Frontier Tanzania Environmental Research - Frontier-publications ...

SPIEEP: End of Project Report3.1.2 Objectives• To facilitate effective management of natural resources in Sa Pa by the localcommunity, through environmental awareness raising• To develop the capacity of a local community-based organisation: Sa Pa districtYouth Association to undertake environmental awareness activities• To develop an environmental education curriculum, in collaboration with the teachersand staff of the Sa Pa Department of Education and Training3.1.3 Activities3.1.3.1 Focus group meetingsThe aim of the focus group meetings was to gather information on local traditions andcustoms and to discover which environmental problems were important to local people.This information would then be used to contextualise the new curriculum.Four communes were selected to represent the ethnic groups of Sa Pa District: San Sa Ho(H’mong), Ta Van (Dao and Giay), Lao Chai (H’mong), and Nam Sai (Xa Pho and Tay)Meetings were organised in the commune People’s Committee with the local people.Two meetings (one with only female participants, one only male) for each ethnic groupwere carried out in each commune. The genders were divided to ensure participation ofmeeting attendees; in many cases, where groups are of mixed sex, the men often tend todominate discussion and the women’s voices are either not heard at all or ignored. Themeetings were attended by village leaders, local teachers and other villagers.Valuable insight was gained into the situation and circumstances in which the localpeople in Sa Pa district live. This helped to illustrate how much potential the project hasto actually affect local people’s lives.3.1.3.2 Environmental education resource manual/curriculum developmentThe manual/draft curriculum was developed from the teachers manual produced duringthe pilot project (see appendix 1) and supplemented with new information gathered fromthe focus group meetings and from the existing school curriculum. The result was adocument designed to complement the current ‘Nature and Society’ topic in the primaryschool curriculum. This document was then presented to primary school teachers fromthe National Park at a workshop in order to assess its feasibility.Workshop Objectives:• to present the new curriculum.• to receive feedback regarding the curriculum (structure, level, appropriateness,etc).• to collate information / ideas concerning the content and layout of the teacher’sresource book.Frontier Vietnam Environment Research Report 23 6