The Mathuba Schools & Citizens River Heath Programme
1 November 2012
Dear Colleague
The Mathuba Schools & Citizens
River Heath Programme
Mathuba
(isiZulu): An opportunity – Now is the time
As you may know the Mathuba
Schools & Citizens River Health Programme is being convened and facilitated
by a small group within the UKZN’s School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental
Sciences. Mathuba was born of the realisation
that, despite many years of dedicated effort by many people, the rivers around
South Africa are in poor condition with levels of pollution from different
sources rising year by year.
The
Programme is an outcome influenced, inspired and supported by a number of key
individuals in the following regionally important organisations. For example
:
·
The
University of KwaZulu-Natal
·
The
Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) and its associated
programmes (Eco-Schools, Share-Net, SustainEd; Working for Water, Working for
Wetlands)
·
The
Environmental Education Association of southern Africa (EEASA)
·
The
Wildlands Conservation Trust
·
The Duzi
Umgeni Conservation Trust
·
The
Midlands Development Institute
·
Umgeni
Water
·
The
Southern African Development Community (EE Office)
The Mathuba Programme consists of two
informal groups of participants: The User Group and the Mentor Group.
The User Group is made up of
people of all ages (from school learners and teachers through to people in
communities) who share an interest in, and concern about, the health of rivers.
Cellphones are used to record images and to write comments on issues affecting
the health of rivers and their catchments. These are then sent to Flickr from
where they are uploaded, edited and then posted to Google Earth where they
are accessible to the world at large.
A User Manual has been
developed which provides the operational details of the Programme.
The Mentoring Group is made up of
fewer, but they are people who support the work of Programme at a local
“leadership” level. As the Programme develops and data accumulates it is
foreseen that Mentors will fulfil an important nodal function – managing
information from people who are organisationally and geographically located
around them.
The Mentors’ Manual is the
second of the two manuals that is in the final stages of development.
This manual is being written to provide management as well as technical
information to the Mentors.
The
first public draft of the Mathuba Programme may be accessed at the website www.srhp.wozaonline.co.za
To
start with it will be much appreciated if you could glance through the User
Manual and try out the system. This is a living work and regular feedback
will be greatly appreciated.
Most
important : If you are interested in becoming a Mathuba Programme Mentor please
let us know.
Feedback to:
We look forward to hearing from you.
P.S. If you know of anyone who may be
interested in this programme please do forward this to them.
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