Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.73
Liaison Rochelle Owen
Submission Date Aug. 12, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

Dalhousie University
PAE-15: Employee Sustainability Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.32 / 5.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of people employed by the institution:
7,697

Program name (1st program) :
Sustainable Procurement Train-the-Trainers Workshop

Number of employees served by the program (1st program):
500

A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (1st program):

Dalhousie delivers The Rethink Sustainability on Campus Program. This rethink program focuses on friendly, educational and participatory challenges taking place throughout the year between rethink teams, individuals, departments, and residences. As part of this program are employee and student Sustainability Teams. Each team receives training from the Office of Sustainability and a manual of activity ideas and resources. Teams run activities in their home departments/buildings ranging from lunch and learns, hands on audits, and posters presentations etc. The Rethink programs are open to all employees on campus. Rethink team members can also sign up for training such as the Sustainable Procurement Train-the-Trainer Session. Through challenges, teams, activities, and events over 400 employees directly participated in programs.

This workshop is designed as a “train-the-trainer” course for those involved in procurement at Dalhousie. The Dalhousie Office of Sustainability hosts this workshop to train “Trainers” who will conduct their own sessions to pass on what they have learned. This strategy enables the Office to reach a broader number of people on campus. The workshop uses adult education techniques to engage participants in discussions and to contribute their own experiences with procurement.


A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive (1st program):

Goals- To have participants:
1.Gain an awareness and understanding of sustainability; and
2.Learn about and practice using tools to help with sustainable procurement decisions.

Part 1: Introduction
Exercise #1
15 min. 8: 30 – 8:45

Participants will collect an item from a bag as they enter. The moderator will introduce facilitators and instructors, and participants will introduce themselves by incorporating a feature of the item from the bag into a description of their role in sustainability or purchasing.

Part 2: Sustainable Procurement
Exercise #2
30 min. 8:45-9:15
“Sustainable procurement” and trends will be outlined along with an introduction to the role of the Office of Sustainability using the power point file. Attendees will become acquainted with the policies and mandates involved in becoming a sustainable organization and the impact procurement makes.

Exercise #3
45min. 9:15-10:00
Sticky note activity: Ask participants in groups of five to compile a list of goods and services they procure. Ask groups to categorize the list into key headings. Ask each group to write the key headings on a post-it-notes (post-consumer). Have the moderator group the sticky notes into major purchasing areas to see similarities and difference and to prioritize further effort.

Break 10:00 – 10:15

Part 3: Social Side of Sustainable Procurement and JUST US Video
Exercise #4
35min. 10:15-10:50

• Slides from power point followed by Myth #1: The bottom line should make your decision (fair trade coffee)
• Show JUST US coffee video

Exercise # 5
40 min. 10:50-11:30
Mythbusters!
Myth #2: It is more expensive to be sustainable (energy star computers).
Groups will use the purchasing checklist to discuss a particular commodity of interest and report back to the group.

Part 4: The Tool Kit
Exercise #6
20min. 11:30-11:50
Where to find it and what’s in it. All material is online for training their colleagues.

Part 5: Evaluation
10 min. 11:50 -12:00
Discussion and written feedback.


A brief description of the staff and/or other financial support the institution provides to the program (1st program):

Dalhousie's Office of Sustainability supports the Sustainable Procurement Train-the-Trainers Workshop.


The website URL where information about the program is available (1st program):
Program name (2nd program):
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Number of employees served by the program (2nd program):
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A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (2nd program):
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A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive (2nd program):
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A brief description of the financial or other support the institution provides to the program (2nd program):
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The website URL where information about the program is available (2nd program):
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Program name(s) (all other programs):
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Number of employees served by the program(s) (all other programs):
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A brief description of how the employee educators are selected (all other programs):
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A brief description of the formal training that the employee educators receive (all other programs):
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A brief description of the staff and/or other financial support the institution provides to the program(s) (all other programs):
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The website URL where information about the program(s) is available (all other programs):
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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