5 - Eco-Schools for Rich and Poor: Global Governmentality

Summary

This chapter and the next explore the world's largest ESD programme – Eco-Schools – by means of comparative biopolitical analysis across sites and scales. Combined, the two chapters probe how the programme is governed globally, and how it is unpacked in different local contexts in a world marked by deep inequality. In the present chapter, we focus on the rationalities and techniques through which the programme is rendered governable globally. The chapter begins with a short introduction to Eco-Schools and to the programme's national operators in Sweden, South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda. Thereafter, the chapter proceeds with an analysis of how Eco-Schools is governed across scales. Through this analysis, the (neo)liberal biopolitical elements that pervade the programme are laid bare. These include: the programme's efforts to target and transform everyday life; techniques of self-management and performativity; decentred power structures; and the overall logic of global inclusion. A biopolitical understanding of these modalities of government will prove important as it will pave the way for, and enable readers to make sense of, Chapter 6's findings from different local Eco-School settings. In the final section of this chapter, the main arguments are summarized.

Eco-Schools

Eco-Schools is the largest ESD programme in the world, currently operating in 73 countries and enrolling around 60,000 schools (Eco-Schools, 2024a). It offers a global standardized model, guiding the conduct of all eco-schools, while simultaneously recognizing contextual difference and aiming to ensure local relevance. This combination of global standards and local adaptation, alongside the fact that it is the world's largest ESD programme and recognized by the UN as a ‘model’ initiative, makes Eco-Schools particularly suitable to explore for the purpose of this book.

Eco-Schools is run by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a non-profit member-based umbrella INGO with its head office in Copenhagen. The programme was founded in 1992 in response to needs identified at the Rio Earth Summit to involve youth in environmental protection and socio-economic development. First piloted for two years in Denmark, in 1994 Eco-Schools was officially launched in Denmark, Germany, Greece and the UK (Andreou, 2020). Since then, the programme has undergone a remarkable expansion and has become something of a global authority in the domain of ESD.