Ecosphere – SaMSIC Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republic of Srpska)

Name of the activity: Ecosphere

Country/NMO: SaMSIC Bosnia and Herzegovina (Rep. of Srpska)

Program: Environment and Health

Contact information: contact [email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: First-time Activity

Category: Education

Focus area: Climate Change, Water Sanitation, Air Pollution

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action)

Problem statement:

Problem is that the population is poorly informed about environmental changes and the harmful effects of modern life on the human environment. The problem is lack of measures to combat air, water and soil pollution, as well as the lack of measures for proper disposal of waste materials. Recycling is almost non-existent, and environmentally friendly materials have been cut short.

Target groups:

• General population
• Medical students
• Healthcare Students
• Children
• Youth
• Women
• Elderly people

Beneficiaries:

• General population
• Medical students
• Healthcare Students
• Children
• Youth
• Women
• Elderly people

Objectives:

Educating children about the importance of clean air and water, as well as ways to help. Also we want to raise awareness among young people about preserving the environment and try to introduce some healthy habits in the daily lives of young people.

The ecosphere consisted of 5 activities:

-The street eco activities

-We are little ecologist!

-Webinar “”Climatic changes and their influence to human health””

-Eco walk

-Eco conferences/E. Kon

The goal of activity was to educate our citizens about importance of use of biodegradable materials.

The main goal of eco walk is promotion of healthy lifestyles and raising awarness about protection of physical and social environment.

Indicators of Success:

The indicator for street activity was the amount of eco bags distributed.

The indicator for the second activity was the number of drawings that the children drew for their exhibition and the desire to combat the harmful effects on the environment.

The indicator for the eco walk was the amount of garbage collected.

Methodology:

During two hours, in main street of our town we asked all our citizens that carried their bags to give it to us that we put them off properly, and we donated them eco bags. Our volunteers organized educational workshop in the “Montessori” kindergarten. They visited 3 groups and there were 25 children in each group. The children were divided into smaller groups, with 5 children in each. Each group had different problems, some of them with the problem of polluted air, others water, and forest destruction. They drew art works on those topics. The webinar entitled “Climate change and its impact on human health” was held in cooperation with the student organization of the Faculty of Science. The webinar consisted of two parts and 25 students participated. Through the Eco walk and friendship, 22 volunteers were achieved 12 000 eco steps. The conference was organized in the form of tematic lectures and trough the small working groups.

Plans for evaluation:

During 2 hours of action, we divided 200 eco bags.

At the end of the activity, all children exhibited their works. Trough the works, the children showed awareness of the human impact on climate change and the desire to stop it.

At the end of conference, all organizations participated signed Eco declaration that obligates them on implementation of eco programme and their activities according to it.

The conference covered 100 participants from NGO department.

During eco walk, 160 l of garbage was collected.

We did an online survey before and after the webinar. Before and after the econ we did a quiz on social networks and wrote that the results were 58% better than before the econ. Total of 3,000 people were involved in the project.

External collaborations:

CEREBRA, Center for Youth, children and family, Center for economic and rural development and Student Organization of the Faculty of Science. We have organized the project together and we found donations from the University and the Government.