Impact of Meetings on the Network Governance and Mobility of UN Policy Programs on Environment and Education

Abstract

This paper adds to the understandings of how face-to-face meetings contribute to the network governance and global mobility of United Nations (UN) policy programs on environmental and sustainability education (ESE). Data from interviews with 13 international ESE policy leaders were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for key themes related to the research purpose. The findings indicate that meetings provide an arena for collaboration and influence on UN ESE policy programs, as well as facilitating the impact of the policy programs on UN member country policy. In addition, attending meetings enables the production of network relations that bind ESE policy communities together across distant locations. They are also a venue for the networking labor involved in forging new relationships and facilitating the social learning that supports global policy mobility. This pilot study enriches understanding of face-to-face meetings as a key vector of policy mobility and a significant factor in the overall network governance of UN organizations and their policy programs. We hope the study contributes to the fields of critical policy studies and ESE, as well as to informing policy actors on how important their participation in meetings can be for the network governance and mobility of UN policy programs.