Last updated: October 2024
This project is a year-long (2022-2023), interdisciplinary and transversal environmental education program initiated by the Rotary Club of Fort-de-France Ouest with the main aim of raising awareness of biodiversity conservation. As part of Rotary International, the Rotary Club of Fort-de-France Ouest is a community service club that engages in various service projects that address local challenges relating to education, health, environmental sustainability, and economic development. The project incited teachers at the François Auguste Perrinon middle school to incorporate environmental education and "créole" (traditional ecological) knowledge into the course curriculum. The program was designed to motivate the schoolkids to practice their newly acquired competences in a religious, artistic or gardening end-of-year project. The initiative reached between 150 to 200 students from 6th to 3rd grade in the neighbourhood of "Ermittage" (Ref 1; 5).
Snapshot of the garden
Screenshots taken from : https://rci.fm/martinique/infos/Education/Fort-de-France-les-collegiens-de-Perrinon-creent-leur-jardin-reel-et-leur-jardin
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Community gardens and allotments
- Allotments
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Other
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Preservation of historic traditions
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Environmental education
- Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable production
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Land use and Socio-economic change
- Agriculture/ crop production
- Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
- Disconnection from nature
- Loss of sense of place and identity
Key priorities
Social Justice and community
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Creation of areas for food production (community gardens, allotments), Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Protection of agroecology approaches (agroforestry & silvopastoral systems), Educational and awareness raising programs
Project objectives
The objectives of the project are :
-To raise awareness among young people about preserving biodiversity and educating on the "créole" garden.
-To allow young people to express their vision of the garden and the environment either by motivating them to create a garden based on indigenous agricultural practices (creole) , or to engage with the Psalter (religious poems), or to paint a mural;
-To preserve traditional ecological gardening technique (Ref 1).
Implementation activities
1) During the 2022-2023 academic year, teachers from the 6th to 3rd grade incorporated an environmental dimension into the school's 6 disciplines: French, mathematics, history-geography, gardening, visual arts. This benefitted between 150-200 students.
2) These Students then each took on specific tasks in hands-on projects:
-Schoolkids created individual gardening initiatives inspired by the "créole" garden, coalescing into several allotments in the school yard.
-Schoolkids engaged with the Psalter (book of religious poems).
-Schoolkids drew and painted a mural representing the garden of their dreams on school premises.
3) At the end of the year, on June 12th 2023, an event was organised with the Rotary Club of Fort-de-France Ouest, where the schoolkids presented their projects (Ref 1).
Main beneficiaries
- Young people and children
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Non-government organisation/civil society
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Dissemination of information and education
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The project was initiated by the Rotary Club of Fort-de-France Ouest who partnered with the Middle School of François Auguste Perrinon. The teachers at the school played an important role implementing the project by adapting the school curriculum and guiding the hands-on projects. The Rotary Club of Fort-de-France Ouest is a local chapter of Rotary International, a global network of service clubs that bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian services and promote goodwill and peace. (Ref 1).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Unknown
Type of enablers
NGOs/Community groups driving the implementation
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of land
- Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Other
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Unknown
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Achieved increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Preserved spiritual and religious values
- Achieved preserved spiritual and religious values
- Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
- Achieved increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
- Education
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Achieved increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
- Achieved increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Unknown
References
1.
Grutus, M., and Lebos, N. (2023). À Fort-de-France, les collégiens de Perrinon créent leur « jardin réel et leur jardin rêvé ». rci.fm, Accessed on September 7, 2024, [Source link];
2.
collège François Auguste Perrinon (n.d.). Bienvenue sur le site du collège François Auguste Perrinon. Accessed on September 7, 2024, [Source link];
3.
Collège-lycée.com (2024). Collège François Auguste Perrinon FORT-DE-FRANCE. Collège-lycée.com, Accessed on September 7, 2024, [Source link];
4.
Ville de Fort-de-France (n.d.). Quartiers Prioritaires de la Ville. Ville de Fort-de-France, Accessed on September 7, 2024, [Source link];
5.
Rotary District 7030 (n.d.). Fort-de-France Ouest (6812). rotarydistrict7030.org, Accessed on September 12, 2024, [Source link];
A mural by school kids
Screenshots taken from : https://rci.fm/martinique/infos/Education/Fort-de-France-les-collegiens-de-Perrinon-creent-leur-jardin-reel-et-leur-jardin
Presentation of the projects
Screenshots taken from : https://rci.fm/martinique/infos/Education/Fort-de-France-les-collegiens-de-Perrinon-creent-leur-jardin-reel-et-leur-jardin
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.