The Lions and Education: A
Unique Partnership
In 1976 the Lions Cub of
Howick began a hugely ambitious social responsibility and education
project. Following the construction of a local dam, Midmar, a
large number of pre-fabricated construction workers houses became under-utilised.
After considerable negotiations by enthusiastic Howick Lions these were
donated to the Lions Club. Negotiations and fund-raising followed
and through a joint venture with the local Wildlife and Environment
Society of South Africa (WESSA) a suitable nature reserve was agreed
upon as the site for the environmental education facility. Two
years of intensive work followed and eventually, in 1978, a modern
educational facility was constructed with lecture halls, offices and a
club house for the Lions.
The Umgeni Valley Project, as
the project became known, grew from strength to strength and by 1990
over 15 000 pupils and teachers were visiting the Project for
educational excursions each year. In the 1990’s the Project was
selected by the Southern African Development Community, under the
Chairmanship of the then President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, as a
regional environmental education programme (the SADC-REEP). A
printing and publishing facility was added to the already developing
resource base as well as an additional conference and accommodation
facility, the Gold Fields Centre. The Project now supports
training courses for senior officials from Angola, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Madagascar and most other southern African nations.
Courses are also coordinated by the Project in countries such as China,
India and Sweden!
In 2007 the project was
recognized as a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) by the United Nations
University. An RCE is a network of existing formal, non-formal and
informal education
organisations, mobilised to deliver Education for Sustainable
Development to local and regional communities. RCEs aspire to achieve
the goals
of the UN Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), by translating its global
objectives into the context of the local communities in which they
operate.
What began as a public
spirited dream in the 1970’s, when environmental issues and risks were
hardly given a thought, has grown into a sophisticated programme that
can fully support the urgency for environmental education, now that the
world has recognized that our very survival on the Earth is dependent on
the wise use of our resources. Those early Lions members were way
ahead of their time!
Jim Taylor (jt@wessa.co.za)
