Prem attended Tribhuvan University of Nepal, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Since graduating he has been working with children and young people for nature conservation and sustainable livelihoods and aims to empower today’s children and young people of Nepal for a green and sustainable development of the Karnali region. Prem is also responsible for the creation of the Green School Campaign 2012.

PROJECT COORDINATOR – Megha Pradhananga (megha@eathchildinstitute.org)

Megha received her Bachelor’s in management from Tribhuvan University of Nepal in 2010. She works actively in different deparments of the organization and enjoys being around children and young people. She has worked in remittance and the legal department in Nepal Bank Ltd. Now, she is responsible for coordinating the Green School Campaign 2012, initiated by the Earth Child Institute Nepal.

After logging in to our Skype meeting and getting past minor technical challenges, working group participants shared introductions about their amazing work. Ranging from large-scale, youth tree-planting projects in rural communities in Nepal to building capacity for children in challenged schools across Africa and the Middle East to youth group climate change activities geared toward the UN Rio+20 conference to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this June and beyond, the list was quite impressive.

This is a powerhouse team that highlights the potential of international cooperation toward social good; we are capable individuals with the shared goal of helping children and youth take direct action in their communities toward the alleviation of poverty, ignorance, and environmental degradation. We already know that kids have amazing strength and resources; through this project we hope to nurture it, encourage it, and let them fly.

By giving kids the opportunity to interact with their peers around the world, to learn about each other’s work, to smile together at their shared experiences, we can change lives. This is what the Power of One Child – Global Action Classroom is seeking to do—to facilitate the spreading of this type of life-changing inspiration on a global scale. And better yet, our methodology enables us to work quickly, with the aim of presenting our results through a video to UN delegates at the Rio+20 conference in June, with enormous potential for expansion of efforts toward the climate change COP18 in Doha and beyond.

As ECI founder Donna Goodman puts it, “The Global Action Classroom project is especially exciting and innovative because of its multi-dimensional aspects, allowing us to encourage and strengthen youth leaders, highlight the local actions and capacities of children, and facilitate global connections between youth and children in service to Mother Earth.”

If you would like to help sponsor the work of ECI or one of our youth partners please feel free to contact us; your encouragement will go a long way toward supporting our work and supporting the growth and empowerment of children around the world.

Lee Frankel-Goldwater
Earth Child Institute, Project Coordinator
Power of One Child – Global Action Classroom

As its first project, the organization established a library in three schools within the Dolpa district, benefiting 1,000 students and their teachers, also training some of them to maintain their community’s library. The engagement aspect present in this project has also translated to all other programs started by ECI Nepal, from involving local youth in door-to-door campaigns to inform people about reducing fossil-fuel energy use to encouraging children to plant 1,000 trees and take responsibility for their tree’s survival.

Furthermore, ECI Nepal has also started educational workshops with different target groups. So far, the two programs of this sort that have been organized were a women literacy workshop, in which ECI Nepal also educated women on child nutrition and the effects of pollution on children, and a “Climate Change and Children” workshop in three different schools, in which children were educated on the effects of climate change on their lives and community.

ECI Nepal’s growing projects have also been leading to the internal growth of the organization, which has been recruiting online and on-site volunteers to assist with their programs and future goals. With its mind set in the future of the organization, ECI Nepal has been looking for donors to fund the continuation of its environmental education projects and new ideas, like solar energy for schools, school-based gardening, as well as REDD+ and WASH focused projects. Furthermore, it has been organizing the launch of its Green Schools campaign, which will culminate in the training of local and international volunteers, who will help with environmental education in schools and colleges in Nepal and hopefully take this model to their own home-countries.

For more information contact Prem Bohara (prem@earthchildinstitute.org)

The “Green School Campaign 2012″ will aim to educate children in climate change education and also support them to plant trees in and around schools.

Here, you will be involved in various trainings, workshops, and field trips, learning about the local impact of global climate change while having the experience of teaching environmental education and helping children plant trees.

