youth for biodiversity conservation

Been having way too much fun as the Blue Ventures Education and Outreach Coordinator!

Thanks to our partnership with UNICEF, a lot of my job involves teaching kids about conservation through a variety of innovative ways:

learning to make art from "beach rubbish"

…through Saturday Schools, where in- and out-of-school children get hands-on environmental education every weekend;

learning to interact with the internet for the first time...

…through Connecting Classrooms, where kids learn to think about their culture and their environment, and learn to share that they’ve learned via the internet on www.ConnectingClassrooms.net;

filming a film being filmed... Jon Slayer films Hery (JRC) filming Roger (president of Velondriake Mgmt Committee) on field trip with Connecting Classrooms

…and through the Junior Reporters Club, where I help young people to learn to use film to share news and stories about local conservation with their peers.

Recently we had a filmmaker come here to Andavadoaka to document the scope of our youth conservation activities, Jon Slayer.  His films are nearly ready for a big roll-out with UNICEF… they will form the core of the newest Blue Ventures online endeavor, LiveWithTheSea.org,  where youth and communities will share information, strategies, and best practices about marine and coastal conservation. Live With The Sea is also being made possible by a UNICEF grant.

In the meantime, I put together a film documenting a piece of Jon’s process of documenting the UNICEF youth conservation initiatives at Blue Ventures, especially Connecting Classrooms and  the Junior Reporters’ Club (with members learning to document local conservation issues in a manner that inspires their peers) … In a sense, the lens behind the lens behind the lens.

Without a doubt, these kids are the future of the Velondriake locally-managed marine reserves… and an inspiration to my colleagues and me!

Click here to watch the film.