PACE

Over the last 15 years Tusk Trust has supported a number of dynamic environmental education centres and rural schools neighbouring conservation areas. We have witnessed firsthand the enormous benefits to both people and their environment when they are educated on relevant conservation issues, and periodically one comes across an environmental problem in one area for which a simple solution has been devised somewhere else. The Mukuu Spring water project in north Kenya is a case in point. At Mukuu a low technological water pump has been installed in the community spring to provide a clean and reliable source for the community and its livestock. (Download the Mukuu pdf to learn more - 120kb)

As a result of seeing the immediate benefits to the community, we started inadvertently telling other Tusk projects about the benefits of the Mukuu scheme – it's inexpensive, simple and easy to replicate elsewhere. PACE (Pan African Conservation Education) is in effect an expansion of this formula. With funding from the Vodafone Group Foundation we have, in conjunction with Siren Conservation Education, been able to research, investigate, film, and produce a series of stimulating films and printed materials focussing on environmental problems facing people living across Africa today.

The PACE films and educational materials give practical solutions which have been successfully applied to similar problems in other parts of the continent. We are under no illusion that we have produced all the answers, however the principle behind PACE is to show that everything in our environment is inter-linked, and if we look after our own environment we, the wildlife, and other people we share the planet with, will all benefit.

The PACE initiative looks at seven fields of environmental education: Living with Wildlife, Soils, Forests, Water, Energy, Living by the Ocean and Urban Living. A PACE Pack consists of a series of 32 short educational films on DVD or Video, a children’s book – ‘Africa Our Home’, an educators booklet, a contact directory, a CD with over 100 action sheets and an educational poster based on the seven topics.

Over the last eighteen months Tusk has had an overwhelming response from schools, education centres and other NGO’s across Africa to the PACE materials. With valuable additional support from DHL the PACE information has been sent to 26 countries in Africa and six in the rest of the world. 263 projects have received the information ranging from large Non Governmental Organisations such as World Wildlife Fund, Jane Goodall Institute and Wildlife Conservation Society to environmental education centres such as Mokolodi in Botswana (see page 30) to small rural schools like the Ntugi Primary School in Kenya. Each has received the materials free of charge

In addition. on the PACE website visitors are able to view and download all of the educational materials. One of the most important parts of the website is the 'Message Board' facility where those that have access to the internet, can then post their ideas, experiences, and views on the PACE website. The aim is to encourage dialogue and provide people with a forum for debate and an exchange of views and solutions on environmental issues.

As part of a continuation of the PACE project, Tusk and Siren are conducting a UK pilot scheme. If you or your school would like to get involved please see the PACE UK Pilot Scheme page.

With funding assistance from the Vodafone Group Foundation.

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