[Participants/beneficiaries

Number of females: 4,105
Number of males: 4,105
Number of children: 8,210

Budget and finance

Total Expended Project Cost: 134,639.93 USD
Total Budgeted Project Cost: 119,700 USD
Amount received under this Agreement: 50,000 USD
Amount received from other sources of funding: 20,300 USD (including 9,900 USD Gift in Kind)
Contribution of SPANA or the recipient community: 49,400 USD (including 16,900 USD Gift in Kind)

Activities

Activities Performed under this Agreement:

- A suitable bus was identified in the UK. It was completely stripped out, repaired and made road worthy. An independent electricity supply was installed and the interior was then converted to house exhibition panels. Artwork was also created to accompany the text.
- On completion of printing, the be-spoke panels were installed, together with interactive games, puzzles and 3D displays.
- A complementary website was set up, designed to give further information on the subjects covered in the exhibition. This was done to replace the leaflets and follow up materials for teachers as internet use is being encouraged by schools in Syria. The Syrian GEF representative was informed of this decision. The website (www.sy-ecoex.com) was promoted at the official opening and the address can be viewed on the bus exterior.
- The bus was shipped from the UK to Syria, and moved directly to the Veterinary Faculty in Hama where SPANA?s project is based. Adjustments were made to some of the panels and exterior text.
- In consultation with the Ministry of Education, a circuit around the country was arranged so the bus would visit all 14 provinces during two years of operation. The schedule of the bus? tour is included with this report.
- A training course was arranged for the bus drivers who would be responsible for taking the bus from school to school in each province.
- A training course was arranged for teachers, providing further information on the contents of the exhibition and instructions as to its use.
- The exhibition was officially opened by the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Suliman Al Khateeb, at a school for Gifted Children in Homs, Syria. The bus began its tour of the country in Damascus on February 15th 2011.
- A system of monitoring the visitors to the bus and evaluating the effect of the exhibition was set up as the programme started.

Results:

Describe to what extent the objectives of the Agreement were accomplished:

The Agreement, to create a mobile exhibition that would travel the country, has been achieved. Without GEF funding it would not have been possible to transport a modern and interactive exhibition to all fourteen provinces in Syria. With this exhibition now in place to tour the country, children throughout Syria will have the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding about the principles of animal welfare and environmental education.

In addition to an increase in knowledge, the informative panels on the bus have been designed to promote positive attitudes and empathy towards animals, and respect and responsibility towards the environment. A further objective was to motivate the children with a desire to find out further information about animals and the environment from school libraries, books and the internet. It is for this reason a special website has been created to enhance the exhibits on the bus and supplement the information given.

Lastly, the design of the games and puzzles featured on the panels, have been done in such a way so the children learn through the process of investigation and discovery. Until now, the role undertaken by most teachers has been to act as lecturer or instructor. At the training course organized before the bus commenced its circuit of the provinces, the teachers were instructed not to give children a guided tour of the bus, nor to give them explanations to all the panels. Instead, they were advised to allow the children to explore the exhibits for themselves, to make their own discoveries and draw their own conclusions. It is thought by most educators that these methods of learning are more interesting for the children, enhance the learning experience and assist memory retention. SPANA is currently working on an evaluation of this learning process and hopes to show a positive outcome amongst the children that visit the exhibition as opposed to a group that have not had that experience.

Monitoring the numbers of children that have visited the bus is an ongoing process. Teachers have been asked to record the number of children that visit the exhibition on a daily basis and these statistics are sent to SPANA?s London office each month. Since the exhibition opened in March, 5 provinces have been visited and monitored - over 8,000 children have been through the exhibition. The expected number was 1,000 children in each province, so the number has exceeded expectations.
Annex C (continued)

Describe the immediate benefits received by the participants and/or the recipient communities:

Owing to the high profile of the bus, particularly its striking appearance with pictures of animals and the environment on the exterior, it attracts the attention of many people in the community, not just the children and teachers for whom the exhibition was intended. SPANA believes that this visual representation of animals and the environment will help to raise the status of both in the eyes of the community.

As intended, the exhibition has been of benefit to the schools and teachers and will have raised awareness of the issues surrounding animals and the environment, and attitudes to both will have improved.

Describe long term benefits:
The long term objectives of this project are to stop ill-treatment of animals and degradation of the environment, and to show some improvement to both.

New Developments and unexpected difficulties/problems:

New Developments and unexpected difficulties during the implementation of the project:

- During the creation of the exhibition we experienced the following unexpected difficulties:
1. Translation of the text from English to Arabic caused problems, especially during the printing process. Some of the Arabic text was printed incorrectly and had to be redone.
2. The limited space available in the bus made implementing some of the electrically operated exhibits problematic.
3. Artwork and photos of sufficiently high quality were difficult to obtain.
- During the voyage and delivery of the bus:
4. Despite precautions taken before the voyage, all the electrical goods were stolen en route.
- Since the implementation of the programme of school visits:
5. Due to the political situation in the country, SPANA?s specialist Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, Dr Stephen Albone has been unable to visit Syria since the project was launched in order to set up a detailed evaluation process. This means we were unable to do a baseline study before the programme began. Despite the political situation in Syria, the bus has been relatively unaffected.

Actions taken to solve them:

1. The exterior text was rectified by the printing company and is now correct.
2. The exhibition design specialist SPANA employed provided solutions to the space limitations and all exhibits were fitted within an extended timeframe.
3. High resolution photos for the bus? exterior were donated to the project by Isam Hajjar, a well known Syrian professional photographer. This association further raised the bus? profile.
4. SPANA was recompensed by the insurance company and all the goods were replaced and put in place before the official opening.
5. We have been able to communicate by email and using control groups we were able to collect comparative information in place of a baseline study. The first batch of data has now been received in London and Dr Albone has begun to analyse the information. We will be able to determine the success of the exhibition in 2012.


Remarks/lesson learned:

Despite only anecdotal evidence so far, SPANA London believes that this has been a worthwhile project in which to take part. We are continually being told by people in the area that the bus is well known throughout Syria and popular with the children that visit it.

The results of the evaluation and monitoring process will show how successful the exhibition has been in achieving its aims of changing children?s attitudes to animals, the environment and encouraging the development of empathy. Analysis is expected to be completed in early 2012.

The main lessons learned were:

- The time taken to construct such an exhibition was longer than expected due to the various unexpected difficulties mentioned above. Rectifying these issues cost money and caused delays, further contributing to the overspend as the premises hired to house the bus during the construction of the exhibition were relatively expensive. This particular premises was necessary due to the size of the bus. We successfully used UK based companies for the SPANA Tunisia mobile exhibition so decided to repeat this decision for the Syrian bus. However the issues we experienced with translation of text suggest doing this in country may have been more time and cost effective.
- Shipping electrical goods should be avoided.