Resources
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  • What are OUTREACH Materials?
  • What Makes OUTREACH Materials Special ?
  • How Can OUTREACH Materials Be Used?
  • How Have OUTREACH Materials Been Used?
  • Available OUTREACH Materials


What are OUTREACH materials?


Global warming, soil erosion, malnutrition, over-exploitation of fisheries, deforestation - lots of information about these and other environmental and health issues exists. But often it is not in a form that is available, understandable or practical enough for the people who need it most.
To address this lack of practical, easy-to-use learning materials, OUTREACH produces two types of publications -- Issue packs and Solution packs.

OUTREACH Issue Packs
An Issue pack examines a specific environmental or health issue/problem, its causes and effects. It covers basic scientific concepts that need to be understood in order to analyze the issue, and helps young people explore and understand its relevance to their own lives and to the future of their community.
OUTREACH Solution Packs
Solution packs help young people take actions to improve health and environmental conditions. The solution may focus on an appropriate technology (for example, how to save seeds), or on the exploration of strategies to deal with issues that have social/economic implications (for example, conflict resolution or tourism).

Both Issue and Solution publications have three sections:
  • a communication section with aids that present information in a simple and understandable way for a variety of media;
  • an education section with learning-by-doing activity guides and teachers' notes;
  • a resources section.

Communication:
Communication and teaching aids in this section may be used/adapted for use in a variety of media- radio, newspapers, children's magazines, community workshops, drama and puppetry and so on.
Background information is presented in the form of questions and answers that can serve as an introduction to training workshops or as the basis of a radio scripts;
Posters
Play scripts and stories for young people
Games and puzzles
Case studies demonstrating how other communities have solved practical problems

Education:

One or more Activity Guides make up this section. The philosophy behind the Activity Guides is that education should not be telling students what to think and believe, but rather should allow students to discover things for themselves through scientific inquiry. When engaged in the tasks outlined in the guides, the students are in contact with their surroundings directly, through their senses, because they deal with concrete things in the world around them. Moreover, the guides cover very practical problems in the students' own lives, especially those related to health, the environment and sustainable development. In the course of the activities, students also have the chance to practise basic literacy, mathematical and social skills.
  Each guide is self-contained and accompanied by teacher's/trainer's notes. Instructors can pick and choose the topics that they would like to cover to supplement their educational programme, and to help meet the curriculum specifications of their local education ministries. Materials required in the activities are not costly and are readily available even in the most rural areas.


Resources:
Glossary of relevant terms helps those in areas where reference materials are limited. Also included are lists/reviews of other educational resources, including films available through TVE. Contact names and addresses help those wishing to learn from, or network with, others who are working on similar projects.
   
   

What Makes OUTREACH Materials Special?

Provide Practical Solutions
OUTREACH materials empower people to examine environmental and health problems in their own communities, and explore practical ways to address them.
Develop Basic Skills
They assist students in practising basic literacy, mathematical and social skills, and help students understand basic scientific concepts.
Develop Problem-solving Skills
Students are not told what to believe. Instead, they are guided to observe, gather data, classify, hypothesize, experiment, infer, communicate, and so learn how to solve practical problems themselves through scientific inquiry.
Adaptable
The Activity Guides can easily be adapted, adopted and added to, in order to suit many different climatic, cultural and environmental conditions. The communication and teaching aids provide opportunities to focus on issues in a variety of media - through the radio, newspapers, television, workshops, children's comics, drama, and puppetry.
Appropriate
The materials are especially designed to meet the needs of educators in the developing world - only inexpensive and readily available supplies are required, and teaching tips are included.
Waiver of copyright for non-profit, educational purposes
OUTREACH encourages educators and communicators in developing countries to copy, reproduce or adapt OUTREACH materials to meet local needs, provided the materials are distributed free or at cost-not for profit-and acknowledgement is given to the original source/OUTREACH.
Free OUTREACH materials
Students, educators and communicators everywhere, who have access to the Internet, can download OUTREACH materials free-of-charge from this website. For those grassroots organizations in developing countries that do not have Internet access or downloading capabilities, OUTREACH has limited funds to supply printed versions free-of-charge.

Who can OUTREACH materials be used by:


Educators who can use the materials:
  • for background information for their own classes;
  • for classroom activities;
  • as enrichment materials;
  • in teacher training workshops;
  • on field trips and in laboratories;
  • for curriculum development.
Community workers and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who can use the materials:
  • to inform their own networks:
  • as background information for educational programmes;
  • for meetings and activities with women's groups; youth groups; community groups and leaders;
  • in environmental and health awareness or improvement campaigns;
  • in community drama productions;
  • in training workshops.
Newspaper journalists who can use the materials:
  • as 'fillers' in newspapers and magazines;
  • in articles or a series of articles on a specific issue;
  • in special editions, especially children's health and environmental newspaper supplements and magazines.
Radio broadcasters/journalists who can use the materials:
  • as 'spots' between programmes;
  • in reports;
  • in a programme or series of programmes on a specific issue;
  • as background information for interviews with local experts on environmental and health issues.

