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Following
are current and past projects
World Women Work has made possible through our funding. We
are proud of these on-going projects and of the impact they have
had and continue to have on the lives of the children, women, families and endangered species involved.
LIST OF PROJECTS
The Edutainer / Bright Kids Foundation, Soweto South Africa
Education for Girls: World Wildlife Fund U.S.
Eastern Himalayas Nepal Bhutan – East African Marine Ecoregion, Kenya Tanzania
Madagascar Turtle Islands, Philippines
Samburu Women's Beading Project,
Kenya
Training for Professional Women
Conservationists, Nepal, Tanzania
Animal Alliance; Native American
Girl Scholarship, New Mexico
The Wind River Bear Institute,
Wyoming
Udzungwa Mountains Women's Development
Project, Tanzania
Save the Elephants, Samburu, Kenya
Women's Union of Kon Tum, Vietnam
Elephant Listening Project Katy Payne CAR Gabon
Cheetah Conservation, Namibia
Naivasha North Lake Family Planning
Clinic, Kenya
Mother's Group Association, Nepal
Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project, Sabah Malaysia
Elephant/Human Conflict Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society
Elephant Nature Park, Lek Sangdeun Chailert Thailand
Laura Sarti Turtle Conservation, Mexico
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS
Education for Girls
World Women Work and World Wildlife Fund have created scholarships with the goal of enhancing biodiversity conservation through increasing women's capacity to make wise lifestyle choices, including how many children to have. WWW and WWF believe that increased educational opportunities for women, particularly in communities where their roles and responsibilities are directly connected to the use of natural resources, will ultimately lead to increased social and environmental sustainability, as women understand the stresses that having large families place on both the environment and their ability to create good lives for their children and families. In addition, these programs provide girls with the opportunity to learn how to be caretakers of their environment, including endangered species and natural resources.
World Women Work has
invested in three
such programs:
The East Africa Marine Ecoregion Girls Scholarship
Fund
In Kenya, this fund reaches over 1200 girls in 10 primary schools in the Kiunga Marine National Reserve Area in Kenya. The program teaches conservation and ecology, and teaches skills such as making handicrafts from recyclable materials. It also provides scholarships for 15 girls.
In the fishing communities of Mafia Island, Tanzania, WWW and WWF have supported 33 girls who otherwise would not have been able to attend school. Last year this support enabled 10 girls to finish their secondary education – an incredible accomplishment on an island where the drop-out rates for girls are as high as 40-65%.
The Himalayan Girls Scholarship Fund, which aids 120 girls in Nepal and Bhutan. Here, girls are trained to be amchis, or healers, who carry on the local tradition of working with medicinal plants. In addition, WWW has also provided scholarships to 35 girls in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area of eastern Nepal, which is known for its picturesque landscapes and wide array of bird species, as well as endangered mammals such as tiger, golden langur, and red panda.
Education for Girls: Bardia National Park, Nepal
Bardia is home to such species as tigers, greater one-horned rhinos, and elephants. In Nepal, families traditionally educate boys, but often cannot afford to send their girls to school as well. Schooling helps these future stewards of the local environment become better able to make informed decisions about protecting their natural resources. The recipients are school age daughters of families who have been injured or whose crops have been damaged by wildlife. World Women Work's investment through the World Wildlife Fund has helped more than 95 girls attend school.
The Madagascar Girls Scholarship Fund, which assists 15 girls to complete secondary school. The curriculum here also includes family planning and conservation in this region called the "Spiny Forest," which receives only 12-24 inches of rainfall per year, and hosts a huge array of species.
The Turtle Islands Girls Scholarships Program
which assists 14 young girls from this area, which comprises 6 islands between the Philippines and Malaysia, and is the only trans-frontier protected area for marine turtles.
Profiles of one of Our Scholarship Recipients
Jamyang Chozom, Bhutan
Jamyang is the newest of Bhutan’s girl scholars from Joenkhar, near Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary. Her mother died when she was a baby and since her father died in 2000, she lives with an elder brother and sister-in-law. No relatives are able to help with her studies. To reach her village school, she walks four hours roundtrip daily. She wakes up at dawn and often has extra curricular activities and must stay with friends as it would be way too late to return home.
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Save the Elephants, Samburu,
Kenya
"We support basic research on elephant behavior and ecology, and have pioneered elephant GPS (Global Positioning Systems) radio tracking to provide fresh insights into elephant ways of life. By understanding elephant movements we can help approach conservation from an elephant's perspective. Research on their movements helps us to understand their needs and what motivates these highly sentient creatures. We can find out how various human and ecological factors influence their movement." – Iain Douglas-Hamilton,
Founder, Save the Elephants, Samburu, Kenya. World Women Work has funded a GPS collar for the matriarch Loldaiga and a scholarship for a Samburu girl.
Women's Union of Kon Tum, Vietnam
In Vietnam the lush forests of the Kon Tum region are home to rare species such as the tiger, sao la, Francois langur, and white-cheeked gibbon. As in many other regions, women are the natural resource managers. In order to preserve and protect this magnificent and biodiverse area,World Women Work, in conjunction with the World Wildlife
Fund, donated funds to help the "Kom Tom Women's Union" review their use of natural resources and develop plans for their conservation.
Mother's Group Association, Nepal
World Women Work's grant to the Mother's
Group Association of Jomson, Nepal, is a wonderful example of how
a little can go a very long way and create a positive ripple effect
in a needy community. The money allowed the women to buy furniture
for their meeting house, which in turn has made it possible for
them to rent the space, gaining income that can be used for other
projects like tree planting, garbage clean up, and ultimately to
build a public toilet facility for those without in the town.
