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BIODIVERSITY LITERACY PROJECT:
TOWARDS LONG-TERM CONSERVATION EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN NAKAI-NAM THEUN NATIONAL PROTECTED AREA, LAOS
(PHASE 2)
PROGRESS REPORT March 2016
A report by Project Anoulak
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION -------------------------------------
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TARGET VILLAGES --------------------------------
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SCHEDULE -------------------------------------------
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FACILITATORS & TEACHERS ------------------
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ACTIVITIES -------------------------------------------
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NEXT STEPS -----------------------------------------
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --------------------------
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INTRODUCTION Project Anoulak is dedicated to the Conservation of Wildlife in Laos through Scientific Research, Habitat Protection, Capacity Building, and Wildlife & Environmental Education. This document outlines our progress report for 2016 Education Programs aimed to increase biophilia in remote and vulnerable villages within the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area (NNT NPA) in Laos. The project includes:
(i) The development of interactive, hands-on and creativity-based activities for school children of primary and secondary school
(ii) The production of a Training Booklet in English and Lao, where activities will be described, for long term use by teachers and educators
(iii) Training of Trainers workshops to provide the necessary tools, techniques and confidence to local teachers and educators to implement independently school activities related to wildlife conservation and the environment, using the training Booklet as guide
(iv) Pilot implementation of developed activities with teachers and educators in two village clusters in Nakai-Nam Theu NPA, Laos, involving 9 schools (2 secondary and 7 primary schools) within 9 different villages.
In February 2016, we visited the first village cluster: Navang cluster for six days and briefly report on this first set of activities.
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TARGET VILLAGES Our first trip of Wildlife & Environmental Education activities were facilitated in a cluster of villages up the Nam Xot river, including Navang, Fang Deng, Thong Xat, Nahao, and Tha Mueang (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Location of Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area and the target villages visited during the first mission.
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SCHEDULE The schedule for this mission is described below:
Date Travels Education Activities
School Type # of Children registered at school
1 Feb 2016 Nakai to Navang
2 Feb 2016 Teacher Training in Navang
3 Feb 2016 A.M.: School activities in Navang P.M.: School activities in Fang Deng
1 Primary + 1 Secondary 1 Primary
57 117 97
4 Feb 2016 Navang to Nahao
5 Feb 2016 A.M.: School activities in Nahao P.M.: School activities in Tha Mueng
1 Primary 1 Primary
110 77
6 Feb 2016 Nahao to Nakai
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FACILITATORS AND TEACHERS The team of this first mission was composed as follow: 13 teachers from three villages participated in a short teacher training before implementation of the activities.
Name Role in project Affiliation Miss Janelle Kaczmarzewski Program leader Project Anoulak volunteer Miss Camille Coudrat Program leader and manager Project Anoulak Mr. Chanthalaphone Nanthavong Coordinator/implementation Project Anoulak Mr. Sisouphap Sichanthongthip Coordinator/implementation Nam Theun 2 Watershed
Management & Protection Authority
Ms. Khammai Vongsakhone Implementation District Education office Miss Sanglee Bouddavong Implementation District Culture & Tourism office Miss Chanthavy Souliyaphome Implementation District office Six teachers from Navang Implementation Navang school teachers One teacher from Fang Deng Implementation Fang Deng school teacher Four teachers from Nahao Implementation Nahao school teachers
One facilitator and a teacher implementing some activities
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ACTIVITIES We separated our larger group into 6 smaller groups to rotate through the different activities below.
Name Goal Materials Description
Wildlife Senses Identify and familiarize with the endangered animals of the NNT using sight and sound.
Projector, Speaker, Poster, Selection of Digital Photos, Animal Sound Files
Endangered animals of the NNT NPA are first introduced using the vinyl printed poster. Noises of selected animals found on the poster are then played, whichever child guesses the animal correctly gets a prize. Photos of animals are then shown and prizes are given for correctly answering questions like Name, habitat, and other qualities.
Create a Forest To envision what a healthy, thriving forest looks like.
Vinyl flora and fauna, bamboo backing for images to be pinned on. Blank paper for children to add their own hand-drawn organisms.
Using vinyl trees and animals, children get to create their own healthy forest that is full of wildlife, trees, plants and flowers.
Science Discovery
Give children the freedom to explore and discover the world around them in a new way.
Binoculars, magnifying glasses, laminated educational cards, books, compasses, specimen containers.
A science table is set up with various natural items for the children to explore using the observation tools (they also have the opportunity to go collect their own specimens). Pigments can be made from plant matter and This activity is meant to be unstructured, only suggestions for discovery are offered. Kids explore their surroundings in a new way.
Rubbish Race + Knowledge
To learn how long trash persists in the environment and to leave the school grounds
Pieces of different kinds of trash and cards showing the number of years they take to decompose in the environment
A guessing game with prizes for whoever guesses closest to the actual number of years it takes for that particular item of trash to decompose. Teams are given one bag each to collect as much trash as they can in
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cleaner than when we found them.
a given amount of time.
Creative, Compassionate play
Compassion for animals through connection.
Vibrant animal masks Gibbon posters + information
Children are given the opportunity to embody a connection to animals in physical form. Using colorful masks, the children get to act out short plays about conservation and protecting wildlife. Using green ink, children “give a forest to the gibbons” by stamping their fingerprint to represent a leaf in a formerly leafless tree. the differences and similarities between humans and gibbons are then discussed.
A Colorful World Therapeutic, expressive application of color while further getting to know specific kinds of animals.
Printed materials and coloring tools.
Conservation focused work of various artists is made available for children to paint (using natural elements), draw, or color on.
Science Discovery activity
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Create a Forest activity
Wildlife senses activity
Rubish Race activity
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NEXT STEPS The next steps to this project include:
(i) MARCH 2016: The completion of our Training Booklet describing all activities and its translation to Lao
(ii) APRIL 2016: Visit of a different village cluster in Nakai-Nam Theun, involving a mix of the previous and new activities with Training of Trainers workshops: The next cluster includes four villages and four schools (1 secondary and 3 primary).
(iii) APRIL-MAY 2016: Last visit of a village cluster in Nakai-Nam Theun, involving a mix of the previous and new activities with Training of Trainers workshops
(iv) MAY 2016: Special 3-day Training of Trainers in Nakai District to provide the necessary tools, techniques and confidence to local schools teachers and educators to use and implement activities within the Training Booklet.
(v) MAY-JUNE 2016: Final Report For all of the above activities, PROJECT ANOULAK join forces with CREATIVE LITERACY LAOS !
For this next cluster of villages, we’ll be collaborating with Creative Literacy Laos as we deliver hundreds of conservation-focused books to these hard to reach villages alongside our Wildlife and Environmental Education projects.
Creative Literacy Laos is on a mission to increase literacy, learning, and creativity in rural Laos.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Project Anoulak’s Biodiversity Literacy Project is supported by Rufford Foundation and Quagga Conservation Foundation. Further private donors generously provided funds to purchase additional education resources for the activities. Thank you for your support.
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