For over 15 years, groups in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean have been using and adapting OUTREACH materials to suit their own educational, development and environmental needs. Here are some examples:

How OUTREACH Materials Have Been Used


BHUTAN:
OUTREACH packs are being used by The Royal Society for the Protection of Nature, which has 64 schools affiliated to its Nature Club Network. In recent years, the OUTREACH materials have been used in some of the 40 environmental education community workshops.
CANADA:
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network adapts OUTREACH materials for radio scripts used by over 100,000 radio stations and farmers' organizations throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.
ETHIOPIA:
In the Sig-Geba State Forest Project in Bedele, OUTREACH packs have been used in the preparation of training workshops, conferences and in seminars for environmental clubs for youth.
INDIA:
The Punjab State Council for Science and Technology encourages school eco-clubs to adopt activities in the OUTREACH packs. The Council is using OUTREACH materials as guidelines for reaching the public in the State Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation.
INDONESIA:
OUTREACH materials serve as valuable appropriate training materials at the Bina Sarana Bakti Foundation in Bogor where every year more than 100 development workers and farmers receive training in organic farming methods.
NEPAL:
The Nepal Community Support Group is a non-profit, non-governmental, village-based NGO promoting ecologically-sound sustainable development with the aim of improving the lives of marginalized rural and urban poor communities in the Rupandehi district of Nepal. They have used the OUTREACH materials in education and training programs and in agro-ecology education in schools. NECOS plans to use the materials in child literacy programmes and in CHILD-to-CHILD programmes.
NIGERIA:
The Foundation Against Social Trauma and Environmental Ravages is an NGO working with over 25,000 rural youth and women in the Niger Delta and West African sub-region. OUTREACH serves as a major source of information for the group's work in fostering pollution-free and poverty-alleviation projects.
PANAMA:
The Panamá América newspaper began publishing "El Periodico en la Escuela" in 1995, and OUTREACH materials have been a very useful source of ideas and reference material.
- PHILIPPINES:
The 203,000 leaders in the Girl Scouts of the Philippines use OUTREACH activities as part of their programmes on Challenge and Environment for its 1.2 million members.
UGANDA:
The Peace Corps Country Office is planning to use OUTREACH activities and techniques in primary teacher training programmes that will promote collaboration between schools and their communities.

Available OUTREACH Resources

Issue Pack: Genetic Diversity and Food Crops What is genetic diversity of food crops, and why is it important to your community? The "Genetic Diversity and Food Crops" pack introduces this key issue, and explains some of the threats to genetic diversity of crop plants. Questions and answers, posters, stories, scripts, puzzles and games help promote understanding and awareness of the topic. Illustrated, hands-on activities in the Activity Guide give students a basic understanding of classical genetics, genetic diversity, plant breeding and genetic engineering.
Solution Pack: Preserving Genetic Diversity What are some practical techniques for preserving genetic diversity of local crop plants? Illustrated, easy-to-follow directions in this pack help young people and others to learn how to select and save seeds, and how to propagate plants from cuttings.
Solution Pack: Breeding Your Own Crops One way to increase genetic diversity of crop plants is to create your own new crop varieties, specifically adapted to local growing conditions. This pack is a practical guide to plant breeding, and includes easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions on how to make hybrid crosses in order to create new varieties, and how to evaluate new varieties. This solution pack also introduces another method for increasing genetic diversity of crops - the cultivation of wild edible crops.


Potato varieties grown in the Andes (Source is H. David Thurston)
Introduction Pack: Understanding Soils Our very lives depend upon soils, and yet we often take them for granted. This introductory pack invites young people and others to take a closer look at soil formation and the physical, chemical and biological properties of soils that exist in their local area. Once they understand basic soil science, students will be able to identify and analyze soil degradation issues.
Issue Pack: Soil Erosion Soils around the world are eroding at unprecedented rates. This pack focuses on the causes and consequences of the most common type of soil degradation-soil erosion by water and wind. Hands-on activities help young people and others to recognize evidence of local soil erosion; identify areas of potential damage in their local environment; and consider actions that might help alleviate soil erosion problems.
Issue Pack: Soil Degradation The focus of this pack is how and why soils become physically and chemically degraded. Hands-on activities invite young people and others to explore problems such as soil compaction, waterlogging, salinization and loss of soil fertility.
Solution Pack: Tropical Soil Fertility Extensionists working in the tropics have rediscovered some very promising traditional farming technologies that have enormous potential for low-input agriculture in the tropics. These technologies have been summarized in five principles for improving and maintaining soil fertility in the tropics: add as much organic matter to the soil as possible; keep the soil covered; use zero tillage wherever possible; maintain biodiversity; and feed crops through the mulch layer. In this pack, young people and others can explore these five principles, and how they can be put into practice in their area.
Solution Pack: Trees for Soil and People How can trees improve soil fertility and at the same time meet the needs of farming families? How do you find out what trees would be best for your area? Young people and others can find some answers to these questions in this pack, which focuses on agroforestry -- the planting of trees and other woody plants on farms to help improve soil fertility and protect it against erosion, while simultaneously helping to meet the needs of farming families.

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