The project will be implemented and owned by a charity-women-voluntary Association that is focused on women and children welfare with a particular attention to children with and without disabilities. In addition, there will be an interactive participation and involvement of schools, volunteers, and local authorities.
This project is a complementary intervention in the area aimed at launching a dialogue on environment in schools and through the students and thank to the activities of the volunteers to reach the families as well. The activities will proceed at different levels: the training with the volunteers and the teachers will introduce them to the issues of the environment. They will then work with the students on the same subjects they were trained on. During the work with the students the botanic garden will be the space for carrying out activities (the cleaning day, visits, observation of the nature according to the use that men make of it etc) according to the principle of PBE, where outdoor activities are considered as important as indoor ones, during the process of learning.
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
Through the training with teachers, the volunteers of ZAM, the day for cleaning the land for the future garden, and the awareness campaign carried out by the volunteers it will be possible to start a dialogue on biodiversity and environmental issues with the students who will be actively involved in the botanic garden, either during its setting up and afterwards with educational visits. The botanic garden will then represent a place where teachers can take their students to experience the fascination of plant diversity and relate this to their understanding of the world?s environment and it will also be a place where children?s art events can be arranged.
Gender Focus
botanic garden in the area of Hajar Al-Aswad will include income generating activities for women
Project Results
[Participants/beneficiaries
Number of females: 60, males: 20, children: 70
Capacity Building/Training]
Number of females:15, males:16
Results:
Specific objective 1
To raise environmental awareness through educational and practical activities related to nature, particularly addressed to ZAM social centre and primary schools and through them to the whole community
Results related to objective 1
? 9 junior volunteers have undergone an 8 days TOT capacity building program
? 16 teachers and 12 volunteers have undergone 2 sessions of training of 40 hours each
? 10 participatory meetings in 16 classes of the primary schools implemented by the trained teachers and volunteers
? 1000 copies of a booklet with information and lectures of the training program
Specific objective 2
To create a botanic garden in the area of Hajar al Aswad for educational purposes and for women income generating activities.
Result related to objective 2:
? An educational garden set up in the Hajar al Aswad in the adjacent area of the building of the developmental centre of Zahrat el Madaen Association.
Immediate benefits received by the participants and/or the recipient communities:
? Environmental awareness increased among the local community of Hajar al Aswad (children, parents and volunteers)
? The educational garden in this region has given the opportunity to students of the surrounding schools to learn more about the botanies
? The residents of Hajar al Aswad reacquainted the habit to contemplate the beauties of nature as the region lacks of similar green spaces.
? The educational garden helped enriching the teaching methods of children with disabilities (place based education)
? The educational garden is an outlet for parents and volunteers which help them to relax and improve their mental state.
Long term benefits:
? The community to get used to maintain green areas
? To encourage the community to create small green spaces in their houses.
New Developments and unexpected difficulties/problems:
Delivery of the land: The project started on 15th April 2006. Since the beginning of the project Mrs Raghda Ammoura and Farida Aboudan have had meetings with the City Council of Hajar Al-Aswad in order to smooth the procedures for receiving the land designed for the botanical garden. Some bureaucracy issues hampered the delivery of the land. In date 8/10/06 the latest meeting with the Municipality was held: the Municipality was waiting for a letter from the Governorate of Damascus countryside stating that the Municipality can sell the land to the association at a favorable price. In date 8/11/06 we finally got the piece of land. The actions taken for resolving issues were to involve the Italian Embassy and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor in the solution of the problems.
Approval to access the schools: In date 8/06/06 the Director of Zam association sent a letter to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor announcing the starting of the project in the area of Hajar al-Aswad and asking to intermediate for getting the approval from the Ministry of Education to carry out the activities with teachers and students in the area. No reply following, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor sent another letter to the Ministry of Education spurring a reply to be given. GEF has also been involved in the issue: Dr Ali Al- Zaatari UNDP representative in Syria sent a letter to the Ministry of Education in date 20/02/07.
In date 25.02.07 we decided to contact the Syrian Pioneers Kids (Al-Tala?e) for getting the approval and start the training.
Delay in the set up of the garden: The setting up of the garden was previously programmed at an earlier stage (September/October 2007). These dates were set up upon the progress of the adjacent construction of a new building for ZAM. Though, the building construction started later than programmed due to bureaucratic issues and is currently ongoing. The proximity of the garden to the building has so far hampered the starting of the works for the garden itself. Anyhow, the contractor will close the side of the building facing the garden with a cloth in order to separate the two on going works.
Moreover, next to the piece of land allocated for the garden the Ministry of Education is building a new school. Workers have put their materials in ZAM?s piece of land. They have only been removed by 12th February.
Lack of funds and support of the local authorities: The educational garden was set with satisfactory results despite logistic and financial difficulties encountered which caused a delay in achieving the project in the foreseen period
The implementation of the garden was delayed because of the construction of the new building of ZAM and has started only by the beginning of November 2008. In addition to forced waiting period of 3 months during winter season where it's not possible to plant.
The project encountered as well financial difficulties part of which is due to the change of the dollar /Syrian Pound
Some activities couldn't be achieved and the allocated budget was shifted on the budget of the set up of the educational garden. The educational garden was realized with the support of local authorities the Municipality of Hajar al Aswad as well as the Directorate of Agriculture ? rural Damascus who provided machinery and material. In addition to the experts in irrigation and landscaping who offered their work to participate in the creation of a small oasis in Hajar al Aswad.
Remarks/lesson learned:
In spite of the prejudices about the community of Hajar al Aswad that they destroy everything that?s green, the response to the project that parents and students are the true guardians of the garden is considered a tangible result of the raising awareness program implemented in the framework of the project.
