Lausanne 15 Tél. 021 693 20 96 Email : info@unipoly.ch

UniPoly is composed of about 60 students from both the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL). We are working on both practical actions on and outside the campus, and are also trying to make people think and become aware of the necessity to act towards a sustainable development. Here are the different projects and campaigns carried out by UniPoly during the academic year 2007‐2008. For more information on UniPoly, please visit www.unipoly.ch. Sustainable Tricks These fourteen leaflets are handling with themes connected with everyday life (water, electrical devices, drugs & cosmetics, garbage, transports, electricity, heating…). There give advice on how we can save energy and protect environment in our everyday life in a practical way. These booklets are released on Lausanne's campus, and now also in some other places in Switzerland (schools, municipalities, newspapers...). These items could be easily “transfered” to another association of the WSCSD, we should just have to translate it. All the Sustainable Tricks can be downloaded from our website (http://unipoly.epfl.ch/?pageid=8).

Local Food Supplying This service, last year only accessible to our members, has been extended to external people this year, and works in the following way: every week, people can order vegetables, fruits and now also meat, bread, eggs and juice. The orders are collected, and two of the members go to a local organic farm nearby (always the same one) to gather the products. As for the bread (also made out of organic and local flours), it is directly taken to us by the baker. The “clients” then come to UniPoly’s office and pick up what they have ordered. This enable us to have discounts (as we directly buy to the producer) and offer fresh and in season vegetables and fruits to our members. It also allows the producers to predict a minimum regular quantity of sold products. For us, it is a way to question the mainstream commercial chain (such as supermarkets) and the social and environmental conditions in which food is usually produced. Sustainable Cooking

UniPoly tries to provide once a month a meal at a cafeteria of the university managed by the students, and in other places on the campus. The meal is always made out of local, organic and season products, usually vegetarian, and sold at the cheapest possible price. The aim is to make the public aware of ecological and social issues linked to food.

Eco‐Festival – Eco‐Hiring Carried out in association with the Summit Foundation (www.summit‐ foundation.org), this project began in different Swiss music festivals (amongst others, Caribana, Paleo, Montreux Jazz). We ask people to take the commitment (being filmed) of doing a simple gesture of their choice in their everyday life that is good for the environment (for example printing two‐sided sheets, taking a bag with them when shopping instead of taking every time a new plastic one, using more often their bike than their car. . .) Usually it works very well and is a good opportunity to talk directly to people about the ecological consequences of our everyday practices. This campaign is now also regularly carried out on the campus. Videos of the commitments are available on Internet (http://www.summit‐foundation.org/?lang=fr&page=ecoconscience). Paper / Garbage Management In order to decrease the overconsumption of paper taking place at the university, this group has systematically put notices above each printer explaining how to print two‐sided pages or several pages on one sheet. They have moreover sent a survey of garbage management on the campus to the University's administration and are now working with them, having created an impulse to place more paper and recycle bins. Several short courses were given to students with the University's library's cooperation, to explain how to use the printers more effectively, with less wasting of paper. SD Education The group has created two games (“SD‐Pictionary” and “Game of Earth”) that has been presented in different festivals for kids. This year, a card game dealing with sustainable development issues is being created. Schools such as the International School of Lausanne have asked us, through this group, to make long‐term activities with their classes, both for information and to involve them in local action. River / Lake Bank Cleaning

Once or twice a year we gather students from the campus to clean a river close to the University. Each year, many hundreds kilos of scrap iron and other rubbish are cleaned up. Several schools and other groups ask us for advice to carry out such activities on their own. Visits, entertainment Meetings, Bicycle and Ski Touring Dinners and BBQs are organised for the community's members. It represents a good opportunity to meet the other members, develop contacts and team spirit. It also allows us to discuss over SD issues. This summer, a bicycle tour across Germany was also organised, as well as a 2‐day ski tour this winter. We also organise the visits of corporations seen as good or bad examples of sustainability, in order to better understand what sustainable development implies in commercial entities. RUMBA RUMBA is a program launched by the federal administration, and also within the EPFL, to manage more efficiently the resources. UniPoly is asked to find motivated members to take part in this program. One of the projects with RUMBA is RumbaEduc, which tries to integrate sustainable development within the courses of every engineer and scientist. For this purpose, an academic project contest is organised each year (third edition this year); the propositions are then submitted to the EPFL and University boards, that evaluate if a practical application of the project is possible. This year some new projects have been created and are being build up. These are: Projections With the campus Cinema Clubs, we show now and then documentaries dealing with SD issues to students, such as “The World According to Monsanto”, “We Feed the World”, or “Darwin's Nightmare”. Perspective South Along with a student community for cooperation and development (IdM) and a society specialized in Tibet's problematic (Norlha), this group is creating educational documentation aimed for children that are to be distributed in schools in isolated valleys in Tibet. These documents are to help the local populations with environmental issues such as waste or water pollution.

Sustainable Calendar This year, UniPoly created a « sustainable calendar » with, for each month, quotations linked to ecology, recipes with season vegetables or fruits, do‐it‐yourself ideas with recuperation material, tricks about what we can do in our everyday life… 300 calendars were printed and sold out in one week in December, a great success. They were sold at the cheapest possible price, this being part of an awareness campaign, and non‐profitmaking.

STUDENTS FOR GLOBAL DEMOCRACY UGANDA

WSCSD ‐ Uganda Student Community

Organizational Annual Report 2008 Contact Person: Mike Gesa Munabi Position: President Address: P.O Box 21011 Kampala, Uganda, East Africa Telephone +256‐712‐302055/ +256‐752‐302055 Email: uganda@sfgd.org/ mike.munabi@gmail.com Website: www.uganda.sfgd.org Foreword Too often young people are seen as recipients of service; they should see themselves and be seen as leaders and assets who can make powerful contributions to their communities and countries. On a small scale level, we have been able to achieve some goals for the organization within a short period of time. On a small extent SGD‐ Uganda, has continued its commitment to create self –sustaining communities through programming that support political, social and economic stability of the indigenous people. Plans are underway to implement more programmes in the coming years provided we get funding for the intended programs. Our achievements though on a small extent the past years sincerely made our journey worthwhile. We also learnt lessons upon which future programmes will be grounded. On behalf of SGD Uganda (WSCSD –Uganda), I would like to thank all those who work with and support us in our endeavors to create a better world for Uganda especially the young people. I wish to thank those that contributed directly or indirectly to support our work. Lastly my deepest appreciation goes to our staff members for their loyalty and commitment are pillars of strength to the local and international community. Without the support from our staff, volunteers and partners, we would not have made all these successes within such a short period of time. We look forward for a fruitful 2009‐2010 Mike Gesa Munabi President.

Background Mission: To empower young people with the knowledge and principles of human rights and democracy Vision: A population aware and participating in the democratic process of their nation and outside world About Students for Global Democracy Uganda: Students For Global Democracy ‐Uganda is a non ‐ partisan student led not‐for‐ profit organization with a mission to empower young people principally students with the fundamental principles of human rights to enable them effectively participate in the democratization processes of their nation and the outside world. Name of the Organization Officers: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

President ‐ Mike Gesa Munabi Programs Officer – Francis Kabagambe Financial Officer – Stellah Ndagire Public Relations Manager – Martin Joe Nkoba Communications Officer – Michael Kigozi Kasolo

Organization Membership: Currently the organization boasts of over 50 members aged 18 and above, most of them students spread in the various high institutions of learning i.e. secondary schools, colleges, tertiary institutions and universities. Percentage of members participating in activities: Since we are still looking for potential supporters to fund our organization activities i.e. not on full operation basis, currently 25% of our members participate in the activities we have done so far, but we hope to actively involve all our members in the organization activities, since we now have big hopes of possible funding due to the established potential partnership with WSCSD and others, and more the project ideas we have developed and submitted for grants applications Board Meetings of 2008: We did hold executive board meetings every last Friday of the month and indeed, they have been successful due to the good attendance and equal participation of the staff. We have been holding these meetings at Louisiana Café &Comic and K.K Beach, Ggaba. Among the major issues discussed in 2008 board meetings were Opening up of the organization account, developing of our human rights project proposal for funding, establishment of partnerships, recruitment of more members, participation in solidarity events and training of our staff for capacity building.

