Strengthening bonds between environmental education facilities and their surrounding communities: Best practices in Eixo Atlântico (North of Portugal and Galicia, Spain)

ABSTRACT

Local institutions can be effective tools in engaging environmental education. Especially, Environmental Education Facilities/Centres (EFF) have a high degree of relevance in the Eixo Atlântico Region (Galicia, Spain and North of Portugal). This study investigates the EEF's capacity to improve social involvement and impact. A multiple case study strategy was employed in which in-depth interviews were conducted with directors from 29 facilities in Eixo Atlântico. The research reveals a high level of EEF social impact, which was optimized when employing strong partnerships, when clearly-defining the sociocultural objectives of the educational program, and when the local population was actively involved.

Acknowledgments

The authors express their thanks to all the EEF that participated in this study, as well as to the reviewers of the English version of the manuscript (Pedro Flores and Jason Pascoe).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal (Grant numbers: SFRH/BD/69059/2010 and SFRH/BPD/116379/2016).