Workshop on Sustainability and Individual Responsibility

Choco is seeking participants for the workshop on Sustainability and Individual Responsibility, which is scheduled to start on 17th July 2011 in Thinadhoo.

The workshop on Sustainability and Individual Responsibility is a 6 day workshop to facilitate rediscovery of connections to the natural world, as both source and sink for our material consumption; to highlight the concept of individual responsibility; and to identify opportunities for making sustainable choices in our daily lives.

Two workshops are planned for July 2011 - one in G.Dh. Thinadhoo and one in G.A Kolamafushi. The workshop in Thinadhoo will run from 17-22 July 2011. There are limited seats and only 30 participants will be enrolled - 20 secondary and higher secondary students and 10 youth. Youth is enrolled in order to train volunteers to continue the program.
To get enrolled, please shortlist your name with Jinah (999 9546) or Hassaan (790 0054), before 10 July 2011.

The Workshop is organised by Choco and it will be facilitated by Ms. Aminath Afrah Rasheed, a student of Masters in Environmental Studies at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.

The need for this kind of a workshop has arisen because the responsibility to act upon environmental issues has been shifted to the government or society in general and we usually forget about what we can do individually to protect our environment. To facilitate environmental changes, we need to establish connections that our daily actions and the impact they have on environment. The purpose of this workshop is to increase awareness of students and youth regarding individual responsibility for our own environment.

The workshop will aim to enable participants to discover the lessons themselves (i.e. learning by doing). To this end, three groups of participants will:

1. Audit inputs and outputs of a typical participant’s daily activities with regard to three different areas: Food, Water, and Energy. This will include amounts (e.g. kg/litres/kWh), price and people involved.
2. Trace the inputs and outputs to their source/ sink in nature including the routes taken
3. Identify potential impacts (including secondary, long-term and cumulative impacts) throughout the lifecycle, from source to sink, on nature and humans
4. Compare their results to global averages (ecological footprint data will be provided)
5. Discuss whether the social, environmental and economic impacts of their activities warrant a change in behaviour and if so, suggest possible actions.

This will be done over the duration of the workshop, with close guidance from workshop facilitators. An example of an audit will be presented on the first day to introduce the activity and possible methods for carrying out an audit. The programme (outlined below) for the subsequent days will include group work on this main project with a facilitator (1 hour), and activities to introduce different concepts of sustainability (1 hour). The workshop is expected to run for 3 hours on Day 1 and 6, and 2 hours on Day 2, 3, 4 and 5.

	Activities	Aims	Method of Delivery
Day 1	Back to the Future	Demonstrate that everything ultimately comes from nature and returns to nature	Activity involving an everyday object (materials used, sources, disposal)
	One Day Footprint	Introduce ways in which our daily lives are connected to nature	Presentation (possibly with short film)
		Demonstrate possible approach to the main group project
	Introduction to Group Project	Explain aims and methods for conducting the main group project	Presentation
Day 2	Meehakaai Gas	Introduction to some concepts of sustainability	Analysis of sustainability lessons in the children’s story
	Invaluable / Not Valuable	Introduce the concept of value in different contexts (i.e. Monetary VS non-monetary value)	Activity comparing market price and non-price value of objects identified by participants as important to them
Day 3	Local Knowledge	Explore extent and importance of local knowledge	Game
	Beyond Island Shores	Contrast local and global challenges and circumstances	Photos, Video Clips, Case Studies (highlighting resource availability and scarcity, displacement of environmental problems to poor communities, etc)
		Foster appreciation of our unique blessing and fragilities, and consequent obligations
Day 4	Tragedy of Commons	Introduce the concepts of tragedy of commons, carrying capacities and tipping points	Game
Day 5	Diversity and Resilience	Show that diversity (in ecological and social context) reduces risk of collapse	Game/ Case study [To Be Confirmed]
	Individual Social Responsibility	Highlight individual obligations towards fellow humans and nature	[To Be Confirmed]
Day 6	Group Presentations and Discussion	Share findings of the three groups	Presentations and Discussions
	Concepts of Sustainability	Review lessons from the workshop	Open Discussion
	Wrap Up	Identify and commit to next steps	Set quantitative targets to reduce negative impacts / pledges Decide on realistic follow-up mechanism

The program is tentatively scheduled to be held in Aabaadhee Marukaz in Thinadhoo.

Kolamafushi workshop is planned incorporation with Society for Kolamafushi Youth (SKY) and will be held from 24 - 29 July 2011.

For more infor and enrollment (before 10 July 2011), contact,

• Jinah (999 9546) 
• Hassaan (790 0054)