Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities Partnership (MESA) is a programme which grew out of the coming together, in 2004, of a number of African universities met with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNESCO and several African regional environment and education projects to assess the status of environment and sustainability education in Africa and to develop a programme to help universities integrate environment, economics, health, poverty and development into a meaningful learning experience. The programme seeks to offer opportunities for collaborative projects among universities, governments, civil society, communities and the private sector. This article shares the experiences of the first phase of the programme--which ran from 2004 to 2007--focusing on the findings of an evaluation of this phase by UNEP in early 2007.