Successes and Challenges in East African Conservation Education

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) programs that include service-learning components have great potential to positively impact East African youth, their communities, and their ecology. This exploratory study describes 2 programs in East Africa, The Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots (R&S) and Wildlife Clubs of Uganda (WCU). The authors studied school-based programs in 10 communities adjacent to national parks or wildlife sanctuaries by interviewing and surveying student members, teachers, and program coordinators. Results indicate that despite the harsh context and unique challenges facing programs in the developing countries of Tanzania and Uganda, groups showed remarkable strides in increasing conservation knowledge, fostering members' personal and social development, and raising community awareness. The successes and challenges of these East African programs highlight the importance of considering contextual factors when designing best practices in conservation education.

Keywords:

• conservation education
• East Africa
• personal and social development
• service learning