The 6th TUNZA SAYEN Meet

The 6th TUNZA South Asia Youth Environment Network (SAYEN) Regional Meet was organised on 16-19 November at Colombo, Sri Lanka. The meet was hosted by CEE Sri Lanka and was jointly conducted by CEE India, the SAYEN Secretariat, and UNEP Regional Office of the Asia and the Pacific (ROAP).

21 youth aged between 15-24 years from 6 South Asian countries participated at the meet

The theme of the meet was “Managing Climate: My responsibility and I can!!!”. The meet included discussions on the SAYEN Work Plan 2009-14, climate change debate and youth initiatives, how to effectively use media, and one-year projects to be conducted by the participants.

The meet also included field visit to a Turtle Conservation Programme, ride on glass boats to observe coral bleeching, an impact of climate change and a nature trail in a rain forest. Participants discussed the content of an online resource for youth on climate change, proposed to be developed by the SAYEN Secretariat. Finally, participants developed an open letter from youth to the Governments in South Asian countries raising their voice on Climate Change.

College Campus - Biodiversity register- Planned

Krishnamenon Memorial Women's College, Kannur, Kerala, has a beautiful 26 acre campus with rare species of flora and fauna. College N.S.S unit in association with CEE kannur field office and state biodiversity board developed a plan to prepare a biodiversity register of the campus. 30 students were trained for this programme.

Dr.Sasikumar, ornithologist lead the students on a birdwatching trip on the campus

The faculty for the process included Dr. Jaffer Palot, senior scientist, zoological survey of India , Dr. Sasikumar, ornithologist, Dr.Balakrishnan, Botanist, Dr. P.V.Mohanan and Prasannan P.P. of CEE Kannur. The year long process will identify all flora and fauna of the campus. So far, 36 species of birds and 18 species of butterflies have been spotted on the campus. More than 269 species of flowering plants and 100 varieties of medicinal plants were identified. Animals like wild pigs, porcupine, mongoose, civet cats, three-striped squirrels and bandicoots were also spotted in the campus. The register would be the first of its kind in the state.

Solid Waste Management

CEE Madhya Pradesh organised two programmes on Solid Waste Management (SWM).

International Institute of Waste Management, Bhopal & CEE organised a workshop-cum-awareness program on SWM to oriente 40 school teachers of Bhopal about segregation of waste in their school premises and better waste management practices.

A seminar on solid waste management was facilitated by CEE Madhya Pradesh team. More than 100 students and 15 teachers participated in the program organized by Gyandeep Hr.Sec.School, Barkhedi under National Green Corps Eco-Club activity.

An activity on segregation of waste was done with students to make them understood about different types of waste and how to make best out of waste.

NGC Rajasthan

A district level one-day eco club in-charge orientation programme was organized on 19 November at Jalore. Discussions were held on Environment Education - What, Why and How, projects idea, and approaches like water audit, electricity audit, bio diversity audit, compost pit, role play and field visit, climate change, report writing and case study.

The orientation programme was facilitated by Prajeet Shekhawat of CEE. The programme was focused on approaches and ideas on effective and better implementation of National Green Corps programme.

50 eco club in-charge teachers participated in the programme and shared their ideas and experiences.

Prakriti Umang at Anandotsav

CEE North was one of the co-organisers of a 3-day Anandotsav for street children at a school in Lucknow, from 18-20 November. The objective of the programme was to provide a platform to children to express themselves and enjoy their childhood.

CEE Prakriti Umang corner focusing on games and creative expressions was very popular

Every day around 120-150 children participated in the programme which included and fun corners, interactive session and self expression session. Institutions involved in the programme brought together children from Agra , Varanasi , Kanpur and Lucknow who were from urban slums / rehabilitation colonies, economically and socially backward areas. The DIET Lucknow offered the stay facility for the children coming from different cities. Action Aid, Vigyan Foundation, CEE North, Manav Sewa Sansthan and Human Unity Movement were the other co-organisers of the programme.

Poultry Moves From Backyard To Frontyard Among Tribal Families

Poultry as an enterprise option took a paradigm shift in Hayla village of Udaipur district by moving from backyard to frontyard with 5 entrepreneurs and about 450 broilers and layers each. The initiative is part of Gramnidhi project being implemented by CEE with four grassroots partner NGOs and with support from Rajasthan Mission on Skill and Livelihoods (A Government of Rajasthan initiative). Tribal families in the region have been keeping 2-8 birds in their backyards, mainly for domestic consumption and liquidity in case of urgent expenses. The small scale never made them realize that poultry keeping could be a viable livelihood option.

Remodelling cowshed for poultry

The shift was necessitated after taking in account the earlier efforts in the region for promotion of poultry as a livelihood option. The major reasons for failure was no focus on management and subsequent mortality, sub critical scale for developing a business cycle, lack of proper shelter and, white broilers which do not fetch good price in local market.

