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[Source: Action Magazine]
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The Goal of OUTREACH
The goal of OUTREACH, a project of Television Trust for the Environment, is
to help improve the health and the environment of the poor, especially
youth, in the developing world. This is accomplished by providing relevant
learning materials to educators and communicators in developing countries.
OUTREACH also aims to increase awareness in the industrialized world of
global environmental and health issues, particularly as they affect
developing countries.
The poor in developing countries are disproportionately affected by
worsening environmental conditions that threaten human health and the
Planet's natural resources. It is the poor who suffer the most from the
health effects of environmental factors such as dirty water, polluted air,
poor sanitation and hazardous waste. Environmental degradation threatens
natural resources, such as soil, water and fisheries, upon which the poor,
especially those living in rural areas, depend for subsistence and income.
And it is the poor who are especially vulnerable to disasters, such as
storms, droughts and landslides that might have been exacerbated-even
caused-by people's actions.
Education is vital for combating poverty and protecting the environment.
Education can promote the full and conscious participation of people to
sustain themselves, and the natural resources upon which they depend.
One of the greatest challenges faced by education providers in the
developing world is to gain access to appropriate learning materials that:
- focus on real-life issues;
- help youth develop practical problem solving skills;
- provide youth with the knowledge base that can equip them to deal with environmental and health realities.
In many parts of the developing world educational systems are severely
over-stretched, and funding for teachers' salaries takes priority over
provision of learning materials. Often there is a scarcity of good
learning materials in classrooms. Those that do exist are not always
relevant to the most pressing problems in developing countries. Yet
learning materials are vital, especially because many teachers,
particularly in primary schools, are often untrained, and need materials
that can guide them as well as their students.
OUTREACH's Achievements
In the mid 1980's World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) established OUTREACH to serve as a catalyst to
help educators and communicators in developing countries address the need
for practical learning materials on environmental and health issues.
OUTREACH began by creating information packets for primary level
schoolchildren's illustrated environmental and health magazines, that could
be used to supplement primary school curricula.
Some of the magazines OUTREACH helped to initiate and support.
Over the last 15 years OUTREACH has produced copyright-free learning
materials on various environmental and health topics for educators and
communicators in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Some of these
publications have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic
and Chinese. Newspaper journalists, radio broadcasters, community workers,
NGO representatives, teacher trainers, curriculum developers and others
(not individual teachers), who form the OUTREACH Network, have received
these publications.
OUTREACH publications have been adapted for use in a wide range of
educational and improvement projects:
- In Ghana, OUTREACH resources have been used in teacher training colleges
to train 17,000 student teachers, who have adapted the materials for their
own use in junior secondary schools.
- In India, OUTREACH resources are being used in curriculum development in
the Punjab, and in environmental and development projects that benefit
thousands of tribal villagers in Maharashtra.
- Community groups in Limbe, Cameroon have used OUTREACH resources in local
drama and music presentations.
- Adapted OUTREACH resources are heard on radio programmes for Indigenous
Peoples of the Pacific region, reaching an audience of over 15,000.
[Source: H. David Thurston]
OUTREACH's Affiliations
Television Trust for the Environment:OUTREACH is a project of the Television Trust for the Environment (TVE), and is based in the United States. An independent, non-profit organization, TVE acts as a catalyst for the production and distribution of films on environment, development, health and human rights issues. With its headquarters in the UK but with a global focus, TVE uses broadcast television and other audio-visual resources as its key platforms. It works to promote informed debate, new policies and practical solutions to the challenges of human development in the twenty-first century. TVE has non-profit status in the UK and USA.
WWF-UK
OUTREACH has primarily been supported by World Wide Fund for Nature-UK. Set up in 1961, WWF-UK was the first National Organization in the WWF International network. The mission of WWF is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Since 1985, WWF has invested over US$1 billion in more than 11,000 projects in 130 countries.
[Source: H. David Thurston]
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