AED Partnership with Egyptian Cartoon Studio
Promotes Environmental Awareness Among Children
A unique public-private alliance between Cairo
Cartoon, the Middle East’s first private animation studio, and the AED Centerfor Environmental Strategies is promoting sustainable development of the
coastlines and protectorates of the Egyptian Red Sea. Formed to expand the
impact of the Center’s GreenCOM project, this partnership has increased
environmental awareness among children by incorporating environmental values
into Egypt’s most popular cartoon series, Bakkar.
Bakkar revolves around on the adventures of a
young Nubian boy of the same name, and was the first Egyptian cartoon on
television. The series, which airs every evening during the 30 days of Ramadan,
regularly draws 40 million viewers—two thirds of the population of Egypt—adults
and children alike.
Red Sea Rangers
For the past three years, the AED Center for
Environmental Strategies has collaborated with the show’s producers to create
two environmentally-themed episodes each year in which Bakkar encounters
situations that reinforce environmentally responsible behaviors.
For example, one episode features Bakkar
plotting the rescue of endangered animals from a greedy villain to expose
children to the negative effects of collecting marine life, fishing, and
digging in protectorates.
The episodes also promote some of the Center’s
other initiatives in Egypt, such as a communications and training program to
increase the enforcement capacity of the Red Sea Rangers, a Coast Guard-like
corps within the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency that monitors compliance
with mooring and waste-disposal regulations.
Important Environmental Concepts
Audience research conducted in late 2003
illustrated the show’s ability to communicate important environmental concepts
to children between the ages of 7 to 11. An independent evaluation found that
before the broadcast, none of the children surveyed were familiar with the Red
Sea protectorates and only 2% had heard of the Red Sea Rangers.After the special episodes were aired, however, the percentages jumped: 45% of the children knew about the protectorates and 42% understood the role of the Red Sea Rangers. In addition, their awareness of Red Sea coral and marine life also increased significantly.
Bakkar’s success in reaching Egyptian children
has encouraged the show’s producers, who are planning more environmental
excursions for Bakkar and the Rangers next year.
Increasing Knowledge and Understanding
The partnership between the AED Center for
Environmental Strategies and Cairo Cartoon makes use of new media to accelerate
behavior change and is a good example of the sort of public-private partnerships
that GreenCOM leverages to expand the impact of its programs.
To date, GreenCOM has also trained 150
teachers at 60 schools in the Red Sea area to increase knowledge and
understanding of basic environmental issues, and how to incorporate them into
their classrooms to reach children.
In partnership with the Egyptian Government,
the Center has distributed environmental education materials to 1,000 secondary
industrial, hotel, and agriculture technical schools. The Ministry of Education
subsequently trained 2,000 technical school teachers on environmental
education.
For more information, please contact NicholasWedeman.
By AED