Organization gathering 2008 Last year we were not able to hold any organization gathering due to lack of funds to facilitate the event, but next year we still have a big plan of holding our annual general meeting, where we intend to discuss quite a lot of issues regarding our achievement, current state and way forward. Strategic Goals for 2007 ‐2009 1. Empower young people with human rights and democracy 2. Community projects for sustainable development 3. Create human relations that are free from armed conflicts 4. Build staff and make operations sustainable Achievements 1. We were able to establish partnerships with like minded organizations including the most recent and major one, WSCSD. 2. We opened up the organization account with Stanbic Bank IPS Branch 3. We got a donation of books and a laptop from Indiana University 4. Members contributed from their own savings for organization activities 5. Free services of website development and hosting.

6. Free training programs for our staff i.e. strategic planning, Peace Edu. Activities carried out or participated in: Participated in the video conference on Global Citizenship held between students of Uganda, Turkey and those of Indiana University in USA. Held the Belarus solidarity campaign. Participated in the Global week on education on an invitation of Youth Plus Policy Network in conjunction with Action Aid International –Uganda. Participated in the workshop on sustainability of multiparty politics in today’s Uganda organized by Makerere University Public administration and political science students association. Global Youth Service Day 2008; on Saturday 26th April 2008 SGD –Uganda staff and People to People International Youth in Action Uganda Chapter members to which I am the Coordinator, participated in a community clean up exercise to celebrate the Global Youth Service Day 2008.

Over 50 young people cleaned up drainages, compounds, market places of the poorest communities of Ggaba parish, a suburb of Kampala city. SGD – Uganda together with Youth Action International Uganda, volunteered at Nsambya Babies Home. Nsambya Babies Home is part of the Child Welfare and Adoption Society whose mission is to advocate for the rights of children and promoting the care of vulnerable children to grow into responsible citizens. We assisted with direct care of children, helped clean up the facilities and donated food (potatoes, pineapples, passion and oranges), and T‐Shirts which were donated to YAI by Phenix Logistics. The aim of the community service is to inspire young people to become responsible citizens as well as help the needy in their communities. SGD Uganda members together with Youth Action International (Funders) provided agricultural seeds to address the problem of food insecurity in Rakai district.

University of Regina Students for Sustainability (WSC‐SD Regina) Report of Activities from May 2008 – January 2009 WSC‐SD Regina is the first and currently, the only Canadian member association of the World Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSC‐SD). WSC‐SD Regina, also known as the University of Regina Students for Sustainability (URSS), is home to visionary young leaders who aim to be models of excellence in all they do and who are continually driven by a desire to set the pace for enduring and positive change. WSC‐SD Regina is pleased to give a brief update on its activities till date since the close of the 2008 Student Summit for Sustainability that took place from May 12 – 16 in Regina, Saskatchewan. Major Activities 2008 – 2009 2008 Student Summit for Sustainability Reporting May 2008 marked the first time ever that the Student Summit for Sustainability was held in Canada. Participants from countries including Sweden, South Africa, United States, Nepal, Ecuador, Tanzania, Egypt, Brazil and Russia, amongst many others, attended the conference from May 12 – 16, hosted by WSC‐ SD Regina. In all, 150 participants from 40 different countries were present at the event. Through the generous support of 27 sponsors and partners, as well as the hard work of WSC‐ SD Regina members, the organizing committee was able to raise a total of ~$240,000 CAD. This enabled the hosting of a very well organized, quality conference with access to funds for assisting over 70 students in attendance. Of that number, more than 35 delegates from developing countries and economies in transition received full financial support. WSC‐SD Regina completed full financial and activity reporting to all 27 sponsors and partners and closed its books on the 2008 Student Summit for Sustainability in August 2008. All payments were efficiently completed and no losses were recorded. Sponsors expressed great satisfaction with the event and the work of the committee and entire organization. A full report of the 2008 Student Summit for Sustainability can be found at http://www.wscsd.org/wp‐content/uploads/2008/08/s3_2008‐final‐report.pdf

Looking Ahead The Summit provided WSC‐SD Regina with an amazing growth opportunity. In the days following the conference, the University of Regina entered into its summer break. During the summer months, no activities are held. This gave the organization the opportunity to step back, absorb the entire experience, evaluate the lessons learnt, and reflect on how best to move the organization forward. A number of people from different parts of Saskatchewan expressed interest in being part of our organization. On resumption in September 2008, it was thus important to seriously consider the structures of what could potentially become a new organization which would be an alliance of Saskatchewan youths drawn from academic institutions and local communities. Ensuring that we actively and positively impact our Saskatchewan communities in areas relating to the province’s vision for sustainability will be a major goal of this new entity. Also, maintaining our relationship with the WSC‐SD and forging new partnerships that are strategic to our organization’s growth and interests will continue to be important elements of such a new organization. In October 2008, WSC‐SD Regina held its first meeting for the new 2008/2009 academic session. It was unanimously agreed that the creation of a new umbrella organization for Saskatchewan be explored. This will be a fully registered provincial non‐profit organization. Also, a Transitory Executive Board/Management Team was put in place in the interim to drive the creation of the new organization and help champion the new entity’s visioning, identity and strategic planning work. This includes identifying key focus areas meaningful to Saskatchewan, developing draft strategic, communications and business plans, getting buy‐in from stakeholders in Saskatchewan and establishing core partnerships, as well as evolving a solid organizational structure and an advisory board or board of directors. The composition of the team is as follows: ‐ President: Nnaemeka Okochi ‐ Vice‐President, Finance & Organizational Administration: Judith Tshimbu‐Nkongolo ‐ Vice‐President, Strategy Implementation & Operations: Funke Okochi ‐ Vice‐President, Programs & Logistics: Uju Nmezi ‐ Vice‐President, Technology & Innovation: Jonathan Yee ‐ Vice‐President, Communications & Public Relations: Morayo Oladele ‐ Vice‐President, Research & Funding: Ore Ogunrinde ‐ Vice‐President, Community Development: Carmen Ganne 27

The establishment of this new organization is a significant project that must be well handled. It will be the singular focus of the Transitory Executive Board for the next 12 – 18 months. A number of meetings and brainstorming sessions have been held. Recently, a study was initiated to better understand in what areas the new organization can make the most impact in Saskatchewan. The entire project is still a big work in progress and though some modest achievements have been recorded, e.g. developing initial identity documents and branding, initiating incorporation of the organization, carrying out important preliminary studies, establishing a stronger financial base, negotiating potential office space, etc., there is still a lot to be done. More information will be shared with the WSC‐SD and its member organizations as soon as some of the initial work has been concluded and accepted by a broad consensus of relevant stakeholders.

Annual Report of [project 21] [project 21] is the Student Organisation for Sustainable Development at the ETH and University of Zurich. Our members consist of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students who want to contribute to a Sustainable Development. The activities of [project 21] cover a student magazine (Studio!Sus), movie nights, discussions, an energy saving campaign (EnergieWG), workshops in open software and social events. In the last year a lot of 3 effort was put in the organisation of the Student Summit for Sustainability (S ) which is to take place in Zurich from January 25 to February 1st 2009. Please feel free to contact us by sending an email to info@project21.ch or visit our website: www.project21.ch.

Group picture from [project 21]‐weekend.

[project 21] activities in 2008 EnergieWG [project 21] had a great start in 2008 due to some press attention: the “EnergieWG” project was presented on the front page of a nationwide magazine. The “Energie WG” provides information about energy saving in the household and especially targets young people in living communities. The press article had the consequence that hundreds of people visited our website and received a certificate for their energy‐conscious living communities. The “EnergieWG” was officially launched in April with a lot of publicity and a contest with great prizes to win. By now more than 500 living communities have been certified.

AGS annual meeting in Boston In January three [project 21]‐members joined the AGS annual meeting in Boston where they met up 3 with other WSC‐SD members and the idea to relink the AGS and WSC‐SD annual meetings (now: S ) in Switzerland was born.

