CEE Jasdan
CEE Jasdan, a field office of Rural Programmes Group (RPG) celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22 in a big way. Biodiversity Samvaad (dialogue) was organized, which engaged more than 350 villagers from about 42 villages. It also included Sarpanchs (village head), Self Help Group (SHG) members, Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) members, traditional healers among others.  

CEE Jasdan, with support of Gujarat Biodiversity Board (GBB) is working towards formation of BMCs and towards the preparation of Peoples’ Biodiversity Registers (PBR) in 10 villages of Jasdan Block.  BMCs have been already formed in each of the 10 villages and a model PBR for village ‘Sompipaliya’ has been developed.

This PBR was presented to Dr A. P. Singh, Member Secretary, GBB by the BMC members on the occasion. The PBR contained more than 680 species of flora –fauna documented from the single village. BMC members shared their experiences and feedback on the entire process i.e. from the formation of the BMC to the preparation of PBR. They also shared their views on conserving the local biodiversity.

On the occasion, the prize distribution ceremony was held for several biodiversity- theme based competitions, like the family having the most diverse field; local biodiversity listing competition for school children, among others. Several stalls such as display and sale of local medicinal products by local traditional healers, biodiversity messages, exhibitions, etc were also set up.

Mr. Bharat Pathak, IFS, Director, GEER Foundation; Dr A. P. Singh, IFS, Member Secretary, Gujarat Biodiversity Board;
Mr. R. K. Sama, IFS, Shroff Foundation and WASMO; Dr. Rasik Bhatt, Member, Gujarat Biodiversity Board were the speakers for the day. 

CEE Andhra Pradesh

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) launched the Nandanavam programme on the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May. The day was celebrated at the Imlibun Park. Around 150 children and 10 teachers participated in the programme.

The Rural Programmes Group (RPG) of CEE, in partnership with Gujarat Vidyapith, has been running the Gramshilpi programme since 2007.

'Gram' means village and 'Shilpi' means an artist who carves the sculpture. In a broader sense, Gramshilpi is a devoted person, expected to serve the village without any materialistic interest (salary or incentive in cash or kind from the village) and will follow the 'simple living and high thinking' philosophy of the Gandhian way of working.

Every year a batch of graduate and post graduate students join the programme to pursue their career as community entrepreneurs, who commit themselves to the cause of rural development.

This year over 31 applications were received, of which 15 students were selected. These students actively participated in the five-day orientation programme, and the final selection workshop that was organized for them from May 20-24.

The orientation workshop is designed in a manner to not only provide information to the particpants about this programme but also to test their level of commitment, passion; knowledge, attitude and skills towards being a Gramshilpi. They are also tested on  skills such as negotiation, and situation analysis.

During the workshop, the students were taken on an exposure tour. They visited one of the alumni of this programme in the field. This exposure helped them to practically see and understand how a Gramshilpi operates and the level of commitment that is required of him/her; and the challenges that they face in the process of developing the community.

On the last day of the workshop Dr. Rajendra Khimani, Registrar, Gujarat Vidyapith;
Mr. Atul Pandya, Programme Director, RPG, CEE; and Mr. Parthesh Pandya, Programme Coordinator, RPG, CEE held intensive discussions with students regarding the same. Towards the end of the workshop 8 students were selected, who will be groomed into a Gramshilpi through a training that has been scheduled for the month of July this year.

E-waste is one of the biggest environmental threats of today’s world. As per one of the surveys of United Nations Environment Programme, e-waste is the fastest growing stream of municipal solid waste. The right way to dispose e-waste is through scientific recycling.

In order to support recycling of e-waste CEE Ahmedabad participated in the collection drive on May 28-29, as a collection unit for e-waste (electronic and electrical waste). This drive was a part of the Go Green Campaign of a local newspaper ‘Sandesh’ that promoted the concept of 'Ahmedabad against e-waste'. The event was organized by EMAC (E-waste Awareness & Management Campaign) and Eco-Sarjan.

Approximately 300 kilos of e-waste ranging from computer components to home appliances; from tubelights to audio cassettes was collected. Waste received was valuated, and some monetory compensation was given to people who deposited the e-waste material at the collection unit. A talk on the importance of recycling e-waste was also held for children in the CEE campus.

The collected e-waste was recycled by EMAC by following the norms laid by Central Pollution Control Board of India (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). At EMAC, the collected e-waste was sorted into functional and non-functional categories. Functional e-equipments were renovated and sold. If not functional they were dismantled and shredded into small sizes. The shredded portion was then differentiated on account of recyclable and reusable components like glass, ferrous elements, plastic etc. and hazardous components. Hazardous constituents were then extracted and were taken for systematic disposal according to the guidelines laid by CPCB.

The International Conference on Education for Sustainable Development – Learning Today for a Sustainable Future was organized by the Commission of Russian Federation for UNESCO in May 2013. The conference aimed at not only taking stock of the implementation of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD), but also discussing the future course of ESD.  

Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai, Director, CEE was invited to this Conference where he presented his thoughts on the progress India had made in implementing the Decade. He also shared his thoughts on the steps that need to be taken after the close of the DESD in 2014.  Inputs from this conference will feed into the End of the Decade Conference which is to be held in Japan in November 2014. 

Nature Education in Parks

The ‘Nandanavanam – Nature Education in Parks’ project aims to orient children on the importance of biodiversity in urban areas. The project is supported by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Hyderabad and implemented by CEE, Andhra Pradesh in 100 selected schools located in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. The programme uses the GHMC parks as educational centers, and supports developing gardens in the 100 selected schools. As initiation of the programme, summer camps were conducted for 177 children in 5 batches in two major parks of the city.

CEE in partnership with Save the Children facilitated a capacity-building programme under the project ‘International Best practice exchange leading to innovations in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)’. This project is being implemented jointly by Save the Children, SSA and Bodh Siksha Samiti in the state of Rajasthan. The programme aimed at building capacity of state education department personnel in the areas of school management with a particular emphasis on inclusive and joyful learning; school development plan among others.

A module was developed focusing on effective teaching learning methodologies, learning style, learning cycle, learning disabilities and multi-level and multi-grade teaching techniques for better classroom transaction and quality education.

The master trainers attended a two-day preparatory workshop on May 16-17 that was facilitated by faculty from CEE. After the preparatory workshop, these master trainers trained over 300 teachers from May 27 to 29 at Rajasthan. The CEE faculty provided these master trainers with onsite support during the teacher training programme. Review meetings (pre and post training) were held with the master trainers, ware CEE faculty shared their observations and suggestions to help enhance the transaction of concepts during the teacher traning programme.