The Development Stage of the programme is already under way, thanks to grants of £972 from Chester Zoo and £210 from Save the Rhino to pay for the salary of Elisaria Nnko, who is researching and developing the EE programme and who will travel to the Laikipia Wildlife Forum in Kenya to learn from the successful programme run there since January 2004. Maggie Esson, Education Programmes Manager at Chester Zoo, is providing invaluable support and advice in devising the new programme.
In October 2006 Chester Zoo awarded £10,000 to help cover the first three years of Rafiki ya kifaru, GAWPT's new Environmental Education programme. Our deepest thanks to Chester Zoo.
Good news for schoolchildren and teachers living in villages surrounding the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania: in April 2007 Mkomazi will launch a new Environmental Education programme, aiming to link local schoolchildren with conservation.
Kitted out with a colourful bus painted in “Tinga Tinga” style and tons of immensely interesting and interactive educational material, an Environmental Education Officer will travel from school to school teaching kids about environmental issues, and how they can help their own environment. The new bus will also be used for taking groups back to the Reserve to experience wildlife in its natural habitat – something very few Tanzanian children have been exposed to, despite living in a country visited by tourists just for that reason. At the Reserve children will be treated to rhino and other wildlife sightings.
But the programme is not just about a jolly day out for the children. Through the new initiative, Tony and Lucy Fitzjohn aim to raise awareness amongst schoolchildren to make sure their conservation efforts over the last 17 years will continue. It’s hoped that when children are actively encouraged to get involved in protecting their environment, say by planting tree saplings or educating them about water management, the next generation of Tanzanians will work towards the conservation of the Tsavo Ecosystem within which Mkomazi lies. There is much human-wildlife conflict in this area and population growth is adding pressure to protected areas.
Nevertheless, change is in the air, with the gazetting of the Reserve into a National Park; and with the new educational scheme, staff at Mkomazi hope to show local communities and children that there are opportunities for people living in areas rich in biodiversity. Perhaps children participating in the scheme will want to pursue a career in tourism or in sustainable natural resource use, rather than earning a living from bushmeat or commercial poaching, or by collecting wood from within protected areas for charcoal burning.
Petra FleischerFundraising Manager