AGS conference (from the left): Salome Schori, Roman Hueppi, Pascal Mages (all p21), E. Underwood (AGS coordination), Prof. Dr. Eichler (president ETH), Sabrina Kinkler (PhD student) “Wednesday specials” The “Wednesday specials”, one of our classics, were held to the topic of resource management in the spring semester this year. On three nights speakers were invited to talk about the management of the resources tropical forest, traditional knowledge and water. In the autumn term we invited three former [project 21] members. They gave us some insight on their careers and how their commitment in [project 21] had influenced them. Studio!Sus – The sustainability guide for students The Studio!Sus is a 60 page student magazine published twice a year. In the “content part” a sustainability related topic is elaborated and different experts are given the possibility to express their view on the subject In the secont part, the “guide”, the topic is further elaborated with its implications on student life. This comprises lecture recommendations, websites, suggestions for further reading and leaves some space for [project 21] to present its other activities. The 2008 issues gave attention to the topics “sufficiency” and “corporate sustainability”. Movie events Some of the most visited events are the movie nights. In spring [project 21] showed “Laki Penan”, a documentary about Bruno Manser, a Swiss environmental activist that fought for rain forest preservation. Folowing the movie [project 21] organised a discussion with a good friend of manser and a Greenpeace representative. Interested guests learnt much about the person Bruno Manser and rain forest protection programs by Greenpeace. “Cinéma solaire” For the second time [project 21] organized a Open Air movie night fully powered by solar energy. During the day batteries are charged with solar panels and in the evening the sun's energy is released through the movie‐ projectors giving the audience a unique movie experience in a lovely setting .

Visit of the research station on the Jungfraujoch ‐ “Top of Europe” The Jungfraujoch, also known as “Top of Europe” is a Unesco world heritage in the Swiss Alps and one of the best visited tourist attractions in Switzerland. Apart from the stunning view one has from the top, this place also holds a High Altitude Research Station, one of the highest research stations in Europe. [project 21] visited this remarkable place and the visitors learned much about the technical challenges the researchers have to face on 3000‐3500 meters above sea level and the significance of the achieved results. TibMed The knowledge on Tibetian medicine is a treasure of large value that is threatened to disappear. For many years [project 21] has been collaborating with the Tibetian Medical and Astro Institute (TMAI) in Dharamsala, India. On request of the TMAI, [project 21] (together with renown experts) conducted a feasibility study for the construction of a new and larger medical academy in india. The report was finished in 2008 and the results show that the project makes sense but needs to be taken over by a third party, specialized in the field. TheAlternative – digital sustainability The goal of TheAlternative is to promote free software and open standards at the ETH and University of Zurich. Linux introduction courses were conducted and were visited by a large number of interested students. In the last year TheAlternative has been able to gain in importance and is more actively supported by official parties at ETH. Internal events Besides the public events and projects a part of the [project 21] agenda are social events such as dinners and twice a year a retreat for a weekend in the countryside or the mountains. These events help to develop new ideas and strengthen the community feeling.

WSCSD Fort Hare Annual Report 2008

Fort Hare

Letter to the Reader The discourse on sustainability is considered residual, if at all, in most communities in South Africa and Africa at large. This is primarily because sustainability as a concept has been

championed via the Environment route. Accordingly, for communities in Africa, the majority of which remain rudimentary and ravaged by poverty, the socio economic imperative is utilitarian. In this regard therefore, many find it hard to find what value they would benefit from engaging on issues of sustainability. Put differently, sustainability is considered a preserve for the elite classes of society. This has thus limited the extent to which Africa has charted its path sustainably. Sustainability and the current and future socio economic well being of individuals or communities in Africa are two intrinsically intertwined concepts. For example, poor communities in Africa rely on firewood for energy to keep them warm and for cooking and other domestic purposes. At the same time, the cutting down of trees results in deforestation, soil erosion and ultimately perpetuates poverty. There are many examples that demonstrate this relationship but to say that ordinary people are aware of and concerned by this relationship would be rather ambitious. It is against this background that the World Student Community on Sustainable Development (WSC‐SD) has launched a chapter at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa on the 9th of October 2008. Accordingly, this report represents a brief our activities since our inception. More importantly however, it represents our desire to contributing to and partnering with other communities all around the world and hopefully have more initiatives to report on in the ensuing year. Nyika Machenjedze Administrator

Our Mission The mission of the WSC‐SD and its Member Student Communities is to actively promote the incorporation of sustainability and sustainable development at every stage of education, research, business and public policy;

Strategic Objectives The Objectives of the Organization are to: • Initiate and propagate the agenda of sustainability and sustainable development among students both as a relevant academic discourse and a culture of practice; • Encourage and empower students to promote the concept of sustainability, both in centers of learning and the society at large, by way of facilitating the implementation of community based projects; • Host and participate in sustainability forums, local and international.

Our History and Activities WSC‐SD Fort Hare is a new initiative that was launched on the 9th of October 2008, through a small internal conference hosted at the University of Fort Hare. 63 students participated, and there were 9 paper presentations. The objective of the conference was to recruit new members whilst at the same time initiating dialogue on sustainability and sustainable development as it relates to Sub Saharan Africa. As a result of the conference, and other marketing initiatives, the organization has managed to recruit 29 students (members.

WSC‐SD Fort Hare Members after conference (9 October 2008)

Subsequently, the student community initiated a project to develop the curriculum of and support a community based school to mobilize resources to support their operations. To this end, member of the community, together with the Executive Board’s Core President, Jess Schulschenk, visited the community school and discussed how WSC‐SD Fort Hare could assist in the development of the school on 15 October 2008. Currently, we are working on the fundraising and resource mobilization plan for the school and are in the process of developing modules on entrepreneurship in order to provide training to the students.

Disabled Students Listen to Presentation (15 October 2008)

WSC‐SD Fort Hare Members after project site visit (15 October 2008)

SfGS –UoN STUDENTS FOR GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI, KENYA. OVERVIEW: SFGS‐UON is an action oriented student group developed to network with local and international community of young activists to initiate positive change at all levels. The Mission of SFGS‐UoN is to share in aims of the WSCSD in seeking to actively promote the incorporation of Sustainability and sustainable development at every stage of education, research, business and public policy bearing in mind the desire to achieve.

ACTIVITIES: As we conclude the year 2008, we thank the almighty God who has led us this far. To us, just like other Kenyans, the year begun on a very sad note. Nevertheless, SfGS‐UoN has risen above the animosity and tribalism that was planted in many people’s hearts, through the post election violence, to forge healthy and friendly working relations among its members most of whom come from the major tribes which were involved in the previous conflict: Luos, Kalenjins and Kikuyus. We are glad to report the following initiatives: Conference participations: a) We were honored to have our SC represented in WSCSD‐organized summits and activities. Though six of our invited members couldn’t secure visas to participate in the 2008 Students Summit on Sustainability hosted in University of Regina Canada, we were honored to be represented by the founding coordinator, Mr. Willis Alala who was elected to serve in the WSC‐SD’s executive board as the Regional director for Africa. Besides, our president was selected to be part of the Organising committee of the WSC‐SD’s participation at the Imaginearth Collection that was scheduled to hold in Japan in September, 2008 but was later cancelled. We are also glad to be represented in the 2009 WSCSD’s AGM and the Students Summit for Sustainability holding in Zurich Mr. Nickson Otieno and Miss Sylvia Essendi’s. b) For two successive years, SfGS‐UoN has been actively participating in the annual meetings of the Eastern Africa Environmental Network Conferences. Our members participated in the 2008 conference themed ‘Environmental Concerns Of Climate Change With Respect To Sustainable Livelihoods in Eastern Africa’. Our president, Otieno Nickson, presented a

paper entitled: ‘RE‐ORIENTING EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN AFRICA.’. Images of our members taking part in the conference:

