Ggaba Teacher Training College

Background
Over the last 15 years Tusk Trust has supported a number of dynamic environmental education centres and rural schools neighbouring key conservation areas. The Trustees have witnessed firsthand the enormous benefits to both people and their environment when they are educated on relevant ecological issues. PACE - the Pan African Conservation Education project – has been devised by Tusk in conjunction with Siren Conservation Education to share solutions to environmental problems between African communities. Through film and the written word, the PACE project helps spread useful information on these practical techniques, and to inspire interest in and awareness of environmental issues.

Ggaba Teacher Training College
St John The Baptist Ggaba Teacher Training College in Kampala, Uganda, hosts around 2,000 students from all over East Africa studying for a primary teaching qualification. The students are both pre-service and in-service teachers who already work in government schools but due to the recent turbulent history of Uganda were unable to train until now. The Ggaba College Environment Club has identified several environmental problems on the college site (sanitation, access to clean water, soil erosion and inefficient energy use) that are now being addressed using techniques featured in the PACE project materials.

Working with Ggaba College Environment Club and in conjunction with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) teachers who are based at the college, the PACE project, managed by Tusk Trust and Siren Conservation Education, with funding from donors, has developed a training and demonstration project at the college.

PACE project at Ggaba
The aim of the project is to:

• Create opportunities for trainee teachers to learn about and participate in the development of cost-effective solutions to common environmental problems
• Use the PACE resources to develop a Uganda-specific training manual of techniques for teaching practical skills for sustainable development and inspiring appreciation and understanding of wildlife and the environment
• Provide access to PACE resources for newly qualified teachers to bring out to their schools

The long-term goal of the project is to enable new teachers to develop practical skills for sustainable development, creating a ripple effect of influence on the children and communities they encounter during their teaching careers.

This project addresses the lack of access to education and practical information on techniques for sustainable development in Uganda and will contribute to community-based development of sustainable solutions to environmental problems such as the lack of clean drinking water and effective sanitation, malnutrition due to soil erosion and crop failure, respiratory diseases caused by indoor smoke pollution and conflicts with wild animals over land-use. Sanitation is a particular problem in Ugandan schools, where insufficient access to clean toilet facilities contributes to school dropout and low literacy rates, especially among girls. Because the project targets teachers the community that will benefit from the project is potentially very large.

Tutors and students at the colleges have contributed to a PACE Uganda manual, which, since its launch in April 2011, has been shared with over 430 schools nationwide. This practical resource for primary school teachers is available for download here: PACE Pan African Conservation Education Uganda training manual Please note this is a 10 mb file.

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