Hi,
Welcome to Green Impact Students’ Unions competition. Thanks for deciding to
get involved and take action to improve the sustainability of your union.
Below is advice and information to help guide you through the programme:
1. Where do I start?
First thing to do is to visit your workbook, register and sign in.
You can get to the commercial workbook by clicking here and register by
following the instructions in the document attached.
2. How do I reach the
bronze, silver and gold
standard?
For commercial workbooks:
To attain Bronze, unions
need to attain all 28
essential bronze criteria
To attain Silver, unions
need to attain all essential
Bronze criteria, all 19
essential Silver criteria and
attain an overall score of
455 or more
To attain Gold, unions need
Union of the Year - Large Trading Winners
to attain all 28 essential
– Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union
Bronze and 19 essential
Silver criteria, all 10
essential Gold criteria and have a total of 555 points or more.
To see the workbook visit: www.greenimpact.org.uk/gisuc
For non-commercial workbooks:
To attain Bronze, complete all 12 bronze criteria
To attain Silver, complete all 12 bronze criteria, all 11 silver criteria and gain an
overall score of at least 145 points
To attain Gold, complete all 12 bronze criteria, all 11 silver criteria, all 8 gold
criteria, and gain an overall score of at least 200 points
To see the workbook visit: www.greenimpact.org.uk/gisuc
3. What awards are given out to the highest achieving students' unions?
Each year we give out Union of the Year awards for students' unions that are the
highest achievers in their category. The following categories are available:
• Large Trading
• Small Trading
• Non Trading
• Further Education
• Most Improved
4. What are the special awards?
There are also special awards which allow unions to be recognised and rewarded
for exciting sustainability related projects that are not part of the criteria. These
awards are listed in the special awards tab of the workbook and will be launched
towards the end of August.
5. How do I fill in the workbook?
You will need to tick either ‘done’, ‘not done’ or ‘not applicable’. You are still able
to get accreditation if some of your criteria are ‘not applicable’ - you just won’t
get the points. For guidance on how to use the workbook please view the
attached document or click here and download the Workbook Functionality
Document.
6. What are the either/or and and/or criteria and how do I fill them?
Some of the individual criteria statements contain a number of mini-statements
denoted by the presence of and/or. To be compliant with the criteria you will
need to meet one or two of the mini statements. Other criteria contain a number
of mini-statements that are denoted by the presence of either/or. In this case
you will need to be compliant for one of the mini-statements—you won’t be able
to compliant for both as the mini-statements are opposites. Criteria starting with
‘Either…’ are specifically in there to help avoid biases towards larger unions. So,
for these small number of criteria, unions can claim the points for not having a
service, rather than having to select not applicable.
7. What happens if I haven’t met all the essential Bronze criteria?
For a variety of reasons, it is likely that a number of unions entering will not be
able to meet all the Bronze essential criteria and therefore will not be eligible for
the Bronze Standard (this is assuming that the criteria were applicable). If this
applies to your union, then there really is nothing to worry about – all it means is
that your union will be classed as Working Towards Accreditation. Green Impact
Students' Unions is all about continual improvement rather than a one-off ranking
exercise - it's been designed to help unions develop individual action plans, and
aiming for a Bronze Standard the following year could be a positive and tangible
goal to aim at.
8. There are a lot of criteria. Do I need to fill them all?
You do not have to answer all of the criteria, but you do need to try to answer at
least a few of the Bronze criteria to receive a Working Towards award.
9. What is the Further Information section in the workbook for?
If you are ever stuck for inspiration, check out the Further Information section.
Here there's an explanation of why we are asking you to do a particular criteria,
as well as some useful ideas and links to help you complete the criteria.
10. How do I evidence the work that I'm doing?
If you are unsure about how to evidence your work please click on the evidence
section of each criteria. This will give you a little information on the kind of
information that the auditor will be looking for when reviewing your work.
Remember, auditors will accept submissions that show creative ways that they
have managed to meet the criteria so don't be afraid to try something new.
11. Can I upload evidence through my mobile phone/tablet?
If you access the workbook through your phone by taking a photo and saving it,
visiting the comments/evidence section of the relevant criteria, click upload
evidence and then searching for your saved photo. Some phones will allow you to
directly take a photo after clicking on the upload evidence button of the relevant
criteria.
12. How do I organise my Green Impact Team?
There are loads of ways that you can organise your Green Impact efforts:
Students volunteers as facilitators – At Kings College London Students’ Union last
year, one of the Universities Environmental Management students, Rosie Bridger
was recruited by the Union’s General Manager Sital Gandesha to manage their
GISU work. This turned out to be a really successful model with Rosie completing
a useful placement to develop her knowledge of sustainability and the union
getting a new enthusiastic individual involved to deliver their work. You can read
more about Rosie’s work here.
1) Cross students’ union team approach – University of Cumbria Students’
Union are great at ensuring that they have student volunteers, student
officers and staff members working on GISU. They divide up the work in
relation to which areas they are all interested in and ensure that all
individuals involved are invited to the audit. This helps to manage the
workload, create a team support network and engage new individuals in
the union’s sustainability work.
2) Student officer leader – Fliss Newton at University of Brighton Students’
Union has been leading their work for the last two years. Throughout this
time she’s motivated the team to complete lots of sustainability projects,
gained lots of experience in managing sustainability projects and has been
rewarded with a bronze GISU award for the union’s efforts. It’s a
great approach for any students’ union with an officer interested in this
topic, who wants an opportunity to work with lots of individuals
throughout the students’ unions.
3) Student forums – Many students’ unions have committees dedicated to
driving sustainability projects. These are in the perfect position to
complete your GISU work as they are committed to sustainability but are
often unsure where to start on their work. A similar approach was taken
by Worcester
Technology College
who commented in
their audit, that they
wished there was
something similar for
other areas of their
work, because GISU
was so helpful in
giving their
sustainability group
something to work
on.
13. How do I find out
about new developments
John Leggott College Tree Planting Action
with the programme?
By signing up to GISU you are automatically registered to the EANDE mailing list.
All updates about the programme will be emailed out through this mechanism.
Please ensure that you read these emails as they come out to keep up-to-date
with the programme.
14. Are there any resources available to help me in my work?
Please click here to visits the GISU Resource bank.
15. How is my submission verified?
After workbook submission, we will make contact with each union to request
documentary or photographic evidence to verify specific essential criteria. We will
also notify unions that have been selected for auditing, which will take place
January-March 2014.
16. Do we get any feedback?
After audits are complete, we will individually inform all unions of their final
scores, the Standard they have achieved, and provide your confidential feedback.
17. When is the awards ceremony?
The awards ceremony will be held in July 2015.
Good luck with getting started with the programme. I will be in touch shortly to
see how you are getting along with the project. If in the meantime you need to
contact me to discuss your work please use the contact details below.
Cheers,
Laura Williams | Sustainability Project Officer
NUS Group
Laura.williams@nus.org.uk
Mobile:07880190586;
Fax: 01625 413258; Twitter: NUS_Greener
Website: www.nus.org.uk/greener
NUS Services Ltd, Ian King House, Snape Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2NZ