Projects: 1. TREE PLANTING: To mark the World Environment Day, our members participated in a tree planting activity held at the YMCA Nairobi South branch. The event was graced by …MR. MBAYA‐A FORMER NAIROBI PROVINCIAL FORESTRY OFFICER AND AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT. This event saw the formation of ‘The Green Earth Club’. Through the GreenEarth Club we had 1000 seedlings planted at Upper Hill Secondary School. This exercise marked the launch of collaborations between the GreenEarth Club and local high schools. Through such initiatives, SfGS‐UoN hopes to mentor the students to grow as environmentally conscious leaders. In an effort to find more partners to support the Greenearth Club, Mr. Nickson Otieno got an opportunity to talk to the Director of Green Africa Foundation. The foundation has donated 1000 seedlings to SfGS‐UoN for planting at the University of Nairobi at the beginning of next year (2009). We are still looking forward to receiving more seedlings from the foundation in the future. To realize this, we requested the University of Nairobi to assist us transport the seedlings from the foundation’s nursery (in Kitui) and assign caretakers to maintain the trees after planting. We are still waiting for response. The foundation has also welcomed SfGS‐UoN members for a field visit to their chemistry laboratory (producing biofuel from jatropha seeds). Images of some of SfGS‐UoN members –taking part in the tree planting initiative

2. CAMPUS ENERGY AND RESOURCE AUDIT As Campus students and members of SfGS – UoN, we are obligated to playing a major role in developing a sustainable campus life and consequently, contributing to a larger “environmental footprint”. This project was set to measure and assess the current conditions and consumption patterns at the University of Nairobi and introduce specific recommendations that will lead to the development of a sustainable Campus environment. Due to logistic complications, we had to limit the study to waste management for the beginning. Various members of the group undertook data collection and processing. At an advanced stage of the project, we realized that the university had also set up an environmental audit task force to conduct a similar task. This led us to withhold compiling and presenting our final report. To avoid duplication, we decided to wait and review the outcome of the university’s initiative so that our project would build up rather than compete with the university’s. Through this, we have leant to exhaustively engage the university’s administration in the conceptualization of any future project that would be implemented on campus. 3. SCHOOL OUTREACH PROGRAMS: Some members of SfGS‐UoN have been visiting high schools (especially during the vacations) to mentor the students towards career choice and embracing sustainable lifestyles. 4. SFGS‐UON PARTNERSHIP: Through the help of Mr. Philip Osano (of the world Y.E.S Forum), SfGS‐UoN has been able to develop good working relationship with UNEP. UNEP’s Environmental Education and Training office in Nairobi has donated some of their publications for the purpose of stocking SfGS‐UoN’s database. SfGS‐UoN’s executive committee is currently liaising with UNEP to organize an exhibition of Green companies in Nairobi to link the students with the co‐operate world, especially in the context of sustainable production. Discussions on these initiatives will continue through the year 2009. SfGS‐UoN has also been invited to join the InterVarsity Environment Network (IVEN) – a network of different Kenyan University organizations. IVEN is currently organizing international students workshop on Sustainability in April 2009 in one of the University’s in Kenya. This is in line with UNEP’s MESA Students Action Plan objectives. 5. WSCSD’S AFRICAN INITIATIVE We are glad to be part of the World Student Community for Sustainable Development’s African Project Team. The project comprises African Student Community leaders and Individual Members working under the able leadership of Christopher Hedvall, the outgoing European Regional Director. SfGS‐UoN’s is represented in the project’s committee by the president Mr. Nickson Otieno. This project, though still at its conceptual stage, presents a great opportunity for SfGS‐UoN’s future engagement. We are already developing concepts for IT and Sustainable Energy Projects.

6. KENYAN AFRICAN PEACE PROJECT: SfGS‐UoN is privileged to have been contacted by a group of Students from College of Notre Dame Maryland, U.S.A. to partner with them in developing a peace project in Kenya between the months of June and August 2009. This project seeks to extend services to the community in Eldoret who are recovering from the recent ethnic violence. We hope to hold a month long series of workshops which will educate, enable and empower community members in the spirit of national unity and reconciliation. We believe this can be effectively achieved not only though our offering of different educational services but also by bringing together a group of Student organizations, NGO's and volunteers to also extend different services in these workshops. Examples of such services may be Agricultural University students offering expert advice to farmers whose farms were burned down; Medical students offering first‐aid lessons; Mentorship programs for children in the community; Sustainability outreach programs; among others.

CHALLENGES: a) Time and monetary Limitations: As a group, we planned various activities that were intended to be realized within the year 2008. Because of limitations in time and monetary resources we weren’t able to realize many activities. We hope to rise to overcome our challenges in future and fulfill most of our objectives. b) Membership: Majority of our current membership is composed of senior undergraduate students and graduates. Four of our executive committee members graduated in September 2009, another four are graduating in September this year. The major challenge is to raise junior undergraduate students with at least equal level of passion and commitment to steer the group into greater heights. c) Change of Patron: We had our long serving patron, Prof. Francis F. W. O. Aduol, was transferred from the university. Consequently, it has been a bit challenging to link with our top university’s administration for speedy communication and planning of projects. This forces us to search for another patron – a senior university administrator who is interested in the group’s initiatives.

SFGS‐UON’S PLEDGE: We would like to pass our sincere thanks for all who have supported SfGS‐UoN’s activities in one way or another. We are still faced with the challenge of mobilizing financial resources to carry out our activities. An example is our major initiative, the GreenEarth Club that lacks petty cash for transportation of seedlings from donor nurseries to planting sites. As we do our best within the prevalent limits, we welcome partnerships and any kind of support from individuals and organizations both locally and internationally for the realization of our agenda: sustainable leadership and action for positive change. 39

UYI‐ADD (Université de Yaoundé I – Association pour le Développement Durable) Documentation required for the 2009 PRE‐MEETING

1. Full Annual Report for their SC On behalf of the UYI‐ADD (Yaounde Student Community), local populations of Cameroonian wild country sides, have gains some explanation of sustainability. Each member of the Yaounde SC, according to his study area was an ambassador of hygiene and health. Their duty day‐to‐day close to the villagers was to teach them hygiene basic rules which help to stay in good health. This education went gradually up to the protection of the environment, the only warranty of a better tomorrow for the future generations. Concretely, the year 2008 was marked by actions around the country and abroad. In northern side of Cameroon the great problem is the advanced of desertification. People are suffering a lot of heat which can easily increase up to 45°C in midday. They are so poor that they can have air conditioner, even in their dreams. They don’t have cookers, stoves, or what ever, but they have to survive and eat as other human being. So they have only solution, to use firewood. However, it becomes every day more and more difficult to find dry wood. For fear of been short of firewood, they have decided to cut green trees and to transform them into charcoal. It is at that moment that the UYI‐ADD on behalf his members, has intervened to help these people to understand that this behavior is not advantageous for them and will only accelerate the process of desertification and finally they will be obliged to migrate towards the south. It is time to ring the bell and to expect policy markers to solve these problems by: - Setting up a program of reforestation of the Northern side of Cameroon, - Ameliorating the conditions of local population by given to them alternatives solution to stay alive. In the southern part of Cameroon, several actions have been taken for pollution and global warming mitigation. Contrary to the north, the south has conserved a great part of his forest by many atmospherics disturbances have been noted this last decade. So, our challenge is to help people to understand that what is happening in the north can happen in the south if everyone doesn’t take actions to mitigate greenhouse gases emission, deforestation and to preserve the environment. Some members of the Yaounde SC, when abroad (Belgium and South Africa) and was given information about our community, the WSCSD, and Sustainability. Many students was interested and was thinking to organized themselves into different community with the view to join the WSCSD. 2. Document outlining suggestions for improving the WSC‐SD 40

As an Organization the WSCSD, in the view of the UYI‐ADD, most re‐hang in the word because for many youth is the “voice of those whom can take freely”. Many young scientists are putting their hope on this Student Community. If they can have what they are expecting the success of the WSCSD will be ensure and his capability will increase everyday. As an Organization, disparities between SC are not to avoid. It will be good if the WSCSD Executive Boards could easily help SCs which have functioning problems. For example some SCs can easily have funding. They can transfer a percentage to the WSCSD EB, which can help SCs which are works hardly but unfortunately have not financial facilities. Besides, it is not fair if some SCs (which works hardly) have in mind that they will never have chance to participate once in a WSCSD AM. It will be good if for every Annual Meeting, each SC will be represented by one (1) or two (2) delegates. Indeed, some important decisions of the WSCSD are taken during the AM, and it is not democratic in non‐attendance of others SCs. 3. SSS2010 Host Application (if applicable) The UYI‐ADD can’t host the SSS2010. But we are expecting that one day we will have the Chance to organize the AM in Yaounde. 4. Project Concepts to be discussed at Pre‐Meeting (if applicable) NONE 5. Way forward for their SC: 2009 / 2010 Objectives Main and secondary objectives of the Yaounde SC for the coming year are given below: MAIN OBJECTIVE: The goal of the UYI‐ADD for 2009 / 2010 is to interest many Cameroonian to take actions for Sustainable Development, to take in many students in the community and to encourage policy makers to involve to sustainability. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: Reinforce our knowledge and capability sustainable development, Broaden our actions to all strata of society, Obtained ICTs equipments to make things a beat easy for our members, Create poles of our SC in others Cameroonian Universities, Request the support of a great number of Universities Scientists, Contribute monthly to the E‐journal, Organize round tables or debates around the sustainability, Participate actively to the cleaning up of the Yaounde I University Campus.