The Gramnidhi project is an adaptation-replication of the Gramnidhi experience being implemented in Jasdan, Gujarat since 2005. It is an amalgamation of two systems: A financial system comprising of an Enterprise Fund that provides working capital credit for investments in Enterprises; and an institutional system that administers the fund and simultaneously provides capacity building and information service support for incubating entrepreneurship.

River Conservation Education

The holy river Ganga was declared as ‘ National River ' on November 4, 2008 by the Prime Minister of India. The National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA) was constituted in February, this year and is chaired by the Prime Minister.

Following the formation of the Authority, a new initiative was proposed. This was the creation of a voluntary National Youth Corps (NYC), to take up creative social action around the river cleaning and beautification programme, beginning with River Ganga. CEE-North has been designated as resource agency for Uttar Pradesh for the National Youth Corps Initiative.

CEE and NYK presented a plan on river ghat-level awareness and action strategy

The first district level committee meeting held at Kanpur on 17th November 2009 under the chairmanship of District Magistrate. CEE North has developed the draft plan of river conservation education through NYC with the help of Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) for Kanpur district. The meeting included 15 members representing Central Pollution Control Board, Water Corporation, Industry, Municipal Corporation, Nehru Yuva Kendra, School Principals and local NGOs. CEE and NYK are finalizing the district level action plan to include suggestions and comments received in the meeting.

RCE Asia Pacific Conference

 The Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) Asia Pacific conference was held from 5-8 November. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), as the lead institution of RCE Delhi, organized this conference in continuation to the National School Educators' Conference held from 3-5 November at India Habitat Centre.

15 RCE representatives from 11 Asia Pacific countries participated in the thematic discussions and gave their contribution to the Continental Action Plan.

Simanta from RCE Guwahati and Shyamala from RCE Kodagu facilitated discussions on Biodiversity and Preeti from RCE Lucknow facilitated the School group discussion.

Three Indian RCEs led by CEE – RCE Lucknow, RCE Guwahati and RCE Kodagu were represented in the conference. An action plan with timeline was prepared and presented in the conference.

Teach India Children Visit CEE

The second year of Teach India campaign commenced from August 2009. CEE has been facilitating activities at 70 Centres learning centres in different parts of Ahmedabad. Hands for Change-Teach India Campaign is a joint initiative of CEE and Times of India that aims at educating the underprivileged kids with the help of volunteers.

26 Children from Ahmedabad with 3 volunteers were at CEE on 29 November. This was for the first time that the children, as a group, had visited any place outside their premise. Several games and activities were conducted by the volunteers.

The Hands for Change-Teach India Programme comes to an end this month. CEE is encouraging volunteers to continue their efforts and planning to put together a one-year programme.

World Heritage Week Observed

CEE Madhya Pradesh celebrated World Heritage Week in partnership with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Bhopal from 19-25 November. The celebration covered wide range of programmes, including visits to Sanchi, a world heritage site, exhibition on Humour in Archaeology , and various other activities, games and competitions. This was one of CEE's outreach activity under the National Green Corps programme.


International Recognition of work done by one of the SGP partner C-Dot

CEE is the National Host Institution of Small Grants Programme (SGP), since 2000. So far, SGP has facilitated over 303 projects in 5 thematic areas including biodiversity and climate change, across various geographical locations in India.

CDOT, an SGP partner, is a community-based organisation working in the Chennai Coastal area. After Tsunami C-Dot was identified and selected to implement a project of Empowering Women through the Start of a Value-added Fish Product Unit at Royapuram and Capacity Building at Thiruvanmiur Kuppam. As a result of successful implementation of the project, Human Development Stock Exchange Forum, UNDP, New York invited C-Dot to replicate this program in Sri Lanka , as a model program with their support. C-Dot identified a NGO called NESDO, based in Sainthamaruth of Eastern Province of Sri Lanka and is going to start the capacity building program.

SGP partner Women Organisation for Socio Cultural Awareness has been awarded the Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award on 19 November at New Delhi . The partner is currently implementing the SGP project titled Replication of Sustainable Development among Tribals through Participatory Bio-Diversity Conservation Programme at 13 Gram Panchayat of Sadar and Ghatagaon block of Keonjhar district, Orissa. Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Awards are given to individuals and institutions that have done pioneering and exemplary work in the field of afforestation and wasteland development.

Janhit Foundation, another SGP partner working in Meerut , has been declared as one of the major winners of the prestigious ‘Green Apple Environment Awards' for their outstanding contribution and work towards environment issues. The award was presented to the Director, Janhit Foundation during the Award ceremony at the House of Commons, Palace of Westminster , London on November 17, 2009.
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