Wildlife Clubs of Uganda reactivating School Wildlife clubs across UGANDA
Over the last year the Ugandan Ministry of Wildlife, Tourism and Antiquities with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre provided funds to reactivate the Wildlife Clubs of Uganda in districts where they had subsided, and also to further empower Clubs that had remained active. The funding was used for nation-wide out-reach – education talks were given to the students and teachers in school assemblies and signboards were made to promote and celebrate some of the School Wildlife Clubs that were seen to be especially strong and dynamic – some photographs below. Denis Agaba, a PACE Champion, was one of the conservation educators chosen to carry on this work in the Western part of the country. Others did field work in the Central, Eastern and Northern areas.
Denis writes that “We carried out activities from South west to the far Western Uganda in the disticts of Kisoro, Kanungu, Kabale, Rukungiri, Kasese, Bundiburyo, Ntoroko, Kabarole and Kyenjojo, all the districts appearing nearby Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Queen Elizabeth National park, Mount Rwenzori national park, Semuliki National Park, Toro Semuliki Game Reserve and Kibale National Park.”
“I shared PACE materials and explained them to students and teachers that we met. I worked hand in hand with the Wildlife Clubs of Uganda National Coordinator whom we have always worked together with to strengthen conservation activities across the country. The PACE materials were highly appreciated, we shall be collecting feedback from the teachers as the year progresses. PACE materials really increase the motivation of many students to join the wildlife clubs and attract new schools that are coming on board. The membership is increasing as a result.
PACE has also helped provide focused conservation education activity.
“Recently I also held a teacher’s workshop at Kisoro Demonstration school. The teachers involved the patrons of the Wildlife Clubs from nine schools of which six were primary and three secondary schools. Then six more teachers were added from Kisoro Demo which was the host of the workshop. In total, 15 teachers attended the workshop. Being a Demonstration school, we also involved 40 children who were picked from primary four to primary seven.
The workshop was done in three groups to ease the understanding. I used PACE materials including the action sheets and DVDs, and after that we had practical sessions. Because the children were many we concentrated on paper mash and within this month, they will come back to present what they will have done as individual schools. We shall also have sessions using locally made hand-washing facilities (like I learned in Cameroon) to help children learn the need for good hygiene and cleanliness and lastly plan to work on creating plant nursery beds to raise seeds and support soil conservation.”
The schools involved in this are: Kisoro Demo School (primary), Nyagisenyi Primary School, Gisoro Primary School, Mutolere Primary School, Gisozi Primary School, Rukongi Primary School, Standard S.S, Kisoro Vision S.S and Muhabura Shine S.S.”
It’s great to see so many kids involved in conservation – Uganda is a role model for us all.