PCVs: How to Find What You Need

Attention Environmental Ed. Volunteers

smpdonald — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:52:52 +0000

Kids Saving Earth is a valuable website for Environmental Education Curriculum and information aimed specifically for elementary and middle school aged children. Land topics include Rainforest information and Global Warming. Other topics fall under the Water and Air categories. The Creature section includes Bird Buddies and how birds are impacted by human behavior. Kids Saving Earth contains many ideas and projects that students can do to help make Earth a better place to live.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

Teaching About Ecosystems

smpdonald — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:24:27 +0000

Habitat Adventure - Panda Challenge is a great, interactive tool for teaching about Conservation and Ecosystems which would be helpful to Science teachers and to Environmental Education volunteers. Sadly, the website is only in English. The Habitat Adventure - Panda Challenge takes the student through the 4 C’s of Conservation: Core Areas, Community, Carnivores and Corridors. The traveler on this safari will learn about animal identification including endangered species. The student will also have the opportunity to identify plants and recognize animals, not only through their appearances but also by their tracks and by the sounds they make. This adventure does a great job of showing the interconnectedness of all life and the challenge of making decisions about which groups to help and how much to help them. For those Science teachers with internet access, this is a great teaching tool!

Learning Can Be Child’s Play

smpdonald — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:17:43 +0000

Toy Theater is a great website for preschool and primary school students, free to anyone with internet access. Sadly, the site is only in English but many of the games and activities require few spoken directions. A peace corps volunteer teaching this age group who has computer/internet access, would be able to offer directions in the local language and the student would be able to perform most of the activities without knowing English. There are Math activities, memory games, Music, Art and puzzles. One of the matching games is matching butterfly wings. When a correct match is made, the butterfly flies away. Another activity teaches directions (North, South, East, West) by directing a ship to a treasure chest, without running into other ships.
This collection of early learning activities has many applications and many classroom or library uses. Toy Theater is a “theater of learning toys” limited only by the teacher or child’s imagination. Have fun with it–I did!

Espantapajaros

smpdonald — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:48:28 +0000

Espantapajaros in Spanish means scarecrow. Espantapajaros is also the name of a very useful website for peace corps volunteers working with preschoolers and literacy in Spanish speaking countries. This website, which comes from Bogota, Colombia provides:

preschoolers with an opportunity to grow as readers,
resources for parents to help their children discover the love of reading,
a place for parents, teachers and librarians to reflect, study and talk about story themes and learning strategies.

This website is available only in Spanish and contains book recommendations for children’s literature along with many articles about learning and reading for preschoolers. For those who actually live in Bogota, Colombia, information about local workshops is also available.

For volunteers working in libraries with computers, this is another address to add to your list of useful library websites. Keep reading out loud to kids!

Gender Issues

smpdonald — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:10:33 +0000

The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (aka UN-INSTRAW) was created to work toward gender equality and women’s empowerment. Their goal is to be a leader in strategic and innovative actions that make a difference in women’s lives.

The INSTRAW website is full of information that would be helpful to volunteers working in Gender Equality projects. The Global Gender news section provides specific articles about gender issues in various countries. For example, one of the current articles concerns migration issues for women in the Dominican Republic. The website also contains a library of INSTRAW publications, a media Center with newsletters and press releases, and databases which provide information about research methodologies and gender training. There is also a section about capacity building.

The site is available in English, Spanish and French. Any volunteer working with gender issues can find valuable information at INSTRAW. The headquarters are located in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic but the gender equality work and research cover many countries.

History is herstory too.
-author unknown

UNICEF

smpdonald — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:33:10 +0000

UNICEF’s website has information helpful to volunteers in the Health, Education, Gender and Youth sectors of Peace Corps. The focus areas include Child Survival and Development, Basic Education and Gender, HIV/AIDS and children, Child Protection and Policy Advocacy, and Partnerships. Many topics of interest to Peace Corps volunteers are presented in this website such as nutrition, water, sanitation, life skills and immunizations.

The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, founded in 1988, identifies current and future issues impacting children worldwide. The research from this centre provides information regarding the changing situation of children, sheds light on areas in which more child data is needed and helps influence policies to support children. Research results and analysis are also presented and can be downloaded.

This website is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Chinese with just a click of the mouse. The information is organized by topic, by region and by country. One can sign up for the newsletter and view videos about work being done by UNICEF throughout the world.

There is something for everyone at UNICEF!