We have invited 100 international volunteers who will be working with 100 national volunteers in and around 200 schools in Nepal, and we have 10 focal points for the youth engagement in Nepal for this campaign.

STRATEGIC PLAN OF ACTION;

01 to 30 June 2012

01 to 05 – Preparing the ground for planting

05 – Inauguration

06 to 30 – Planting

Application deadline for global youth – April 25, 2012.

How Can I participate?

The cost of registration is $100 per participant and $25 per day for the program – which includes all expenses related
to food, accomondation and ground transportation during the program period.

Applications should be sent to prem@earthchildinstitute.org with subject title “Global Youth for
Green School Campaign 2012”. Short listed candidates will be notified by April 30, 2012.

For more information you can reach us at megha@earthchildinstitute.org or find us on the links below.

Green School Campaign

ECI Nepal’s Facebook

Download the pdf version here.

educate the children…reforest  Nepal

Earth Child Institute Nepal is a national affiliate of Earth Child Institute (ECI), an international non-profit organization committed to combating climate change, deforestation and water scarcity by investing in hands-on environment and educational projects and also empowerment of today’s children and young people for the sustainable future.

Introduction:

Green School Campaign 2012 is an initiative by Earth Child Institute Nepal to educate and empower children and young people under the age of 18 in environmental issues, especially climate change, and help them adapt to healthy, green, and sustainable lifestyles while planting trees in and around schools. In partnership with 200 schools in 10 districts of Nepal, this campaign aims to conduct various trainings, workshops, and practical classroom teaching in climate change education so that children and young people, along with future generations, will become empowered with the necessary life skills for green, healthy, and sustainable living, which directly contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions and increases their resiliency in the face of climate change.

Children and young people will learn the importance of trees in their lives and also their significant role on mitigation of carbon emissions. They will not only plant a sapling but also take responsibility for the tree as it grows. By instilling the practice of sustainable lifestyle in young lives, we can empower today for a sustainable tomorrow.

The participation of teachers, local community members, and parents will be crucial to the success of this project. Participating schools will function as springboards to engage others in the community in sustainability initiatives.

Project Objectives:

1. To empower 100,000 children and young people to take local action against climate change through climate change education in 200 schools and outreach and mass awareness in their communities around Nepal by 2012
2. To have school children with their parents, teachers, and other local community members plant 100,000 trees in and around schools in Nepal by 2012
3. To train and mobilize 200 core youth leaders and 2,000 young volunteers throughout this campaign and create a strong relationship among local, national, and international volunteers by 2012
4. To nurture a global community of children and young leaders who will learn from one another while restoring Earth’s ecosystems

Description of Project Activities:

a) Capacity Building of Youth leaders and Leadership Trainings

Through climate change educational trainings, workshops, and field trips, this project will empower youth leaders within the Green School Campaign framework so that they can transfer the knowledge and share action with children and young people in schools. Their role as facilitators will help children and young people to identify climate change effects at the local level with special concern on the impacts to their own lives. In this phase, teachers, parents, and community members will be engaged with youth.

b) Planting Program in and around Schools

The planting program is officially known as “The Power of One Child + One Tree = A Sustainable Future for All.” It will consist of 100,000 saplings to be planted by 100,000 children in and around 200 schools of 10 districts of Nepal. Through this activity, children will learn the importance of trees in their lives and also their significant role in mitigation of carbon emissions, which is directly related to climate change.

c) Climate Change Education in Schools

Climate change education will educate children and young people on this global issue that has very local effects. They will learn more about the causes of climate change, its effects on the local level, and how they can contribute to its mitigation by changing their own lifestyles and taking other actions. They will come to understand how their adoption of positive sustainable behaviors today will benefit the environment in the present and in the future.

Participants in the Green School Campaign project will form a tree-planting club. If a similar children’s club already exist, they will help strengthen it.

Implementation Plan and Time-Frame:

1.10.Target Districts:

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