Annual Report 2008‐ Chalmers Chalmers Students for Sustainability (CSS) is a student union organization consisting of undergraduate students, graduate contribute to a sustainable future. CSS is a part of the international network World Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSC the Alliance for Global Sustainability (the AGS) and (GMV). Furthermore, CSS has through the year got the opportunity to access and use the premises of GMV. The activities consists of running own projects and campaigns but also collaborate with other organizations both in Sweden and abroad. CSS also arrange study visits, lectures and social events. CSS has grown pronounced the last year and there is a will and interest of students to be active in sustainability issues at Chalmers.

2008 CSS activities ∙ Planning, preparations of presentations and posters for the AGS Annual Meeting 2008 at MIT, Cambridge, USA, January 2008. ∙ Interviews ∙ AGS Annual Meeting 2008 from CSS, including our organization and projects in sustainability at Chalmers. ∙ Further investigation and reporting on students perspective of sustainability courses at Chalmers, within the ESD Chalmers project (Education for Sustainable Development), November 2007 to April 2008. ∙ Participation in the reference group, in order to give some input on the environmental work and policy at Chalmers, 2007 ∙ Advertisement campaign for fund raising and company collaboration during the company’s exhibition CHARM at ∙ Preparation of the spring seminar, “You Are What You Eat”, October 2007 to May 2008 ∙ Arranging the seminar “You Are What You Eat”, May 2008 ∙ Planning for and participating Canada December 2007 presentations and input in genera ∙ Together with students from Project 21, ETH AGS, have planned and are planning the joint annual meeting of the AGS and WSC S3 2009. January 2008 – ∙ Starting collaboration with Engineers Without Borders, June 2008. ∙ Presentation of CSS on Inter in Barcelona, June 2008. ∙ Participation in Youth Encounter Sustainability (YES), Switzerland, July 2008. ∙ Participation in Intensive Program on Sustainability (IPoS), Thailand, August 2008.

Some of the main activities during 2008 The following activities can be mentioned amongst others and are this report, further information can be provided on request. The AGS Annual Meeting at MIT, Cambridge, USA This year, the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) was hosted by MIT in Boston during the 28th to 31st of January. CSS was participated in the meeting forums constituting of lectures, discussions, presentations and creation of networks between students, academia, industry and NGO’s from all over

the world. One significant point about this conference is the student attendance that accounted for nearly 50% of the entire conference population. From these statistics one can deduce that first and foremost, students play a large role in sustainable development and the future of our that this conference was a great platform to advertise the CSS and WSC‐SD. Overall, the conference was very motivating and gave all those who attended not only hope for the future, but concrete ideas and steps to take. Again, the student and we expect that it will continue to grow in AGS and similar meetings. ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) Chalmers Project CSS participation in this project has been to evaluate the student opinions about basic compulsory environmental and sustainability courses, given during the bachelor education at Chalmers. This is a minor part of the reform project, ESD Chalmers, aiming at learning for sustainable development at Chalmers on many levels in the education system. The projects at Chalmers that were chosen to be evaluated were: Architecture, Automatization, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, Electro Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Physics, where Automatization and Mechatronics was evaluated after a pilot trial. The evaluation was performed as a questionnaire and some questions with additional text answers. The results from the survey: showing some general remarks, such as: ∙ Negative expectations of the specific course. ∙ Difficulties in understanding the relevance of the course in comparison with the education ∙ Bad planning, structure and poor information about the course ∙ Too much politics and opinions, too far from science CSS Food Seminar – “You are What You Eat” On the 6th of May CSS held a discussion seminar for sustainable food habits named “You are what you Eat” on Chalmers campus. The topics were: ‐ The meat industry’s effect on the climate ‐ Sustainable fuels – from w ‐ Biodynamic farming The seminar turned out to be a real success. Interesting speakers and almost every seat in the audience was occupied. It started off with very interesting presentations; the CEO of Lantmännen Agro Ethanol who presented of Ekolådan Biodynamic Production, and more. The seminar ended with a very inspiring and enthusiastic debate which was so successful that we overshot our time schedule with almost an hour. We in CSS really liked this event and will be organizing additional seminars in the future. Student Summit for Sustainability, University of Regina, Canada 6 students represented CSS at the Student Summit for Sustainability in Regina. Everyone came back with increased motivation and ideas to implement in our local community. CSS presented their local projects that they had performed during the year, and made many new contacts in the field of sustainability. Engineers Without Borders CSS has initiated cooperation with Engineers without Borders, which is an international organization for engineering “missionary” projects. This will in the future give members the possibility to participate in international projects from Sweden and also abroad to this collaboration and are looking forward to see what this can bring to our organization.

WSC‐SD Finances The WSC‐SD finances need much consideration for the next year. All financial resources for the last several years have been leftover sponsorship from past summits, especially the last one to be held at MIT. Over the past few years when large expenditures such as the website and sponsorship for WSC‐SD members from developing countries to attend summits, we have taken the money from the bank account without ever making efforts to do additional fundraising. We are now at the point where we need funding for our different collaborative WSC‐SD projects, which will require large fundraising efforts. However, we are quite optimistic about this task due to several company interests and possible funding from research institutions such as the AGS. The annual account balance for the 2008/2009 year is seen below. WSC‐SD Finances 2008/09 Account Balance March 2007 Account Balance March 2008 Activity Income Bank fees WSC‐SD Summit Sponsorship

Expenditures USD

19.05 917.24

2011.93 936.29 Total Income 0 Total Expenditure 936.29 Balance USD 0

Annual Report: Executive Board May 2008 – February 2009

Co‐President Jess Schulschenk

The WSC‐SD has grown considerably over the past few months, and we have welcomed a large number of new members through the student communities that have joined us and our growing network of individual members internationally. It has been an absolute pleasure to be an active part of seeing our network grow and be in personal contact with a number of these individuals and groups over the past year. It has been personally inspiring to learn from and share with this incredible change makers. At the start of our term as the executive board – we set our objectives to improve the communication and collaboration both within and outside of the WSC‐SD. It is my sincere hope that I have been able to play a role in realising these objectives through the following key foci:

Website & Wiki We launched the new website and wiki functions at the start of our term, and it has been a rewarding experience to be directly involved in the design and upkeep of these web platforms. Our webmaster, Ryu Yanagisawa, has done an incredible job of keeping the website fresh and interesting with his regular posts. We have seen the number of people visiting our site on a weekly basis increase by more than fivefold since the beginning of our term and now have over 200 of our members actively contributing to the wiki site. The development of the website and wiki should be seen as an ongoing activity as we continue to develop as an organisation and improve the services that we are able to offer our members. This will also require increasing the contributions from our members to keep the platforms relevant, up to date and useful.

Strategic Partnerships

Over the past year we have been working hard to develop strategic partnerships with other organisations working on similar objectives. Our relationships with key international organisations, such as oikos International, have grown from strength to strength and we are on the verge of launching an exciting collaborative project with this international network of students. Work over the past few months with other students groups also engaging on climate change negotiations will hopefully lead to productive dialogues in the international policy arena during the year ahead.

