News
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Urban Sustainability Centre: NaDEET. Namibia
The newly opened NaDEET Urban Sustainability Centre aims to challenge assumptions about the impact of lifestyle choices and to offer ideas to finding suitable everyday solutions to environmental problems.As with NaDEET's other projects, the Urban Centre is designed to showcase low-cost solutions towards adapting or changing attitudes and daily actions. Housed in an old warehouse building in the town of Swakopmund, the facility and its surrounding unique natural habitats, are utilised as an "outdoor classroom" through practical, hands-on environmental learning that is fun and relevant to all ages.
The Centre has several educational hands-on display areas, a small classroom and an environmental library.
The Environmental Discovery Area
A day visitor's experience begins in the environmental discovery area. Here a mural depicts Namibia's beautiful environment whilst showing the threats the country faces resulting from human activities and unsustainable development. It also gives a background to the demographics of the country and its position in a global context.
The Eco- House
Designed to be a model house to demonstrate how sustainable living can be applied on a household level in Namibia. Set up as an open plan house it has five main "rooms" including the entrance way, kitchen, living room, laundry and bathroom. By exploring the house, visitors can find environmental tips and conduct activities in the different rooms. Visitors will discover how this “Eco-House family” is practicing energy and water efficiency, using alternative resources and managing the household waste.
The Centre also provides a copy of Nambia’s Resources Relief Map showing the country's resources regarding biodiversity, energy and water, provides semi-guided educational tours and a range of more formalised environmental education programmes.
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A Recipe for Success: Agriculture and Market-Oriented Projects are More Successful When They’re Sensitive to Nutrition
The Promotion of Conservation Agriculture (PROMAC II) project in Mozambique recognised that adult literacy and numeracy were fundamental skills for market participation and have found that it is equally as important to incorporate nutrition literacy activities into the programme.To address literacy rates amongst smallholder producers, which tend to be low, especially among women, basic skills training is being provided through existing and new centres for adult literacy; located in rural communities, women and men are learning the basic skills to communicate in Portuguese. The centres also provide a platform to disseminate nutrition messages including infant and young child feeding practices and the importance of diet diversity and food safety.
More recently, nutrition messaging has been incorporated into Farmer Field Days, developing educational radio spots in coordination with the local Community Radio and partnering with the Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN) to hold cooking demonstrations that focus on local ingredients and target crops like soybeans. Participants have learnt how to make nutrient-rich porridges, soy beverages and incorporate soy flour into baking. The PROMAC II staff are sharing their nutrition activities widely through local events such as a technology fair held at the Chimoio campus of the Catholic University of Mozambique.
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Health Literacy: NEW POSTER: Children’s Participation in the Prevention and Control of Diarrhoea
Co-created by Children for Health, Save the Children team in the DRC and with a group of teachers as part of a broader programme to promote community participation.Similar to Children for Health’s other charts and posters, including Children’s Participation in Action and Learning for Nutrition, this new poster visualises the actions that children can take to understand 12 key messages on Diarrhoea. It illustrates the support that programmes like this need and shows the impact that these simple health practices can have on the health of a community. The two-sided poster sets out the 12 messages on the back and gives ideas on things children can do to spread the messages and helps promote the health for themselves, family and friends.
- Download the latest poster, it will soon be available in French and in Tshiluba (a language spoken in the DRC).
- Download the first Diarrhoea poster in case you have not yet seen it!
- Access the complete set of charts and posters
Children for Health welcome your written feedback and if you would like them to make more posters, please send images of their posters being used in your workplace, which helps a LOT to attract funding for posters on other topics.
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New Games for Media and Information Literacy
The UNESCO Office in Abuja and the Association of Communication Scholars & Professional of Nigeria have developed some innovative resources to assist media and information literacy:- a Media and Information Literacy Storybook: Sikito Has A Good Day. Full text online
- a Media and Information Literacy Fun Game. Full text online
- a Media and Information Literacy Card Game
Note: the full-text is not yet available, please contact library@unesco.org for more information - The UNESCO Office has also developed a Non-Formal Education Guideline of Media and Information Literacy Curriculum. Full text online
Details of the Global Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) Week 2020 will be announced as soon as they become finalised.
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Global Media and Information Literacy Week is now official!
Media and Information Literacy as a tool for development is now recognized by countries around the world. For nine years, UNESCO and many partners have been promoting awareness about media and information literacy (MIL) through Global MIL Week. On 25 November 2019, one hundred and ninety-three countries unanimously proclaimed Global MIL Week as official at the 40th Session of the UNESCO General Conference.This proclamation came on the heels of Global MIL Week 2019, which saw over 200 celebratory events in over 100 countries.
Follow news for events in 2020 on Twitter: UNESCO MILCLICKS - @MILCLICKS
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MIRA Theater - delivering Digital Health Communication to Rural Communities
‘MIRA Theatre’ is a digital resource center with a Smart-TV powered by Solar. Developed by ZMQ, a Technology for Development Social Enterprise organisation based in India in collaboration with the Philips Foundation, this most recent MIRA project was launched in November 2019.It addresses the knowledge gap in childhood pneumonia through a series of short digital stories embedded in the larger ‘Maternal & Child Health’ mobile-based platform called MIRA*.
It has created a new genre of storytelling called ‘Talking Comics’ to affect healthy behaviours for rural women with lesser literacy. The programme has created 6 digital stories created in local language and local context which are designed to create awareness on childhood pneumonia, identifying danger signs, prevention (through immunization using pneumococcal conjugate vaccine), treatment and care & support. The programme also supports identifying danger signs & monitoring and generating demand for treatment and support.
