Education for Sustainability Grants Program 2008-09
Guide for Applicants
- Objective
- Selection criteria
- Eligibility criteria
- What is the program generally NOT intended for?
- Funding amount
- Application Form
- How do you know if your application has been successful?
- Resources
Objective
The objective of the Education for Sustainability Grants Program is to facilitate changes in community attitudes and behaviour in support of sustainability, through education for sustainability.
What is education for sustainability?
Education for Sustainability develops knowledge, skills and values that promote action and behaviour in support of a sustainable future. It aims to equip individuals, organisations and communities to deal effectively with the complex and inter-related environmental, social and economic challenges they encounter in their personal and working lives, in a way that protects the interests of current and future generations.
Education for Sustainability acknowledges the need to use learning approaches that help individuals, organisations and communities to explore sustainability and build skills that enable change, such as critical and systems thinking, mentoring and facilitation, visioning, genuine participation in decision making, action learning and action research, and the formation of partnerships for change1.
Selection criteria
The Program provides funding for:
- education, awareness raising, behaviour change and capacity building activities that act as a catalyst for change in support of sustainability;
- activities that enhance national coordination of existing education for sustainability programs, policies or institutions; and
- new and innovative approaches in areas of need in education for sustainability at the national level.
Preference is given to organisations and projects that:
- have the ability to influence significant institutions/ associations/ programs, or systems;
- are national in focus or have national application2;
- are innovative and/or offer widely applicable models;
- deliver a clear benefit to the Australian community;
- involve collaboration and partnership arrangements with other supporting organisations; and
- are based on or have considered education for sustainability research and/or regional and local plans relating to sustainability.
The 2008-09 program will provide support for projects in the following priority areas:
- Business and Industry - to foster adoption of the principles of sustainability in the operations of business and industry;
- Further and Higher Education - to incorporate education for sustainability in further and higher education teaching programs and curricula, campus management and associated activities; and
- Community Education – innovative educational approaches to support change towards more sustainable behaviour across the community.
More information on previously funded projects.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for funding the proposed project, the applicant and the application itself must meet the requirements set out below. If you cannot meet these requirements, please do not submit an application.
Project Requirements
The project must:
- be administered in Australia;
- be complete within a period of 12 months; and
- not duplicate existing projects and resources.
Applicant Requirements
Eligible groups include, but are not necessarily limited to:
- community groups and associations;
- industry associations;
- rural organisations;
- local governments;
- universities and further education institutions;
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander corporations, councils or incorporated associations; and
- environmental and education groups.
Groups that are not eligible include:
- commercial enterprises;
- individuals, including for personal travel and study; and
- individual pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools3.
The organisation/group undertaking the project must also:
- be able to enter into a contract and meet the requirements stated in the sample funding agreement; and
- not be in receipt of any un-acquitted grants administered by the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, except for current projects that have not yet reached their financial reporting date.
In addition, the specified personnel undertaking the project must:
- have the capacity, knowledge and skills to deliver national education for sustainability activities;
- have demonstrated knowledge of the needs of the project area;
- be in a sound position to influence the sector to which the project relates; and
- have the capacity, including previous experience and expertise, to deliver the stated outcomes.
Application Requirements
Applications will not be considered unless all fields in the application form are completed and the information provided is clear.
What is the program generally NOT intended for?
Education for Sustainability Grants will generally not be provided to:
- undertake academic research projects;
- support continuing administration/operational costs of an organisation;
- a devolved grants program, where the applicant intends to distribute funds to other parties;
- purchase, lease or acquisition of buildings, equipment, land or vehicles;
- pay for travel;
- produce TV shows, board games or generic environmental publications;
- ongoing maintenance of projects to which organisations have committed as part of a previous grant; or
- the administration costs incurred when applying for funding.
Funding amount
The Education for Sustainability Grants Program has limited funds and competition for resources is high. The Program is generally only able to fund a small number of projects each year. Funding of up to $100,000 per project will be considered. Information on projects funded in 2007-2008 is available.
Application form
Download the Education for Sustainability Grants Program application form
Applications close at 6:00 pm on Monday 23 February 2009.
- Education for Sustainability Grants Program 2008-09 - Application form (RTF - 448 KB) | (PDF - 449 KB)
How do you know if your application has been successful?
All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application no later than June 2009. The successful applicants will be sent a funding agreement covering the conditions of funding, and including the required reporting for the project during the project period and on completion of the project.
Resources
- Caring for our Future: The Australian Government Strategy for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainability, 2005 - 2014
- A National Review of Environmental Education and its Contribution to Sustainability in Australia
- Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Sustainability Education webpage
- Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) Education for Sustainability Portal
- National Centre for Sustainability Resource Bank
1 Adapted from Frameworks for Sustainability, Volume 1, A National Review of Environmental Education and its Contribution to Sustainability in Australia, Tilbury, D and Cooke, K, 2005 and Caring for Our Future, the Australian Government Strategy for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainability, 2005-2014
2 National refers to projects which are national in focus OR which provide models or solutions that have national application. This should be reflected as an integral part of the project proposal and design - for example through partnerships and collaboration with broader and/or national networks, a dissemination or communication plan that shares information beyond the local community.
3 Programs that can assist individual schools with funding include the National Solar Schools Program, Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens, Healthy Active Australia and grants through the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.