Adriana Valenzuela (Regional Director for Latin America), Katharina Beck (President of oikos International) & Jess Schulschenk (Co-President of WSC-SD)

African Climate Change Conference, South Africa A large amount of my efforts this year were directed towards the African Climate Change Conference which was hosted in Cape Town, South Africa for 10 – 16 January 2009. The WSC‐SD was accepted as the official student organisation of the event which attracted leading scientists from across Africa and beyond. Significant funding was raised which enabled us to bring over 45 students from African countries to Cape Town, including a number of WSC‐SD members from Cameroon, Egypt and Zimbabwe. The student workshop hosted before the conference gave students the opportunity to learn from leading climate change scientists and engage in meaningful dialogue with students from across the continent. Students presented their work alongside other African scientists during an intense week of lectures, and participated in the student photographic competition in which they submitted photographs under the theme of “African Climate Change: Impacts & Initiatives”. The conference was a great success and an incredible learning experience for the students who attended. The conference marked the launch of the African Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS) programme which aims to bring together African scientists to build research and knowledge sharing networks across the continent. Furthermore, the Student Declaration adopted by the participants was passed onto the Minister of Environmental Affairs in South Africa and will be tabled during the upcoming Meeting of African Environmental Ministers in March 2009. Participants from over 17 African countries attended the Student Workshop preceding the conference

Ongoing Support A large responsibility this year has been providing ongoing support for the WSC‐SD as an international organisation, fielding numerous daily enquiries and requests for information and support. It has been a pleasure to be able to connect our members with resources that have been able to assist them in their local projects. My term has been at times challenging, but ultimately incredibly rewarding. I am indebted to the WSC‐SD for the personal learning and growth that I have gained over the past two years and thank you for the inspiration which I continue to draw from this incredible network of students.

Co‐president, financial officer Carl Justin Kamp Progress This year has been, in my opinion, a great year for the WSC‐SD. The network at several times this year has experienced what could be considered as rapid growth. In total all WSC‐SD members, both from student communities and those who are individual members, come from a total of 39 countries! We are seeing now more than ever, that student efforts and ideas are not only important, but vital for our planet’s future. Due to the fact that the primary function of a network organization is to…network, we continue to do just that. It seems like almost everyday this year we were getting emails from students all over the world who find out about us one way or another and who want to both share their ideas and learn from others’ efforts by joining the organization. Welcome! Regional Project consolidation In an attempt to strengthen the extensive WSC‐SD network and in a sense unify our diverse efforts, we have launched what is termed as the ‘regional projects consolidation’. Essentially, this is an assessment of all projects being done currently and in the past two years by all WSC‐ SD members. Therefore, questionnaires have been given to all WSC‐SD members in order to collect uniform data about all of the various projects in order to analyze them by region, subject, size, etc. From this, we hope to publish the analysis in order to show as many people as possible what it is that innovative and passionate students are not only thinking about all over the world, but what they are doing. We intend to also discuss the difficulties faced by students doing their own problems so that others can understand how to help if possible. We have a number of magazines, journals and newspapers from around the world in mind to publish this document. This project is in the data collection phase, which will soon be analyzed and published. We had hoped to finish the document for the summit this year, but due to a late launch date and a lengthy period of data acquisition, I hope that the next year’s executive board will continue this project. Advisory board The advisory board has been discussed at length for many years now, but as of this year’s summit, will become a reality. During this last year we have extensively discussed the need for an advisory board and were motivated to create one due to the seemingly rapid growth experienced this year. We feel that an advisory board would significantly help the future of the WSC‐SD due to the valuable advice from the chosen board and for the strengthened relationships between the WSC‐SD and the organizations/institutions represented by each board member. Due to our growth potential, it is important for us to grow in an ordered manner, and it is thus helpful to have advice from individuals who have dealt with similar groups and situations. The following people have been nominated by the WSC‐SD executive board to be advisory board members. ‐Prof J Steinfeld from MIT and AGS‐MIT ‐Prof Greg Morrison from Chalmers and AGS‐Chalmers ‐John Holmberg, vice‐president of Chalmers and UNESCO initiative professor ‐Thomas Andersson from SPIDER, an IT NGO in Sweden and president of Jonköping University in Sweden, and former Dep. Director at OECD

‐Claude Siegenthaler who is a founding member of OIKOS and prof at St. Gallen and Hosei Universities in Switzerland and Japan respectively ‐ Onuki Sensei from the University of Tokyo and AGS‐UT ‐PhD candidate Philip Osano, McGill Univ., Former WSC‐SD keynote speaker and heavily linked to development projects in Africa, specifically Kenya ‐Steven Millman, one of the WSC‐SD founders, now managing Bearing Point Co. ‐Christine Bratrich, director of ETH‐Sustainability ‐Fukushima, co‐founder of the WSC‐SD, currently a chemical engineering researcher in academia in Taiwan AGS/WSCSD annual meeting During the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) meeting last year several WSC‐SD members from ETH‐Z, MIT and Chalmers met to discuss the next annual summit for the WSC‐SD. We decided that it would be a good idea to attempt to hold a joint meeting with the AGS as an effort to strengthen the relationship between the two organizations, to save resources since our members will most likely be attending both, and to take advantage of the synergetic effects of having the ‘grown‐ups’ and ‘kids’ at the same meeting. As far as we can tell, this has been a good decision, and will in effect achieve all benefits mentioned before. We have also made an informal agreement to try to hold joint AGS/WSCSD meetings about once every three years or so. By doing so, we can be fair to all non‐AGS universities who wish to apply to host a summit and do not grow too far from our quasi‐parent organization. Advertising Advertising for the WSC‐SD takes on many forms, but seems to be in general very effective. In fact, most members, especially those serving on the executive board this year, try diligently to advertise and discuss the concept of the WSC‐SD in different ways when giving unrelated speeches and presentations for work and studies. It is both easy and effective to add a few slides about the WSC‐SD on the end of one’s thesis presentation or TA lectures, for example, in order to search for new members. We have also been and continue to be welcomed to present to many other organizations, companies, research institutions, governmental organizations, universities and so on. For example, the WSC‐SD has given presentations at the YES and IPOS summer courses, educational outreach organization meetings, university departments, and so on. COP15 This year, a couple different groups involved with the COP15, or the next UN Conference on Climate Change, have contacted the WSC‐SD about possible participation in and organization of events around the meeting itself. We very much hope that the WSC‐SD will be able to be a part of this meeting in the fall and will be able to speak for students everywhere! It has come to our attention that the UN intends to in some way support students globally by creating some type of legislation that would suggest both governments and universities to give incentives for students to design and launch their own projects in the area of climate change. Therefore, we would like to help show to the UN that student organizations such as the WSC‐SD are making a difference and that student efforts for climate change, among many other issues, are vital for our future. IT tools 49

Please refer to the annual report from Jess Schulschenk, my fellow co‐president, about the exciting new IT tools (Wiki‐style information database and website) that have been implemented this year. They have been both useful and effective! Regional managers This year we attempted to restructure the executive board of the WSC‐SD. However, it is my opinion at the end of this term that it was not necessarily for the better for several reasons. The idea was to have ‘regional managers’ who would focus on all WSC‐SD activities within their respective regions. I don’t think the restructuring of the EB by any means hurt the organization; rather it was not as effective as initially planed. The initial concept was to strengthen the relationships between members within each respective region, but for some reason, the positions were not fully utilized. I think this system could work in the future, however not without a very concrete set of goals and responsibilities to give each of the regional managers. In the event of regional WSC‐SD summits, which have occurred in Africa and Latin America this year which were not entirely WSC‐SD ‘events’ but that involved many WSC‐SD members and efforts, regional managers could be very useful in the future. Therefore, I think the subject of whether or not to use this ‘regional manager’ system next year in the EB should be discussed at the pre‐meeting of the summit in Zurich. Co‐presidents Also, the WSC‐SD executive board made another change in the positions this year: there were two co‐presidents, Jess Schulschenk and myself. In my opinion this was a good idea. Due to the fact that we were both extremely busy this year with our respective jobs and studies, we were able to share the responsibilities, although I feel that Jess gave much more effort than me. Thanks Jess! The point is that, this co‐president system has worked in the past (both this last year and 4 years ago), and can work again in the future if future executive boards choose to do so. Finances The finances of the WSC‐SD do not require much description in the annual report due to the fact that the organization is not by any means a financially‐based organization. To be more precise with our financial history during this year, we started the term with just around 900 USD, and ended with 0 USD. After spending most of our money last year on the new wiki‐style information database and website, we didn’t really spend anything until just before the summit this year. We decided to fund one lucky student from a developing country in order to attend the summit this year. We chose Otieno Nickson who is the chairman of our community from the University of Nairobi. The WSC‐SD must collectively discuss the financial situation of the organization this year at the pre‐meeting. There has been much talk in the past and currently about expanding the financial purpose of the organization. Many of our student communities and individual members come from countries where student fundraising is nearly if not entirely impossible. Thus, the role of the WSC‐SD in such funding situations has been in question. Currently, we do not do collective fundraising, ask for financial support from our partners, or really have much use for an extensive bank account. Therefore, this organization must decide to continue its financial ‘immunity’ due to an almost complete lack of funding in both directions, or to be more active in this area. I would suggest, however, that if the WSC‐SD decides to become more financially‐ based that it forms a new EB position to focus entirely on financial expansion. 50

