Capacity building on environmental protection of Education officials of Primary School in Eastern Congo
As part of the implementation of the Utalii Kwetu Programme funded by the
US department of State, capacity building on environment protection and ecotourism
were organized targeting the various actors of education. It should be noted
that this program was officially launched in February 2022 at Goma Serena
Hotels by the Deputy secretary of the United States in charge of the
Directorate of Oceans and Environmental affairs Mrs. Monica P. Medina. As
nonprofit, we are proud to implement this project aligning in the fight against
climate change by seeking to protect in the long term the Congolese tropical
rainforest, one of lungs of the World.
The trainings initially targeted the Inspectors and Pedagogical Advisers who in turn trained the teachers of the 25 schools concerned by the pilot phase of the Utalii Kwetu programme. The Utalii Kwetu program is actually a program that aims to introduce schoolchildren to school tourism and environmental protection. It is based on the provision of scholastic materials on tourism and the environment, school competitions, learning expeditions classes and reforestation campaigns and mass awareness on tourism and the environment.
To concretize the theories given through these waves of training on tourism and the environment, trained education officials were involved in a set of learning expeditions in two phases:
Virtual tour of Kahuzi Biega Park: This was done in the comfort of the training rooms where these actors of education from a state-of-the-art technology of virtual reality glasses visited the lowland gorillas of Kahuzi Biega National Park.
Exploration proper of the city of Goma with stops at the port, the great barrier reef, the village Shahero, the recent volcanic lava field, Green Lake,…
Through the use of virtual reality glasses, it was a about making inspectors, teaching advisors, school directors and teachers explore certain touristic sites (parks) from the comfort of the training room.
As for physical expedition, this activity was organized for Inspectors, Teaching Advisors, School Principals and teachers benefiting from our training on tourism, entrepreneurship and the environment with the aim of associating theory to practice because any theory without practice is blind.
Virunga Park is one of the most threatened protected areas on the planet yet very rich in biodiversity and containing animal species endemic to the DRC. These trainings on the environment and tourism will in fact allow us to make these actors of education ambassadors of biodiversity in the East of the DRC. They are important because they will pass on this knowledge to the children who will be leaders of tomorrow.
For the Deputy Principal Provincial Inspector in charge of trainings Mr Robert Kavatsi, this program not only contributes to the popularization of concepts on nature conservation and climate change but also and above all, they associate quality to the basic free primary education as envisaged by the actual government of the DR Congo.
Out of a total of 93 people involved in the activity, there were 50 teachers, 25 school principals, 9 inspectors and 9 teaching advisers. These, through training sessions organized weekly in primary schools, will be able to train others and create a snowball effect.
The representative of the trainers and Program Manager at Groupe Utalii Kwetu nonprofit, Mr Muhindo Hanamali Bienfait said he was satisfied with the mastery of the subject by the teachers trained on the textbooks on tourism and environmental protection accompanying the Utalii Kwetu program. Certificates were awarded to each participant at the end of training sessions.
We believe as a nonprofit, like Nelson Mandela that education is the greatest weapon one can use to change the world. This is why through this program supported by the US Department of State, we are laying the groundwork to protect and preserve the Congolese tropical rainforest, one of lungs to the World.
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