Isiolo County Conservancies Association represents twelve community run conservancies in the arid rangelands and savannahs of northern Kenya. ICCA was established to strengthen community-led natural resource management, promote biodiversity conservation, and enhance sustainable livelihoods across its landscapes. The ICCA’s work, which has very limited funding, is to inspire sustainable community development that supports climate resilience and biodiversity conservation. We were pleased when they joined the PACE network late last year, and are keen to do as much as possible to help.
“ We want to use the PACE resources to improve environmental awareness and education for school children, initially in Leparua, Nasuulu, and Nakuprat-Gotu Conservancies. Our goal is to create a generation that understands, values, and actively engages in environmental conservation and wildlife protection from a young age. We have chosen three pilot schools: Kiwanja Primary School, St. Paul’s Nursery, and Kambi Garba Primary School. They are all within community conservancies where human-wildlife interactions and the difficulties of living alongside wildlife occur, and are experienced by the kids and their families.
PACE, especially the Living with wildlife, Trees, Soils and Water modules will help us develop practical knowledge and skills that can foster positive attitudes toward environmental stewardship. We want our children to really understand the importance of trees in maintaining ecological balance, how healthy soils support life, and the significance and benefits of conserving water as a vital resource. And of course overriding it all is helping them contribute to the sustainability of their communities and learning practical ways to coexist peacefully with wildlife.”
Teachers from the pilot schools joined a workshop run with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy’s education department in February. The workshop had participants explore and practice using PACE, so that they know how to use conservation and environmental education resources and activities to support delivery of the national curriculum. It is a competency based curriculum, so everyday themes and activities in PACE link directly to what teachers need to cover.
The energy, interest and commitment of the ICCA teachers stood out at the Lewa workshop. They are keen that their schools more than match the benchmarks created by Lewa over the years. Ali, a teacher at Kambi Garba primary school, impressed us all with his entertaining teaching skills!
ICCA’s goal with the PACE materials is to embed nature based content into school and community programmes, ‘creating a long-term culture of environmental responsibility, practical conservation, and sustainable living across the Isiolo landscape.’
Ali and his students had just received books about various wildlife species in the photo below. They have since said how the books are boosting the kids reading culture, and helping improve children’s communicating and writing skills. We’ve also received photos of big tomato and cabbage crops from school gardens – impressive considering the local conditions.
We’re so grateful to Tusk supporters, for making our input possible, improving quality of education and opportunity for these children and their families.