MIRA Theater moves from village to village and showcases the stories. The film shows are followed by focus group discussions (FGDs). MIRA Theaters have an average daily footfall of 150-250 women.
Video: MIRA Theater Childhood Pneumonia
*MIRA provides timely information to women about pregnancy-dietary information, medical care, dons and dons thus increasing awareness during pregnancy. It connects women with health services for timely delivery. It supports women to go for regular ante-natal check-ups, taking Iron-Folic acid, timely vaccination and encourage women to go for institutional deliveries. MIRA helps in adopting safer behaviours, and overall reducing maternal and infant mortality rates.
Additional featured MIRA Videos
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Scientific Animations: highlights for December
SAWBO* now includes over 750 different animations in their Video Library, with over 90 different topics in more than 140 language variants.Highlights for December include:
SOLAR TREATING OF COWPEA SEEDS IN PORTUGUESE (BRAZIL)
Cowpea bruchids can cause damage to cowpea seeds in storage, resulting in post-harvest losses. In this animation, we describe a solarization technique for killing cowpea bruchids before the seeds are stored.
MALARIA PREVENTION: BED NETS IN AFAN OROMO (ETHIOPIA)
The malaria mosquito usually bites in the evening until sunrise. At home it is very important to protect yourself through the proper installation of mosquito nets around your beds or sleeping areas. Use of bed-nets every night, children and adults alike, helps to keep the malaria mosquito out!
NATURAL INSECTICIDE FROM NEEM SEEDS IN SPANISH (SPAIN)
Naturally occurring insecticidal compounds can be extracted from neem seeds and sprayed onto crops to prevent pest insect damage. This animation explains how to prepare the solution necessary for spraying on the crops.
CHOLERA PREVENTION IN TIGRIGNA (ETHIOPIA)
Cholera is an intenstinal infection transmitted primarily by consumption of contaminated food or drinking water. This is very common after natural disasters such as a hurricane or earthquake. This animation shows how to prevent cholera using simple techniques.
MALARIA PREVENTION IN DANGME (GHANA)
Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted to people through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Symptoms of malaria are: high fever, chills, abdominal pain, headaches, tiredness and fatigue. This video illustrates several important measures to avoid being bitten by the malaria mosquito.
SAWBO also provide tutorials
If you have any questions about how to access SAWBO animations, the link below provides tutorials that explain different ways to access their content.
How to download SAWBO Animations
This tutorial video explains how to download SAWBO animations from the SAWBO video Library.
If you have additional questions about SAWBO, visit their Help page, or contact them directly at contact@sawbo-animations.org.
*SAWBO – Scientific Animations without Borders
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FameLab international science communications competition: applications 2020 now OPEN!
FameLab is an annual science communication competition that runs in many countries worldwide. It was started in 2005 in the UK by Cheltenham Science Festival and has quickly become established as a diamond model for successfully identifying, training and mentoring scientists and engineers to share their enthusiasm for their subjects with the public.Designed to engage and entertain by breaking down science, technology and engineering concepts into three-minute presentations, wherever you are in the world, the competition remains the same. Contestants have just three minutes to present a concept from their field of study to a panel of judges. Make it funny, make it enlightening and make it jaw-dropping.
FameLab is looking for the science communication stars of tomorrow, who can really show off their area of expertise in a fascinating and engaging way. Could you inspire and educate a live audience about your work with content, clarity and charisma?
Take part in FameLab 2020
Countries around the word (apart from the UK)
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Promote Scientific Literacy through Participatory Science Engagement
Eusea – the European Science Engagement Association – has publicised its platform providing information on a wide range of formats to encourage participatory science engagement.
To engage. To explain. To expose and stimulate thinking. To foster dialogue and understanding. To nurture teenagers. To stimulate thinking and many others ….
Left image: Science Shows
Centre image: Water World
Right image: Self Explanatory Experiments/GamesVisit eusea.info and search via Purpose, Target Audience or Format to explore examples or inspirations (videos, links)
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Why is science literacy central to societal and economic development?
The President of the International Science Council, Daya Reddy, gave the Opening Address at the World Conference on Science Literacy (WCSL), Beijing, China with the focus of "Science Literacy for Sustainable Development". Stressing that a scientifically literate population that can engage with evidence and make thought-out decisions is central to societal and economic development, Reddy challenged the scientific community to take responsibility to rethink how to communicate effectively to non-scientists, defend the scientific method and be creative and compelling in articulating the social, political, economic and cultural values of science.“Scientists have a role that goes beyond being mere brokers of scientific information. Scientists also have roles in the public discourse, often as advocates.”
Reddy used the opportunity to announce Advancing Science as a Global Public Good: Action Plan 2019 - 2021 [https://council.science/actionplan] setting out the ISC’s activities over the next two and a half years. The most important purpose is to form a practical framework and work towards their vision of science as a global public good.
The Plan, which is an ambitious programme of much-needed initiatives, will position the ISC as an impactful global voice for science in four domains:
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
- The Digital Revolution,
- Science in Policy and Public Discourse and
- The Evolution of Science and Science Systems
Advancing Science as a Global Public Good ISC Action Plan
More information on the World Conference on Science Literacy (WCSL), 10-18 October 2019 bringing together over 600 Chinese and international guests from five international organizations, 28 countries and 35 national science organizations.
Photo Credit: MAGDA TURZANSKA / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY