Promote conservation in 15 Caribbean islands!

My Island - My Community National Coalition training launched officially at a workshop in Grenada just prior to the holidays.  The workshop was attended by 14 people representing 13 organizations. This meeting is the first in a series of coalition meetings that will happen in all 15 participating countries over the next few months.  The outcome of the planning workshop is a country program implementation plan that will guide local coalitions of partners as they use Entertainment-Education to promote sustainability across the Caribbean. 

The workshop was jointly facilitated by MI Team members Alleyne Regis and Tyrone Buckmire. The workshop goals were:

• To establish a diverse, engaged and motivated coalition to engage in activities to promote the actions encouraged in the Callaloo radio drama,
• To strengthen the capacity of partner organizations to effectively use communications to address priority issues and build resilience, and
• To commence design of the community action plan.

Throughout the two days of the workshop, the participants were quite upbeat and participated very actively in discussions, they were all fully in support of the coalition and expressed enthusiastic commitment to working together to take on the problems identified and discussed. The facilitation team was able to tease out the issues of major concern to the participants and the coalition was accepted as the best way of collaboratively addressing the concerns.

The experience and skills represented by the participants also made for easy identification of the issues and potential solutions for dealing with them.

CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES:

After very rich and in depth discussion about a number of the current issues affecting our islands and populations, and a number of participatory activities, the following were agreed upon as possible campaigns for calendar year 2012.

HIV/AIDS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: Young Girls 15 to 24 years old and men 25 and over

Activities:

• Street Theatre and Interaction on HIV
•  Health Fair, in collaboration with NAP and SGU
•  Distribution of condoms and care packs

LITTERING AND WASTE DISPOSAL CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: Passengers on public transportation, School children, Burners

Activities:

• Production and distribution of Anti-litter stickers
• School visit to do presentations on the problem
•  Development of anti-litter skits with/for school children
•  Media discussions on health impacts of improper waste disposal, PSAs
•  Placement of garbage receptacles

YOUTH VIOLENCE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: Children (up to 18 years old)

Activities:

• School visits to discuss and make presentations on the issue
• Media activities to raise awareness and propose solutions – TV discussions and airing of relevant documentaries, radio shows and newspapers articles.

TEENAGE PREGNANCY PREVENTION CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: Young women up to 18 years old, parents

Activities: 

• Media discussions on the value of women and the importance of motherhood
• Targeted school-based discussions with young girls about the future
• Puppet shows to highlight the issue
• Contraceptive education

CONSERVATION/CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: General Public

Activities: 

• Puppet shows to introduce the information and initiate discussion
• Showing of popular, relevant documentaries (Inconvenient Truth, The Home Project) etc, on national television and in community settings)
• Mangrove and Forests replanting projects
• Beach and community clean-up events

CONSERVATION OF ENDANGERED SPECIES CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: General Public, especially Hunters, Fishermen, Farmers, Buyers,

 Activities: 

• Awareness days and Exhibitions about endangered species
• Widespread distribution of information about endangered species
• School and community presentations and discussions about endangered species

PRAEDIAL LARCENY PREVENTION CAMPAIGN

Target Audience/s: Farmers, Buyers and Police

Activities: 

• Public awareness activities, media, about the laws and penalties re praedial larceny
• Highlighting, using media, billboards, etc, the dangers associated with  praedial larceny
• Promotion of farm watch and community policing initiatives

Stay tuned for updates from all of the 15 national coalitions participating in the program!