Eco-communities becoming popular among schoolchildren and students in Kazakhstan

Beliefs instilled in a person in childhood form his personality and behavior in the future. That is why it is so important to tell children about the environment and the need to preserve it. The education of ecological thinking in children will be the guarantor of the creation of an environmentally oriented society in Kazakhstan in decades. To this end, the Republican Public Association QazaqGeography organized the project "EcoVision" to develop eco-thinking among schoolchildren and students.

More information about the mission and stages of implementation of this initiative the manager of the Department of International and Project Activities of the RPO QazaqGeography Madina Kinayatova told in an interview with the correspondent of the El.kz.

- Please tell us what is the purpose of the EcoVision project and what is its peculiarity?

- In April of this year, our association became one of the owners of a grant within the framework of the EcoBatys Environmental Initiatives Competition, which was implemented with the support of the Center for Support of Civil Initiatives and Shell Kazakhstan. Thanks to this, we launched a project called "EcoVision". It is implemented with the aim of raising the level of public awareness of environmental problems and involving Kazakhstanis in various environmental initiatives. Separately, I would like to note that as part of our activities, we want to give the population general training materials and acquaint it with the term "carbon neutrality". The mission of our project is a way to develop a strategy to raise eco-awareness. In addition, we have already begun to conduct training seminars, and such work will continue further. A bright event in the framework of the project will be a large-scale event - Eco-Hackathon for schoolchildren and students of the city of Aktau.

- What social significance does this initiative carry? And why does the project cover schoolchildren and students?

- We chose schoolchildren and students as the target audience, because, as we all know, fundamental knowledge is best absorbed by children. And how we direct and work with young people on the importance of this social topic will depend on how they will further develop their own projects and, in general, think. - The public association QazaqGeography is most interested in influencing the education of the younger generation of the so-called ecological thinking. To this end, we have set ourselves a guideline for cultivating among them eco-leaders and ambassadors who could in the future contribute to improving the environmental agenda, continue our work and leave behind the same conscious generation.

This knowledge relates not only to such global topics as carbon neutrality and COP26 (the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in which the leadership of Kazakhstan also participated), but also to everyday tasks, for example, sorting household garbage.

In general, for the implementation of the grant, we could focus on tree planting activities and other generally accepted measures.

But we decided that the first priority is to start with eco-education of children and an explanation of the topic of carbon neutrality. Since this issue today is acute both at the public and state levels. But the awareness of the population is still at an insufficient level.

- What environmental initiatives will the project participants be involved in?

- Within the framework of the EcoVision project, children, in addition to the Hackathon, will also participate in various environmental actions, information seminars and trainings in online and offline formats in their regions, so that the project continues and develops. We strive not to limit children in their ideas and are already preparing them to organize initiatives and eco-clubs in their educational institutions even after the completion of the project.

- It is known that "EcoVision" takes place in several stages. What stage of implementation are you at now? And what kind of action plan does each include?

- The first stage began with the fact that we conducted a selection among students in the form of an essay contest. Everyone wrote about how exactly he wants to improve the environmental situation directly in his city. After that, our public association held an online meeting to get acquainted with the participants. Further, qualified speakers, whom we specially attracted within the framework of EcoVision, gave introductory lectures to children on environmental education, lean thinking and carbon neutrality. To consolidate knowledge in the city of Aktau, a one-day offline training was held in a game format to interest them. In our opinion, practical tasks helped young people to better assimilate theoretical material.

Another area of study was the development of soft skills in schoolchildren and students of "soft skills" (communication skills, critical thinking, leadership qualities, emotional intelligence and positive thinking, the ability to work in a team, self-organization) and hard skills of "hard skills" (professional skills that are acquired with experience from performing a task).

This is necessary so that in the future they have all the necessary competencies to present their projects not only at the city, republican level, but also at the international level.

In addition, in August we have already planned another meeting in the city of Aktau, where the Eco-Hackathon, which was mentioned earlier, will be launched.

This is a platform where every pupil and student will have the opportunity to demonstrate their project on the chosen topic. And in September, at the end of the EcoVision initiative, we will have winners who will be awarded prizes.

I am sure that this youth community created by us will continue its activities in the given direction. In addition, already now among them there are many who want to join the members of our public organization and become part of QazaqGeography.

- How long will the work on the project take place and is it enough to instill sustainable environmental knowledge in young people?

- As you have already understood, our training program is quite rich and children learn new information with great interest. Therefore, it seems to me that the time allocated to us will be quite enough to achieve our goals and, after a few months, to instill in them important skills and sustainable knowledge in the environmental direction.

But to fully cultivate a young person as a leader and eco-ambassador, it takes, of course, more time. And this is quite possible, if in the future they will already independently carry out work on this. The main thing is that there is a desire, and the knowledge and base provided by us will give them the opportunity to develop various startups themselves. At the same time, we will continue to keep in touch with them.

- Will similar projects be carried out in other regions directly under your leadership? 

Yeah, absolutely. The current project "EcoVision" is  a kind of debut in teaching children, a pilot prototype. It's also a great experience for us. And upon its completion, we are already thinking about how to promote similar initiatives throughout Kazakhstan. Since our organization is based in Nur-Sultan, I assume that in the future we will continue to work with the capital's youth. It is very important that this experience has a multiplicative effect and influences the thinking of all schoolchildren and students of our republic.

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