Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET)
| Coordinating Organisation | Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET) |
|---|---|
| Organisers/Type of Organisation | Non-profit organisation (NGO) |
| Initiative Type | Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) |
| Field of Science Involved | Project 1: “Bush Telegraph” youth magazine All environmental topics considered under a broad spectrum (examples: indigenous knowledge, environment in the media, sustainable schools, climate change, water, biodiversity, forests, deserts, food, and communities) Project 2: “It’s Time to… sustainability” booklet series Sustainable living- focussed on individual and household action related to energy, water and waste Project 3: Urban Sustainability Education Centre - a model house focussing on “Do it yourself” household level solutions – sustainable living; energy aand water efficiency (due to open early 2018) |
| Target Audience(s) | Project 1: Schoolchildren (ages 10 and upwards), teachers, and general public.
Project 2: The booklet series has something for all age ranges starting with pre-primary to adults. It is more focussed on rural residents but is applicable to all. Project 3: The general public, school children and tourists |
| Reach | Namibia-country wide |
Main Objectives
Project 1:
- To provide on-going publications about environmental issues for Namibians in an easy-to-read format
- To maintain and foster a forum for school children, teachers and environmental education practitioners to learn and share with each other about the Namibian environment and the challenges it faces
- To increase and improve the environmental literature available in Namibia for Namibians
Project 2:
- To reinforce sustainability concepts taught at NaDEET Centre
- To improve understanding of sustainability within the context of daily Namibian life
- To provide practical, sustainability tips
- To promote environmental literacy for all age levels
Project 3:
- To strengthen the understanding sustainability within the context of daily life
- To improve the practice of energy and water efficiency, using alternative resources and managing the household waste
- To explore topics such as nutrition, transport and gardening through activities and experiments
Description of work
Project 1:
The Bush Telegraph is an environmental literacy project. It is a youth magazine that is available at no cost to all Namibians.
The Bush Telegraph is produced two times per year. Issues cover a variety of environmental topics relevant to the Namibian context. Recent issues include forests, water, climate change, recycling and light pollution.
Topics are chosen based on local and international events and/ or potential links to other NaDEET projects.
The readership of the Bush Telegraph is primarily youth between 10-18 years of age as well as teachers, youth officers and environmental educators.
With a print run of 22,000 copies, the Bush Telegraph’s distribution is approximately 50% more than most magazines in the country and only 50% less than most daily newspapers.
Project 2:
NaDEET has developed a series of learning materials for Namibian school children and adult participants, in order to powerfully demonstrate the imminent necessity of adopting a more sustainable lifestyle. These booklets make environmentalism come alive by illustrating solutions to environmental problems typical for Namibia. The series includes:
- It’s Time to Grow: Pre-primary Environmental learning pack
- It’s Time to Change: Activity book for primary school children
- It’s Time to Work: Secondary Green Career Guide
- It’s Time to Solar Cook: Solar cooking how-to and recipe book
- It’s Time to be Efficient: Practical guide to a sustainable household in rural Namibia
- It’s Time to Identify: Practical identification guide to the Namib
Project 3:
Details to be added when project fully functional.
Results
Project 1: A total of 25 issues have been printed to date. The readership list continues to increase as more schools and teachers become aware of the resource. Feedback from readers is positive. Many teachers use it as a supplementary resource in their classrooms.
Project 2: The booklets in this series have had varying results. Some have been very successful and have been reprinted already twice or more (+ 20,000 copies) as they are heavily used. Others need to be re-worked including It’s Time to Grow which will be translated in three local languages which is more appropriate for early childhood/ pre-primary level.
Resources used or generated
Project 1: This magazine is produced using NaDEET’s internal resources and funding to cover printing costs.
Project 2: Each of the booklets had a specific funder. Only “It’s Time to Identify” has an economic value in Namibia and generates enough funds to cover the costs of distributing the booklets free of charge to our programme participants.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Principal Contact | Viktoria Keding, Director |
| Address | Green Centre, 5 Libertina Amathila Ave, Swakopmund |
| Viktoria Kedingi | |
| Website | www.nadeet.org |
| Social Media | |