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Saving the Planet

Region

Global, Africa, South Asia, South Pacific

Programme Summary

Launched in 2007, this Asian multi-year, multi-media initiative uses television to promote innovative projects in the area of education for sustainable development (ESD) and to support public education about this topic. (ESD is a vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the earth's natural resources). The TV series, termed "Saving the Planet", is a response by Television for Education (TVE) Asia-Pacific (TVEAP) to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: 2005 - 2014, and is being implemented in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) within the framework of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific programme for the promotion of ESD. Collaborators hope to raise public awareness about ESD, as well as to build the communications and media capacity of selected organisations engaged in ESD in the Asia-Pacific region.

Communication Strategies

This educational TV series was launched through a participatory process that involved a call to "anyone, anywhere in the world" to nominate a project to be considered for inclusion in this series (by March 31 2007). TVEAP's call involved words meant to be inspiring: "Confronted with a range of environment and development problems, the world is looking for bright ideas to sustain life on the planet. Education at all levels can shape the world of tomorrow, equipping individuals and societies with the skills, perspectives, knowledge and values to live and work in a sustainable manner." Information and communication technologies (ICTs) were used to facilitate this process; members of the public were invited to submit their nominations by visiting the Saving the Planet website. This website will be used to promote and publicise the winning projects, as well as to post news and updates on the TV series.

"Saving the Planet", scheduled to be filmed during 2007-2008, will be offered to television channels across the region. It will also be distributed on video and DVD to schools, universities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), training centres, and research institutes.TVEAP will distribute the series without any license fee or royalty charge in an effort to encourage the widest possible use and adaptation of its content.

The series itself is part of a broader effort to "tell stories to save the planet", and to enhance the capacity to do so. Representatives from all the selected projects will be sponsored to attend a regional workshop in mid-2007, where they will receive a week's training in communicating through audio-visual tools and new media. Beyond building the skills of these media makers, a key strategy involves staying connected with the initiatives featured in the series; TVEAP claims to be "committed to an inclusive, participatory communications process...we don't just shoot and depart; we stay engaged with the individuals and groups whose stories we capture and amplify."

Development Issues

Education, Sustainable Development.

Key Points

TVEAP is a regionally operating non-profit organisation that specialises in using audio-visual and new media to communicate sustainable development and social justice issues. TVEAP products (journalistically packaged TV, video and online content) are used by broadcast, educational and civil society organisations across the region for education, awareness, advocacy, training or activist purposes. In 2006, ACCU designated TVEAP a regional centre of excellence in ESD.

Partners

TVEAP and ACCU - with funding from Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT).

Contact

TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP)
9/3, Gemunu Mawatha, Nawala Road
Nugegoda
Sri Lanka
Tel: 94 11 4412 195
Fax: 94 11 4403 443
stp@tveap.org
Saving the Planet website

TVEAP and ACCU - with funding from Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT).

Source

UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education's ICT in Education: News, March 2 2007 (click here for the archives); UNESCO Bangkok website; Saving the Planet website; and email from Manori Wijesekera to The Communication Initiative on March 9 2007.


Placed on the Communication Initiative site March 07 2007
Last Updated March 09 2007

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