THE ECONECT PROJECT. A YEAR OF CHANGEMAKING AND HELPING THE ENVIRONMENT.

The Econect Project

Articles compiled and edited by: Cris Raymund Viray

The Econect Project was founded originally by 12 Global changemakers from different countries in Europe, Asia and Pacific, North America, Africa and Oceania during the Global Youth Summit 2011 in United Kingdom.

(Here’s the link to know who we are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHQj0d_vksQ)

However, only five Changemakers pursued to do environmental project/s in their home countries. The five changmakers are: Ms. Fidan Karimli of Azerbaijan, Ms. Iskra Duchkovska of Macedonia, Mr. Abhinav Khanal of Nepal, Mr. Cris Raymund Viray of the Philippines and Alyssa Steplaton of Canada.

These young people together with their projects have the same goal and mission which is to raise awareness about the environmental issues and a greener future. Step by step.

Right now the initiatives of the group and the project have reached more than 200 people from 22 countries around the world including USA, Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, South Korea, United Kingdom and others through Facebook and thousands of people in our home countries through our local projects.

To add more, our official Facebook page became a place for many environmental activists to share their projects like Los Jardines de Mandor in Peru, The Green Movement in Botswana and Eats, Shoots and Roots in Malaysia

Projects of our organization were implemented from April 2011 to July 2011 and there are still on-going projects. Here are the stories from the founders of THE ECONECT PROJECT:

The Econect Project Macedonia: The Econect Kick-off Project!

by ISKRA DUCHKOVSKA

My project “The Pet Plants Project” served as the kick off activity of The Econect Project.

The Pet Plants Project was aimed to raise awareness about the environmental issues among the youngest - the kindergarten children aged 4-6. In groups of three, four and five they all received different plants to take care for. We decided to name them! In a fun way they learned that plants are alive too, just like them and need care. The children named their plants with Superman, Ladybug, Spiderman and Cinderella.

In the following weeks, I visited the children and had mini workshops with them, to evaluate their progress and how their perspective of the environment and the eco-world changed. They realized that nature is alive, and it has a certain demand for care and protection.

We concluded the project with one day of playing eco-games, watching eco-cartoons and an overall celebration because The Pet Plans Project as part of The Econect Project was "guilty" for contributing to the kindergartens odds to receive the national eco recognition - The National Junior Green Flag! This recognition meant that the kindergarten proved its eco-friendliness. It was amazing!

The Pet Plants Project raised awareness not only among the children but their teachers and families too.

The second event followed in May. It was the TrashMob in the capital of my country, where I live- in Skopje. It happened at the main city square and had the purpose of displaying to people how much garbage they produce during one day and how ignorant they are regarding this.

Together with my fellow volunteers we gathered plastic bottles, cans, and papers and in a way polluted the city square by making a huge mess with the garbage. The final product was shock, but that was exactly what we were going for. We informed casual people that walked by of how much garbage they leave that could be recycled and re-used.

Together with the workshops I organized in my high school, the Econect Project Macedonia has reached around 1000 people from businessmen to clerks, teachers and students, parents and kids. Until now it was successful but I must say it's never enough information and work for a current topic such as the environmental issues and raising awareness in behalf of them.

The Econect Project Macedonia will continue its work with the hope of becoming even more successful and updating our amazing Changemakers with our achievements. Stay green!

The Econect Project Azerbaijan: “Green Walkathon for the Environment”

By FIDAN KARIMLI

The Econect Project which is The Pet Plants started to be implemented in Macedonia and I was very excited to be the second one in the row to implement another project in Azerbaijan and I believe that it was a good start.

I have implemented a two day activities which included a seminar on “Youth and protection of the environment” followed by a walk-a-thon were planned and realized by me and members of my organization. The highlight of the activities was certainly “Green Walkathon for the environment”.

The green walk-a-thon started from the Sea Port and continued until the “Azneft” Square in the National Park of Baku. Participants of the walk-a-thon wearing green t-shirts have raised awareness about the environment and the environmental issues by distributing 1000 IEC materials prepared especially for this project and were ready to answer questions.