I Like My Island in the Sun

smpdonald — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:13:30 +0000

Coastal Regions and Small Islands (CSI) is an organization dedicated to sustainable development that is environmentally sound, socially equitable and culturally respectful. Studies and field reports from coastal areas all over the world are available by region on their website. For example, in the Caribbean section, one could read field reports about “Monitoring beach changes as an integral component of coastal management”. There is also information regarding ways to slow down beach erosion which is especially important in areas impacted by hurricanes.

CSI is part of the UNESCO website which helps facilitate coordination among agencies and field offices all over the world. The internet-based discussion forum includes approximately 19,000 recipients world-wide from various specialties and interests. The site is available in Spanish, French and English. The publications section offers a list of articles, documents, posters and publications centered on the theme of wise coastal practices. The cost of delivery of the publications is free and many of the documents are available in .pdf format to download and available in many languages.

Another important theme of CSI is Youth Visioning. The intent of Youth Visioning is to empower young people in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to work toward sustainable living and development which would encourage capacity among island youth, give them voice and power in island matters and create positive change. The information found on this website could be very helpful to coastal and island volunteers in the youth, business and environment sectors. So, volunteers, cruise this website and launch your projects!

The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.
-Joseph MacInnis

Demographic and Health Surveys

smpdonald — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:46:07 +0000

For all you health volunteers, especially those doing research, Demographic and Health surveys is a key website. This website is composed of information collected and analyzed about population, health, HIV and nutrition through surveys in over 75 countries. The information is available by country and by region. These surveys make use of objective physical or biologic measures of health conditions called biomarkers and of geographic information systems (GIS). GIS measures the impact of location on health status. There are four general areas of research topics: HIV corner, Malaria corner, Gender corner and Youth corner. Many health subtopics are covered within each corner.

The Browse/Find Survey section of the website is very user friendly. Search by year, status of the survey (complete or ongoing), by country and by survey type. I requested any complete surveys in the Latin American/ Caribbean region on HIV behavior, knowledge and testing using the standard Demographic Survey. Survey results came back by country. I clicked on Honduras and saw that survey results were available from a completed survey dated October 2005 to May 2006 from women ages 15 to 49 with a sample size of 19,948. The final report was available and could be downloaded.

Journal articles are also available and can be located by country, topic or by journal. Hard copies of some reports are available for ordering and the reports are free. The website shows the steps needed to order copies of surveys as well as the steps needed to download information. This site provides a wealth of health information to help with research or with field work.

Not having information you need when you need it leaves you wanting. Not knowing where to look for information leaves you powerless…
-Lois Horowitz

Small IS Beautiful

smpdonald — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:56:09 +0000

Practical Action is an international Non Governmental Organization (NGO) specializing in using appropriate technology to combat poverty. Dr. E.F. Schumacher, author of “Small is Beautiful” was the founder of Practical Action, along with several associates. Dr. Schumacher, an economist, believed that the best way to help the poor in developing countries was to “find out what people are doing and help them do it better”. Consistent with this philosophy, Practical Action, according to its website, “aims to eradicate poverty in developing countries through the development and use of technology by demonstrating results, sharing knowledge and influencing others”. Environmental conservation and protection are part of the mission.

Practical Action’s website contains project reports from the various developing countries in which they work. They cover areas in Latin America, Sudan, East Africa, Southern Africa, South Asia, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Latin American region has its own website in Spanish called Souciones Practicas. The publishing branch of Practical Action contains a wide range of topics in Development and Appropriate Technology.

Check out this website to find great information on and examples of Appropriate Technology. Read “Small is Beautiful”. As we always said during our service, Peace Corps is a great time to read the classics!

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
–Dr. E. F. Schumacher

Pan American Health Organization

smpdonald — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:11:31 +0000

The Pan American Health Organization is an international public health organization working to improve the health and living standards of the countries in the Americas. Navigating through this user-friendly website presents a host of health information relevant to all PCV’s, especially those working in Youth, Health and Gender issues. The Health Topics section covers current health subjects from Acute Respiratory Infections to Yellow fever and everything in between. Youth volunteers may be especially interested in the Adolescent Health section which is in English and Spanish.

The publishing section offers a library of electronic websites which Health volunteers would find useful. Important subjects such as Child Health, Health promotion, Maternal Health and others are covered. There is also an online bookstore containing a variety of resources relevant to all PCV’s especially those working in the Health, Youth and Emergency Preparedness Sectors.

The Paho website also links to other important websites about health issues affecting the Americas. These links include health organizations in Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua and other countries is Latin America and the Caribbean. The health topics cover AIDS, obesity, epidemiology, nutrition and many more issues facing the Americas and the PCV’s working there.

The Pan American Health Organization has been around for over one hundred years and serves as regional offices for the World Health Organization (WHO). Check out their website to locate a regional office near you and to access important, relevant information affecting you and your community.