Director of Internal Relations Kat Potter May 2008 – February 2009 Relations with members One of the joys of being Director of Internal Relations is the connection and communication with all of the members of the WSC‐SD. During my term, predominately through email, I have conversed with Individual Members and Student Community liaisons regarding more formal items and information sharing, and also informal friendly conversations about sustainability ideas, projects to pursue, connections with other nearby WSC‐SD members, etc. My role has also entailed mediation of disagreements and facilitating the communication with members to resolve these issues. Many of the members I feel like I have gotten to know quite well, and one of my main activities as Director of Internal Relations has been to maintain this personal connection with WSC‐SD members. Good communication within the WSC‐SD is critical to furthering our goals. As Director of Internal Relations it has been my job to disseminate information, requests, and opportunities to all of our Individual Members and Student Community liaisons. A significant part of this is promotion of the website and wiki, as these tools are what will unite us in distant places around the globe. This is independent of any specific announcement, and rather was a periodic friendly reminder and assistance with using these two sites effectively. Individual Member expectations With our rapidly growing large member‐base, it is important that the members we take on are committed to making the WSC‐SD work as well as it can towards our goals of sustainability. There needs to be an understanding of the commitment we expect from them, and also what they can expect to get from us by joining the WSC‐SD. During my term I created an ‘Individual Members Expectations’ document which outlines these points and is now distributed to all newly accepted IMs attached to their welcome letter. It is critical to set down this understanding in the beginning. Review, welcome, and maintenance of new members This was a huge year of growth for the WSC‐SD. The word is out about us! From 9 individual members at my start in May to now 60! During these past months we have also welcomed St Andrews, Quark Society in Cairo, Uganda, and Fort Hare as Partner Members, and initiated SfGS‐University of Nairobi to full‐member status. As Director of Internal Relations it has been my job to welcome each of these new members personally and I have worked on a fairly refined process. With every arriving application this entails: keeping track of the potential‐members which need to be voted on at the next Executive Board meeting, replying that we received their application (with the occasional help from Jess ☺), keeping a current list of all members with their location and nationality, updating the wiki page. If accepted, sending a personalized welcome letter of acceptance with specific reference to features of that person, the Individual Members Expectations document, and notes of extra things the new members should be aware of, including upcoming opportunities and connecting them with any nearby IMs or SCs cc:ed on the email with contact information. Then often hearing immediately back from them about their ideas and their joy at becoming a member!

Newsletter This term I served as the editor of the WSC‐SD newsletter. I re‐vamped the format and design to try and make it more readable and desirable to read. I also switched from a monthly to a quarterly schedule. This was in part to encourage the use of our website and wiki for communication, and also to relieve pressure on our SC liaisons to produce an update report so frequently. In retrospect, I am not sure if the quarterly format works the best and this should be discussed. In regards to maintaining contact with SCs, it eliminates the previously monthly contact so that we are only touching base every few months and thus separates the SCs from the WSC‐SD. This also may have had the reverse effect of making the newsletter update more daunting for SC liaisons because it entailed a review of a whole quarter rather than a simple one‐month update. It was quite difficult to obtain updates from all SCs (as is required of them) and the newsletters never contained updates from the full lists of SCs‐‐ this has always been the case, but the less‐ frequent contact may have contributed to this. Consolidating several months also caused the updates to be lengthier and thus the whole newsletter to be much lengthier, which can tend to make it less likely to be read by receiving members. These notes might suggest switching back to a monthly format, however there are also counter arguments, most notably what I list above about encouragement of wiki/website use instead and how it is questionable which format would result in better responsiveness from all SCs.

Regional Manager Africa Willis Alala As part of my responsibilities, communicating with the IMs and SCs in the African region was a core prerequisite if I was to perform well. Similarly, being able to consult and to develop innovative programs that could jointly be implemented within the SCs, IMs, internal partners and global partners was nonetheless important to the realization of the set goals of the WSCSD’s expansion programs as outlined in the office I hold. But this would not deter me from putting forth my contributions and perspectives with regards to how I think the WSCSD can approach the years ahead. From the African Region; I concur with the President that the WSCSD has grown considerably. And this is clear too from the African region. But underlying challenges still limit the participation of members and SCs. As the more easily recognizable part of the developing world, the WSCSD is under obligation to give preferential treatment to SCs and IMS in this region. And this is where I particularly failed. The region is dogged by several challenges that we are all aware of at this moment. My take is that if any little opportunity ever arises in the WSCSD like in the recent case where we couldn’t decide on who to finance with surplus money in our accounts, such opportunities should automatically be used to help student cases from the African Region. This is my humble opinion. My coordination with the SCs and IMs has been moderate. I received good communication from the Egypt and Kenya SCs and other3‐4 IMs from other countries. But again my distance was a huge impediment to practically making sure that coordination between these groups was successful. More coordination with each other and the rest of the WSCSD community in other regions can be more achieved through more regular access to internet and easy use of our wiki and website. My reports indicate it has not been quite successful for some students to use the wiki as a platform to network or to showcase their activities either due to lack of immediate internet access or the lack of enough internet knowledge to navigate the site. The primary challenge lies with the students and not the site. I think the site and the wiki are great. Christopher has been the caretaker of my position somewhat by relentlessly spearheading progress on the WSC African Program. The WSC African Program is up and optimistically progressing under your leadership. Our dreams in Regina still remain real through this project and I am determined to be part of it to the end. There are several opportunities that exist through which these SCs and IMs can be more effective and I will be helpful to the incoming Regional Director for Africa in this regard to organize the African sustainability summit as I had outlined while in Regina, Saskatchewan. This platform will serve to link our work with fellow students, international development actors, NGOs, and the larger context of academia from within and out of the continent.

Regional Director Europe and North America Christopher Hedvall

Progress report: During the 8 months of my mandate most time has been spent on the cross‐regional project (Europa‐Africa) aimed foremost at the WSC‐SD African student communities and their local environments. In addition efforts have been made to get a alumni board in place and also finalize the regional projects consolidation. Below are comments on the progress on these matters. Regional consolidation Aside from my own community (Chalmers) and ETH which has had a special role this year, I have lately been in contact with our communities at St Petersburg Students for Sustainability, Unipoly and S:t Andrews, on the matter of project consolidation were they have been asked to provide us with information on all their recently finished and currently ongoing project. This documentation has been running late and being collected as this is written.

