NaDEET
Support this projectThe essence of NaDEET’s work is based on educating the youngest members of Namibia’s population. Viktoria Keding and a group of women motivated by the desire to share the magic of the Namib Desert with local schoolchildren decided to establish an environmental education centre. It was 15 years ago. To date, they hosted and trained over 13,000 children and adults and made it an almost 100 per cent carbon-free NaDEET Centre on NamibRand It offers hands-on immersion in ESD for schoolchildren, educators, parents as well as for entire community groups.
NaDEET uses a hands-on, experiential approach to ESD. The local context is an arid country with a relatively low population yet few natural resources. The core of NaDEET’s work is centre-based, residential ESD programs. This gives participants a transformative experience as they are immersed in learning and living at a sustainable centre. One of the key elements is that NaDEET’s approach is simple, yet effective in reducing environmental impact and educating.
NaDEET Objectives are to provide environmental education for Namibians, regardless of income, by:
• Addressing relevant environmental issues through hands-on, experiential learning.
• Supporting the Namibian school curricula in a practical, learner-centred way.
• Providing the opportunity of experiencing the county’s namesake – the Namib Desert – first hand, thus creating a sense of respect and responsibility for their natural environment.
They offer three- five day hands-on, experiential, environmental education programmes for Namibians. Most of their programmes are attended by primary school children. However, they also offer courses to secondary schools, out-of-school youth, educators and community members.
Furthermore, the main NaDEET literacy project is a youth magazine available at no cost to all learners, educators and interested citizens in Namibia, called the Bush Telegraph. Approximately 18,000 learners and educators are currently subscribed. It aims to increase knowledge of and improve attitudes towards the environment, through reading. This project is complemented by their “It’s Time to …” activity book and guidebook series.
The Urban Sustainability Centre in Swakopmund is NaDEET’s newest initiative, an education centre for day visitors that features a “sustainability activity house”. The centre is open to both the general public and schools. It aims to challenge Namibians’ assumptions about the impact of their lifestyle choices and to offer ideas to finding suitable everyday solutions to environmental problems.
Initial Problem
Within the population, there was a lack of understanding about basic environmental issues such as water, energy and waste. This was heightened by a lack of a sense of responsibility towards addressing the problem. NaDEET believes environmental education must not only increase awareness and knowledge but also eco-friendly attitudes and skills in Namibia’s youth and educators to promote participation.
The positive impacts that the project has made:
Over 200 schools have participated in the NaDEET Centre programme, many of which return each year. Over 1500 sustainable living materials (solar ovens, fuel efficient stoves, solar lights) have been distributed to programme participants, which now numbers over 14,000. Learning support materials have empowered numerous teachers to better implement ESD in the classroom. Lastly the natural environment has benefited through the almost 100% carbon free centre (almost all solar).
The impacted areas and population:
Nation-wide with a focus on the Hardap Region. The main populations are school-aged children, teachers and communities. In addition, NaDEET has greatly contributed to the development of the National EE/ESD Policy which was recently launched in Namibia
The obstacles and challenges
– Sufficient funding: This is always a challenge. NaDEET tries to use a balanced approach to financing their programs by diversifying sources. Importantly, they also keep expenditures as tight as possible to minimise waste.
– Consistency and development of a more senior staff to develop programs further. They are working on a mentoring program for the near future to concentrate their efforts on existing staff and developing their skills.
– Government buy-in and prioritization: this has been an issue for the field of ESD as it is not thought of as a priority. They hope that with the new National Policy, they will be able to advance in this area as well.
– Sharing their successes and impacts: They have recently hired a PME officer and look forward to re-orienting their approach to M&E and sharing of impact
– Transport for program participants is affordable for most and requires financial support .
Similar projects
The Widou Thiengoly multi-purpose gardens
Coumba Dady KA is fighting for positive change in Senegal through the creation of polyvalent gardens with fellow women. The garden’s final goal is to ensure food diet diversification and increased financial autonomy thanks to the engagement of these women. It’s inspiring!
The polyvalent gardens are parallel projects to the great green wall project in order to combat desertification. These gardens were set up and are managed in consultation with the women living in the villages across the Great Green Wall. These determined women have formed various Economic Interest Groups. The aim of these gardens is to allow the cultivation of fruits and vegetables throughout the year, to provide food security to different villages across the Great Green Wall.
