Scientific progress and science teaching:
Basic knowledge, interdisciplinary and ethical issues

WWF Environmental Education Program

Madagascar

The Environmental Education Program of the Wildlife World Fund in Madagascar is a sensitizing operation toward the protection of nature. Set within the extension of the agreement passed between the Malagasy Government and the WWF by the end of the 80's, the program - reformulated - proposes solutions for people who live in harmony with nature, and very rich in protected species, through education. The global aim of the program is to contribute to the preservation of bio-diversity and maintaining its ecological functions. The WWF program strategic planning has particularly identified two important outcomes to achieve through the Environmental Education Program:
- That the environmental-harmful behaviors be changed and favorable ones be adopted.
- That the local capacities be reinforced.

The program develops activities whose aim is that of stopping the environmental degradation process, due to ignorance of the problems affecting the flora and fauna, and to the demand of the population's survival. It has five components, namely:
1. Assistance to the Ministry of National Education in the long-term introduction of environmental education to pre-school, elementary and high school establishments. This goes along with supplying the training institutions (more than 20,000 trained teachers with over 30,000 books for the elementary level and 12,000 teachers' books annually published.
2. Production and distribution of didactic material and pedagogical documents (example of documents of the series "Ny Voary - Nature").
3. Creation of a network of environment, cultural and educational centers.
4. Production of an ecological magazine "Vintsy - The kingfisher", oriented to high school students and the wide public (with 18 issues published so far and over 35,000 copies).
5. Support to tens of local environmental clubs and organizations such as The Association for Safeguarding the Environment.

The WWF 's mission is to help the people to manage, in a sustainable way, their natural resources. The society and some Malagasy NGO 's collaboration with this project and the installation of a corps of local trainers have lead to a national awareness of the stakes of nature's protection. Besides, this program is particularly interesting, since, it does not only contribute to the Malagasy safeguarding of nature, but it also improves the teaching quality by means of its active and concrete methods.

Aim Rabodomalala
Head of the Environmental Educational Program
B.P. 738 Antananarivo 101 Madagascar
Tel.: +261 20 22 34885 or +261 30 23 88805
Fax: +261 20 22 34888
E-mail: arabodomalala@wwfnet.org

Mr. Luc Desclarzes
Person in charge of African programs WWF - International
1196 Avenue Mont Blanc, Aglon
SWITZERLAND
Tel.: +41 22 364 94 30
E-mail: Ideslarzes@wwfint.org
Web site: http://www.panda.org

Institutional Partners
Ministry of Secondary and Basic Education (MINISEB)
Bureau of Waters and Forests
Financial Partners
WWF
German Government

The program's orientation just as it is now dates back from 1996

Several evaluations have been applied (MINESEB, WWF, KFW), allowing the program's redirection, based on the results (For the technical details see WWF Program in Madagascar).