 The handouts included “Must know” information about the environment, global warming and how to help its prevention. Averagely, “Green Walkathon for the environment” has raised awareness among 3000 people.

Fortunately, no major challenges were faced during the implementation of the activities. In general, I and my team members here in Azerbaijan used different strategies to solve problems, as different problems have different actions to overcome them.

 My Econect Experiences in the Philippines

By: Cris Raymund Viray

My role in The Econect Project is quite different from my other co-founders. My role is to make sure that the promotion of our organization is being maintained and sustainable. Last May 2012, I was invited to become a guest plenary speaker in the 4^th Batch of Youth Leadership Summit in Bulacan, Philippines to share my activism and experiences on the environment to young people from Bulacan, Quezon, Laguna and Bicol.

Also, since my commitment in The Econect Project was to implement at least one activity in my university that will help to raise environmental awareness among students. Last July 29, 2012 with the cooperation of BAKAS (another project of mine for GCM) and The Paulinian Student Government of St. Paul University Quezon City we have conducted a clean-up activity which we involved the different co-curricular organizations. In this activity, every co-curricular organization will clean a specific area in our university.  This clean-up activity will be held every fourth Friday of the month in the Academic Year 2012-2013.

Aside from that, this year I was elected as the President of our University Student Government as the head of the team, I together with my co-officers have incorporated in our Annual Operational Plan a monthly trash collection. We call this monthly activity “THE TRASH BANK PROJECT”. This activity was spearheaded by me, Aila Gatlabayan and Rodney Toleran.

To further expand the networks or connections of THE ECONECT PROJECT and British Council’s Global Changemakers last July 7-14, 2012 I together with other global changemakers Dwight Ronan and Anna Oposa attended the 3^rd East Asian Seas Youth Forum in Gwangju, South Korea. In this conference we have shared our GCM experiences to the other delegates from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Lao-PDR, Singapore, China, Timor Leste, Thailand and other countries in East and South East Asia.

Through our experiences implementing and promoting The Econect Projects, we have realized that even our activism and actions are very simple it can still bring big changes in our communities if we work as one.

Aside from the Projects from Macedonia, Azerbaijan and the Philippines, the econect activities in Nepal and Canada are still on going. The Econect Project will expand more its networks and projects to different countries through collaborating to other environmental organizations. Our organization is looking forward to countries like Trinidad and Tobago to implement an Econect project too and to partner with South African Environmental group.

If you want to know more about our organization or if you want to partner with us you can simply like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/econectproject or simply send a message to our email account econectproject@gmail.com.

LET’S WORK FOR THE ENVIRONMENT TOGETHER.

AFTER A YEAR OF CHANGEMAKING. HERE'S A MESSAGE FROM BRITISH COUNCIL TO THE GLOBAL CHANGEMAKERS WHO FOUNDED THE ECONECT PROJCT: 

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for submitting to report. I was really happy to read it and see what you've done. I know you all had a hard time keeping in touch with each other and coordinating with the team. This is usually the case when implementing an international project and though it might not seem that way now, I am sure in time you will realise you did a great job which best reflects on the results you all individually achieved.

 

Iskra, I really liked the idea of collecting rubbish and putting it on the city's square for people to notice, very strong statement!

Cris, I'm really happy to see how you continue to be able to gather support from Universities and student bodies in the Philippines. Please keep us updated on the success of the fundraise for community outreach program.

Alyssa, great stuff with the scholarship. I would also love to see the documentary and for you to keep us updated on how it does on film festivals. Please contact me on that regard.

Fidan, very impressive outreach on the walk-athon!

Abhinav, I look forward to your update, please give me an estimate date on when to expect it.

 

All in all guys, congratulations to all of you!

 

Cheers,

 

Gabriela Jaeger

Head of Community  Projects
Global Changemakers

www.global-changemakers.net