These gardens should provide enough food for self-consumption as well as enabling villagers to diversify theIR diet. What’s more, they have the possibility to sell their surplus crops at weekly markets. This initiative thus enables the women to achieve a new social and financial autonomy, as well as to develop their expertise in agriculture.
Planeta Océano: protecting the Giant Manta
Kerstin Forsberg is determined in engaging coastal fishermen communities of Peru in protecting the giant manta ! To do so, she created the marine educator’s teacher network as well as participatory research or community-based manta ray ecotourism. Planeta Océano engages coastal communities in marine conservation through research, marine education and sustainable development initiatives. These initiatives include:
1. Participatory research and citizen science: Local volunteers (fishermen, children, youth, among others) actively investigate local ecosystems, fisheries, and marine species, thus supporting local management efforts. Projects have included assessing shark and ray fisheries, pioneering manta ray conservation in Peru, assessing Traditional Ecological Knowledge on critically endangered sawfish, and supporting Marine Protected Areas.
2. Marine education: Incorporating and institutionalizing marine education and Ocean Literacy. Projects have included setting up Peru’s “Marine Educators Teacher Network” with over 50 schools, leading incubators for youth-lead environmental initiatives, game-based education and their Connecting Schools program, which aims to bring together students across borders through online technology and community engagement.
3. Sustainable development: Fostering environmental entrepreneurship and market-based approaches that contribute to marine conservation and socio-economic development. For example, pioneering community-based manta ray ecotourism in Peru as an alternate livelihood for low-income fishermen and local artisans.
Ultimately, these multidisciplinary and participatory efforts serve as a platform to connect multiple sectors in marine conservation, thus bringing together government, academia, youth, children, local fishermen, and many others.
Sustainable Cupuaçu in the Amazon
The Sustainable Cupuaçu in the Amazon project, the result of a partnership established between the Klorane Botanical Foundation (KBF), L’Institut de Recherche Pierre Fabre (IRPF) and Beraca Institute for the Valorization of Sociobiodiversity (IB), was born with the intention of providing farmers and quilombola extractivists a new economic opportunity through the production of cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), a native species to the Amazon, through the Agroforestry System (SAF).
The project was conceived from KBF’s three missions: to protect; to explore; to educate. These missions were the guiding elements for the construction of the project’s objective and action areas, which have the following propositions:
PROTECT – Main element of the project that aims to protect the Amazon biome from the restoration of degraded areas through the implementation of agroforestry systems (SAF) in Bela Aurora Community. The project foresaw the planting of 3,000 feet of cupuaçu (in addition to other Integrated species) in the expectation of a production of around 6 tons of seeds in 3-4 years. The strategy adopted to achieve this objective is to transfer technology between family farmers in the community of Bela Aurora and the community of Santa Luzia, in Tomé Açu, which has a history of production in SAFs.
EXPLORE – The pillar aims to systematize and disseminate knowledge from the project’s learning and results, through scientific publications, congresses, etc.
EDUCATE – Consists on conducting workshops with children and young people from the Bela Aurora community, seeking to reinforce the element of environmental education in SAF cultures. This formal moment aims to help develop a more theoretical and critical perception of reality, focusing on the role of human beings in nature, the dynamics of trees in the forest and the importance of preserving biodiversity to maintain the balance of the biome. Within the initiatives aimed at implementing the SAFs, Six training workshops were planned, which involve activities to raise awareness of the importance of restoring degraded areas, preserving the environment and agro-ecological production with family farmers in Bela Aurora.
Support the project
Discover meaningful projects
Choose your preferred project to embark on
Contact the project owner
Discover inspiring initiatives around the world and find innovative solutions
Duplicate the proposed sustainable solutions
Establish new partnerships
Find inspiration and discover new ideas
Connect and share experiences with other innovators around the world
Contact us to propose your project
Discover the innovations carried out by citizens in your CSR fields of action and in the regions of your choice
Support through funding or by providing skills in your areas of expertise
Contact the project leaders
Find inspiring stories of engaged citizens to enrich your editorial work
Help local projects increase their impact and make them known to your audience
Contact the project managers
Discover citizen initiatives around the world
Invest in local projects aligned with your strategy for sustainable development
Contact the project managers