Elephant Listening Project Katy Payne CAR Gabon
World Women Work is committed to supporting women conservation leaders, such as Katy Payne, because they serve as role models for aspiring female conservationists around the world. We have contributed to Katy’s "Species Action" program which conducts acoustical studies of elephant communication. This important "fingerprinting" project will eventually help researchers conduct an accurate census of forest elephant populations where perhaps half of Africa's elephants are now found.
Naivasha North Lake Family Planning Clinic, Kenya
World Women Work has invested in The Naivasha North Lake Family Planning Clinic, which provides services to over 3,000 women per year.
Cheetah Conservation, Namibia
Lise Hansen founded the "Africat Foundation" in 1991 with the goal of reducing conflicts between wild animals and humans that often occur in the commercial and communal farming communities of Namibia. The foundation combines research, education and animal welfare efforts to help protect large carnivores, particularly cheetahs. They focus on finding solutions to human/animal conflicts by educating farming communities and translocating animals that have been confiscated or orphaned. World Women Work has provided water, electricity, and a grant to the Africat Foundation Clinic.
Udzungwa Mountains Women's Development Project,
Tanzania
World Women Work has invested in the "Udzungwa Mountains Women's Development Project," which is a World Wildlife Fund program that aims to reduce the residents’ dependence
on the resources of the Udzungwa Mountain forest, which is inhabited
by endemic species of red colobus and mangabey monkeys, as well
as more than 275 species of trees. This project has grown from
an endeavor to introduce fuel-efficient stoves to local women,
to a women-based enterprise that includes a restaurant using the
stoves and an outreach program that helps women learn how to run
businesses. Thus, World Women Work helps these women to conserve
a biological treasure, protect their source of water, and generate
income for their families.
Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project
Isabelle and Marc Ancrenaz
The French NGO “Hutan” established the “Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project” in 1998. It is based in the village of Sukau in Sabah—Borneo. The main focus is the better protection of orang-utans and their habitat. It also deals with elephant/human conflict. In its vision of integrating wildlife and habitat conservation with sustainable socio-economic development of the community, KOCP has supported the eco-tourism company “ Red Ape Encounters”, so that communities can benefit from orang-utan tourism activities.
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The Edutainer/Bright Kids Foundation, Soweto South
Africa
Scholars estimate the half of all intellectual potential in humans is established by the age of four, and that by the time they enter school, most already have been programmed to succeed or fail. So children in rural and economically challenged areas often start out with compromised chances to reach their potential in later years. The Edutainer Project is an innovative program based in South Africa that aims to provide disadvantaged children between the ages of 2 and 6 with the skills
essential for success in their later schooling.The Edutainer is an instant classroom made from a shipping container for up to 30 children.
Samburu Women's Beading Project, Kenya
World Women Work is spearheading this project with Save the Elephants and Elephant Watch Safaris to support conservation, microenterprise-- and ultimately economic independence–
through education and training of women in Kenya.. Based on the extensive experiences of Oria Douglas-Hamilton, a noted conservationist in Kenya, and her work with the women of the Maasai tribe, this project trains Samburu women to create sophisticated yet culturally significant clothing and jewelry blending traditional with international styles. In addition to producing quality products for Kenya and abroad, this project aims to develop business skills for the Samburu women so that they may achieve the financial ability to send their children to school.
Training for Professional Women Conservationists,
Nepal, Tanzania
One of the single greatest stumbling blocks in both the development and implementation of conservation initiatives worldwide is the lack of trained conservationists. Through the "Education for Nature Program," the World Wildlife Fund is addressing this issue head-on, complementing field and policy initiatives with efforts to identify and foster a self-sustaining corps of conservation leaders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. World Women Work, through the "Education for Nature" program, has invested in the training of 3 women candidates, 2 from Tanzania and 1 from Nepal. The first is Fatma Omari, who attended Tanzania's Forestry Training Institute, and the second is Betrita Loibooki, who received ecotourism training in South Africa. The third is Radha Wagle, who received her bachelor's degree at Nepal's Institute of Forestry.
Animal Alliance; Native American
Girl Scholarship, New Mexico
World Women Work's contribution to "Animal Alliance" has made it possible for one Native American Girl to participate in a 3-week program working in Oaxaca, Mexico, with a focus on preservation and conservation of the endangered Leatherback and Olive Ridley sea turtles.
The Wind River Bear Institute, Wyoming
Carrie Hunt, a wildlife biologist who has studied bears for more
than 20 years, has developed an innovative method to keep problem
grizzly and black bears away from people, using a combination of
dog barking and pursuit with a variety of non-injurious projectiles.
She launched "The Wind River Bear Institute" in 1990 to
educate local residents and visiting campers, and to train dogs
in her technique. She uses a special Russian breed, the Karelian
bear dog; her approach is already having better success than the
traditional 'trap/release/trap again and ultimately destroy' systems
that have historically been used with bears. World Women Work supports
The Wind River Bear Institute through the World Wildlife Fund.
Naivasha North Lake
Family Planning Clinic, Kenya
World Women Work
has invested in The Naivasha
North Lake Family Planning Clinic, which provides services to over
3,000 women per year.
Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society, Sri Lanka
The sole purpose of SLWCS is to conserve the dwindling biodiversity of Sri Lanka. After researching Human Elephant Conflict SLWCS initiated the community-based project, Saving Elephants by Helping People. WWW has helped fund an electric fence in the Lahugala Kitulana National Park.
Elephant Nature Park Thailand
Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for Asian Elephants in Northern Thailand. The founder, Lek, has been passionately championing the rights of the Asian elephant for decades. Hewr work includes lobbying government organizations, educating the public and rescuing abused elephants so they can live out the rest of their days with dignity. Many of the elephants in the park have suffered terrible injuries from accidents and mistreatment during their working lives. While each elephant has it’s own story of a traumatic past, they now enjoy a very different life among their own kind with people who love and care for them.
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