Cross‐regional initiative, WSC‐SD African initiative My focus since last annual meeting in Canada has been on a cross‐regional project aimed at providing resources and blueprints for some of our communities in Africa. The background is more generally to find some project which can facilitate the basic strategy of transferring resources and technology from one end of WSC‐SD coverage, to another end. Regarding the technology areas I have proposed (but have still to decide on this matter) that the following areas be put forward as pillars for the project: (a) ICT (e.g. providing solutions for better internet access), (b) energy/electricity (e.g. small scale biomass energy technology for rural societies), and (c) water sanitation technology. Since these are only means to develop more fundamental issues such as knowledge/learning, living standards and health – it is also worth mentioning the area of “human rights” and “democrazy” which has been discussed at our meetings. Initial phase – internal networks Initial focus during the mandate period was aimed at finding interested actors within the WSC‐ SD network and initiating idea discussions. At this point I have had discussions with the following person, which at this point can be considered involved: Philip Osano (Advisory role), Otieno Nickson (Key role as chairman of Kenyan SC.. Attending Zurich), Kuda Chipendo Willis Alala, (key role as former Kenyan chair) Mike Munabi (key role chair of Ugandian SC Carl Justin Kamp (Co‐chair which together with me has been, are usable regarding European project partners). Robert Kintu (Tanzanian citizen and Swedish student. Interesting Regarding idea and concept development an abstract was developed for the upcoming conference and is available at the project page which has been created on the internal wiki. Additional work is needed, especially regarding more concrete parts such as geographical and topic/problem delimitations, and this is scheduled to take place at the Zurich meeting.

Second phase – external contacts During the fall I have mainly been in contact with two actors: the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions, which needless relates to ICT of above mentioned areas. Via Professor Andersson (also mentioned below on the matter of alumni network work) me and Justin was invited to one of their meetings in Stockholm. Carl Justin was able to attend and essentially they conveyed an interest in ICT‐related projects which could be, and have briefly been discussed in the framework of WSC‐SD African initiative. Secondly, I have had meetings with people at Chalmers on the Ugandian energy situation and also people from biomass energy lobby. The latter coincided with an initiative to start a biogas project aimed at Africa in which they see WSC‐SD as a potential partner. All together I am at this stage convinced we within our reach enough external organizations who would be able to provide us support in order to start this project. Before doing so extensive internal preparations are need however, which is lays next. Specifications of ideas, scope need to be put in print more carefully before partnering with others. Contacts have also been made with the project leader of WWF:s GlobalFOCUS. This is unclear at the present stage however. Alumni network/committee During the fall 2008 I created a draft for how an eventual advisory committee. Following up on this later during the year I have correspondence with some potential members for our advisory committee some of who was also included in the recently suggestion for committee (awaiting approval at this moment):

Adriana Valenzuela, Latin‐American Regional Director World Student Community 1. Latin‐American Conference to combat Climate change

From 16th to 19th October in Bogotá – Colombia, was gathered young leaders, governmental institutions, and international agencies of cooperation in the “VII Latin‐American Encounter of Youth for the Environment and Sustainable Development”, organized by Corporación Grupo Tayrona under the central topic “Actions against Climate Change”. The meeting reaches the issues of economical, environmental and social impacts of Climate Change, adaptation and mitigation measurements, public politic and participation, education and communication for sustainability, as well as the role that youth play like agents of change and social transformation. This event counted with participation of delegations from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panamá, Dominican Republic and United States and established the Bogotá’s declaration that among its main agreements are Creation of the Latin‐American Alliance of Youth for Environment, ALMA, this will be a regional platform to promote the cooperation and participation of youth in environment and sustainability. 2. Establish a Colombian Student community Taking in to account that Latin‐America des not has Student Community, my principal goal was the creation of the Colombian Youth Student Community, the name is “Youth for the Planet” host by Corporation Group Tayrona and it is a multidisciplinary group with the participation of student from different universities. They will present their application to be consider in the pre–meeting 2009 . The team is conformed by: Juan Diego Valenzuela, Cindy Soto, Efrain Martinez, Jimmy Arias, Mayra Muñoz and Heber Jimenez. 3. Executive Advisory board I established contact with Mrs. Blanche Garcia Tuñon. She is from Argentina and she has been teacher in diverse universities and adviser from more than 30 years. Currently she lives in La Plata City and she accepted to be part of our executive advisory board. She is a great human been that knows very good the Latin‐

American region and she wants to help the student movement. Mrs. Blanche Garcia with master students from Peru, Colombian and Argentina 4. Establish contact with individual members In the last month I have establish communication with individual member and other people that are interesting to be member of the S3, I did received replies, and I found the following question: 1. If you are not student, but you are involved with sustainability issues can you be part? 2. How WSC are involving the alumni? 5. Regional project Colombia S3 In the last month I was working and establish contact with student and organizations about this idea that Latin‐American and Colombia host the next summit. I think So far, the S3 summits have been organised in and by student committees from developed countries. By organizing the conference in Cartagena, Colombia, the WSC‐SD would demonstrate their commitment with new members and expand its stakeholder base. Also, this will give many young students from various countries of Latin America an opportunity to participate in this exchange. This is also a unique opportunity for the international students to be immersed in the magic and realities of Latin America. The only way that this can be possible is with the united work of the student community from developed and developing countries. About the compilation of regional projects, students has request more time to send their contributions. Latin‐American Campaign of Reforestation This campaign is an outcome of the Latin‐American encounter to combat climate change, and the principal objective is to reduce a CO2 emission and to create awareness about sustainability. This will take place simultaneously on 5 of June in different countries of the region.

Ayumi Arakawa Regional Director in Asia First, I would like to apologize for not being able to work as I should be. Although I had contributed to several activities related to Asia, I was not able to connect that to something worthy for WSC‐SD.

Managing Food Safety and security Working Group in Jing Forum Jing Forum is a student forum between the University of Tokyo and Peking University in Beijing, China. I have been contributing to it as one of staff members and I was a manager of Food Safety and Security Working Group. We have found that there are many intelligent and aspiring students in Peking University and that there are possibilities of inviting them to WSC‐SD. On the other hand, one thing we have to be aware of on inviting Chinese students is that most of the case, students are worried about being picked by Chinese government by talking about “society”.

Networking with external NPOs During this period, I have worked as a volunteer for external NPOs that can be future collaborating partners. Millennium Promise Japan: http://millenniumpromise.jp/ Millennium Promise Japan is a NPO that have founded on as a Japan branch of Millennium Promise (http://www.millenniumpromise.org/) founded by Dr. Jeffrey David Sachs. MPJ is supported by many private companies and celebrities. It is possible for us to ask for collaboration in the future. More Trees: http://www.more‐trees.org/ More Trees is an organization that have founded by the musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto aiming to take care of forests in Japan by thinning.

Alumni Network Since I am graduating from University this spring, building Alumni Network is very important topic for me. I have tried to contact Alumni in Asia but most of them did not reply or mail addresses are not used now. We, UTSC, is going to held an Alumni meeting in March 2009, so I am going to talk about WSC‐SD Alumni network with UTSC Alumni Network.

I realised how difficult and challenging to work as EB of WSC‐SDR and on our own research. Before this year, school work has been relatively easy, so I was thinking there are so much things I can do for WSC‐SD. I really admire EB members for working so hard on both WSC‐SD and their own research and SC activities. Although, working as one of the EB members in this period of time is such a great experience for me. I thank you all for placing me in EB.

Webmaster Ryu Yanagisawa From last summit in Regina, Canada, I kept posting news on the website related to Sustainable Development such as innovation in Science, technology, farming, other community for sustainability and event. As for wiki, main goal for me is to put each pages in order so that user can easily find what they need. Through website, viewer posted some comments which was mostly from students from Africa. They are eager to make social change and to study with WSC‐SD member because they shares same motivation toward sustainable development. I contacted with other sustainable community members to share the ideas. Sometimes, a man of authority of sustainability gave comment on website and cheered our activity. WSC‐SD member put their research on website and viewer inspired their thought, posting comment for appreciation many times. It was great pleasure for me to work as webmaster. To improve the website, I suggest to set up students blog team from each continent. It is easy to find good news in neighboring country but difficult in country which use other language, or far away country. To make the website branding, posting “students activity” is appropriate since WSC‐SD is consisted of students. However, to collect students activity from world wide, it is really hard because student are not good at making media to inform their activity. If there is student from each continent which shares same language in neighboring country, it is really easy to collect. As for SC, liaison between WSC‐SD and SC are favorable. As for wiki, I suggest for each SC to have WSC‐SD wiki meeting every other month. In my SC(SUS+), only me and other 2 did know what is going on around WSC. Since there is much information for SC on wiki, it is better to share it with SC members. Through wiki meeting, they will find what they will put on wiki about their activity and newsletter. So I suggest to hold the meeting with wiki in each SC.