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COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT
EDUCATION AS A TOOL
FOR SPECIES CONSERVATION
WITH A FOCUS ON THE
TIGER IN
INDIA
November 2 through 20, 2009--Amravati,
INDIA
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How environmental
social marketing techniques can be integrated with education and
communication strategies to produce focused, effective conservation
campaigns
What: An international course on the use of
education as an effective and practical conservation tool. The
course will demonstrate how environmental social marketing techniques
can be integrated with overall education and communication strategies
to produce focused campaigns that are effective and practical tools
for solving environmental problems. The course will illustrate
educational concepts and processes by demonstrating how they can be
employed to assist in meeting the conservation needs of the tiger in India
and the habitats on which they depend. Note: While for
educational purposes, the species used in examples throughout the
course will be the tiger, techniques for building campaigns around
any species, habitat, or issue will be demonstrated during the
course.
When: November 2nd to November 20, 2009
Where: Amravati, India. The course will be based at Amravati University
in Central India. Field trips
to the Melghat Tiger Reserve and to the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
are planned.
Sponsors: The 19 day course will be sponsored and
conducted by the Satpuda Foundation, Environmental Education and
Conservation Global (EECG), Nature Conservation
Society—Amravati, and S. G. B. Amravati University. It
will be conducted with the support and collaboration of the Wildlife
Department of the State of Maharashtra, India.
Course Goals: The primary goal of the course is to
demonstrate how educational campaigns can be effective and practical
tools for solving environmental problems. As course
participants return to their homes, they will have the knowledge, skills,
and experience needed to build effective education campaigns that
focus on a specific environmental issue or species of concern.
Who Should Apply: The course is designed primarily for
people who develop, administer, or conduct education programs dealing
with natural resource conservation, sustainable development issues,
or environmental and wildlife concerns. Participants may work
for government environmental or resource agencies, ministries of
education, zoos, universities, non-government organizations, museums,
parks, etc. The course is not designed to cover education about
environmental matters in the formal school system.
Cost to Attend:
Tuition for Indian participants will be U.S.
$360. For international participants, the tuition will be
$1,800. Some partial scholarships will be available.
Click here for
First
batch of selected participants
For more information on the course or to obtain an
application, send an email to emccrea@eecg.org
or satpuda@gmail.com
or ncsa.india@gmail.com.
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COURSE BROCHURE
EDUCATION AS A TOOL
FOR SPECIES CONSERVATION
November 2 through 20,
2009
Amravati, INDIA
How environmental social marketing
techniques can be integrated with education and communication
strategies to produce focused, effective conservation campaigns
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Your “classroom”
is the jungle that Rudyard Kipling wrote about and the subject is the
Bengal tiger—up close and
personal. Just moments before you and your colleagues from
around the world were learning techniques and strategies on how to
use education to help save this magnificent cat. Now, a tiger
is crossing the jeep track in front of you while spotted deer bark
their alarm calls.
Research,
anti poaching efforts, scientific habitat management, and community
based conservation initiatives on the fringes of protected areas are
all essential components of effective conservation efforts. However,
without the support and involvement of the many publics that hold the
fate of the tiger in their hands, your children will need to see
their tigers in a zoo.
Whether your
concern is charismatic mega-fauna like the tiger or a particular
environmental issue, education campaigns can be powerful conservation
tools. But these are not your parents’ education
campaigns. Today they build on communication theory, borrow
from the best social marketing efforts in the health field, and
incorporate the techniques used to sell you your breakfast cereal.
This
course will teach you the theory behind effective education
campaigns, immerse you in their planning and implementation, and
provide you with the resources and skills to be successful.
The Site: As one of the hubs of
higher education in the city of Amravati,
Amravati
University
provides an ideal venue for the course. Located some 670 km
(420 miles) east of Mumbai (Bombay) in
India’s
hill country the university has the facilities and atmosphere
essential to a successful learning experience.
Field
Trips: Twice
during the course, you will have the opportunity to learn in the
field as we visit the Melghat Tiger Reserve and the Tadoba-Andhari
Tiger Reserve. While in the reserves, we will examine existing
education efforts and draw on the conservation needs of the areas to
inform realistic campaign planning activities.
What You
Will Learn: Because of its location and the unique expertise and background
of course instructors, we will use tigers to demonstrate how a high
visibility species or environmental concern can be employed as the
focus of an education campaign that benefits entire ecosystems.
However, we have designed the course so that you will be able to
generalize from the tiger to other issues and species of concern
wherever you live. The course will cover research and theory on
education and communication, environmental social marketing
techniques, media production, campaign planning and implementation,
and evaluation. It will also deal with techniques for building
support and obtaining needed resources for effective education
campaigns
How You
Will Learn:
During the course, a variety of education techniques will be employed
to make learning effective and interesting. We will employ
individual projects, small group work, case study analysis,
audio-visual presentations, field experiences, and simulations.
In addition, guest lecturers and development of projects based on
actual issues will serve to provide a firm foundation in reality. The
emphasis will be on relevant, practical instruction tailored to your
needs and interests. Course instruction will be in English.
Course
Participants: We have designed the course primarily for people who
develop, administer, or conduct education programs dealing with
natural resource conservation, sustainable development issues, or
environmental and wildlife concerns. They may work for
government resource agencies, zoos, universities, non-government
organizations, museums, parks, etc. The course is not designed
to cover education in the formal school system.
We expect
about 25 participants in the course. About half will be from
India, the rest from a variety of countries around the world.
Course Leaders:
Ed
McCrea and Kishor Rithe will lead a team of experienced and talented
instructors for the course. Ed is currently President of
Environmental Education and Conservation Global and has worked with
the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
conduct education and biodiversity enhancement activities in some 15
countries. He was formerly Executive Director of the North
American Association for Environmental Education. Kishor is
President of the Satpuda Foundation and Executive Director of the
Nature Conservation Society—Amravati. These two
organizations, which he helped found, have a remarkable record for
innovation and effectiveness in efforts to conserve the tiger and the
habitats on which they depend.
Culture
and History:
India, with its complex religious and social traditions provides a
fascinating backdrop for the informal discussions and exchanges that
are such an important part of any course. You will find that art,
poetry, architecture, history and local cuisine stimulate these
discussions at every turn and provoke an atmosphere of sharing and
camaraderie that you will cherish well beyond the course graduation
ceremony.
Course
Costs: Tuition
for international participants is $1,800. Some partial
scholarships will be available. Tuition includes room and board
as well as course materials. You will be responsible for your
incidental expenses and airfare to Nagpur, India.
For More
Information: To obtain an application, receive a detailed course
syllabus, or ask a question send an email to—
emccrea@eecg.org or satpuda@gmail.com or ncsa.india@gmail.com
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