At all meetings and workshops, notes will be taken and post-workshop reports generated including results of pre and post evaluations, and a final report will be prepared summarizing outputs. The final report will be available on the RK website, social media, and printed. The public and stakeholders will be informed of mechanisms for participation by radio, TV, social media, and flyers. Lessons learned and good practices will be shared in newsletters, brochures, social media, press releases, video documentation, and with local partners / organizations. Where possible, the information will be presented at international conferences.
In preparation for the proposal submission, RK consulted with the Belize Fisheries Department, Ministry of Education, and Belize Solid Waste Management Authority (BSWMA) to gain support for the project (see attached letters). RK will hold pre-planning participatory meetings with SWCMR. We will ask partner organizations to reach out to their stakeholders to advertise and encourage participation in meetings. ReefKeeper will host stakeholder meetings in Dangriga and advertise in multiple media to attract community members at large, agencies, teachers, service organizations, and environmental organizations to engage them in community education and planning, community beautification, and cleanups. Cordial letters of invitation and personal visits will be made to local teachers and principals, Ministry of Education, (BSWMA), Southeastern Watershed Alliance Group, and other conservation partners to ensure their participation in the Educational Needs Assessment. Individual meetings will be held with various key community groups (such as BTB/BTIA) to maximize community participation with collaborative project planning (including project evaluation) to ensure ownership and interest in the project. Overall, ReefKeeper will ensure that all of the messaging/communication stresses the importance of the project to the community our sincere desire to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to create an incentive for attendance.
Gender Focus
Issues in natural resources (management) disproportionately affect women who are highly dependent on these resources for providing daily for their families (water, food, and shelter). Women are the natural educators at home, and many Belizean families have women as the head of household as single mothers. Since women play the largest role in environmental education at home, RK will emphasize this in our public outreach and stakeholder process. RK seeks to empower women in the home to foster their children?s? environmental education by educating parents and providing educational materials for the home through the children. In addition, the majority of primary and high school teachers are female and play the greatest role in educating students in the community. RK will work diligently to balance women?s? and men?s? input in the stakeholder process, and will hold its meetings to encourage maximum participation from female heads-of-household. Men, too, have an impact on the natural resources, being the largest sector in Belize who extracts the resource. RK seeks to empower them through information on how to be better stewards of the SWCMR seascape and the marine resources.
Prior to beginning the project and during stakeholder meetings, RK will assess community and stakeholder participants to identify and understand the roles of men and women in promoting pro-environmental behaviors, educating students, and in supporting and participating in community pride projects. From its assessment, ReefKeeper will work fairly and without bias assign activities, decision-making, control, and access to environmental and economic resources based on pre-selected criteria to avoid gender bias and encourage participation by women, indigenous groups, and underserved populations. ReefKeeper?s staff and interns are female, and our programs generally target young women and Belizean teachers, who are largely female. RK makes special effort to ensure women participate in our activities and helps to encourage them through mentoring and catering to their special skills and talents as women. However, gender and ethnic inclusivity will be promoted in all activities and groups.
Programs that use technology and teach science are important for female students. We will ensure the correct balance of male and female students in team projects, activities, and trips to ensure participation and input by female students in the learning process. We will also provide examples of female women role models in science and engineering and use the terms ?he or she? to instill the idea that women can be successful as scientists and environmentalists and participate in traditionally male-dominated fields. In addition, we will provide every accommodation to ensure girls as well as boys can participate in ALL activities regardless of their gender and be sensitive to gender issues that may come up in the classroom and during activities. RK (along with stakeholders) will identify and address any gender gaps or inequalities existing in the community in the context of the project through the stakeholder process and along with the professional evaluator.
Notable Community Participation
RK will engage Dangriga Youths and other community groups such as the Belize Tourism Board and Belize Tourism Industry Association and Rotary International in the community pride projects. To acquire interns, RK will mentor and train at least four high school/college students, with a preference toward young women, as ReefKeeper Ambassadors. They will receive training as marine educators to educate the younger students about the impacts of POPs and their impact on marine ecosystems.
Throughout the project we will involve the women of the National Garifuna Council, the Dangriga Youth Council, POWA, Southeastern Watershed Alliance Group, and women community leaders to act as role models and Ambassador Mentors. The classroom lessons will link Garifuna and Maya culture and wise use of the environment to highlight a need for ?Caye-p-ing-It-Clean?.
Capacity - Building Component
ReefKeeper Belize consists of seven active members and has a Board of Directors who work collaboratively to plan and vote on ReefKeeper endeavors, goals, and operations. The board meets semi-annually but communicates by email bi-weekly to monthly about ReefKeeper?s work. The Chairman is William Usher, founder of Green Care Products Ltd and Belize Agro Enterprise Ltd; the U.S. Operations Manager is Catherine Pruett, Executive Director of Sea Shepherd Legal; and the Treasurer is Rose Parks, teacher. RK holds annual meetings of its members for elections and reporting. It reports its finances to the Board quarterly. Directors serve two-year terms and can be re-elected. Our organizational approach to implementing projects is through collaboration and dialogue with our board, stakeholders, and key partners, including SWCMR/Fisheries Department and schools. RK leverages community relationships, to work with our innovative educational offerings, creating new programs and strengthening existing ones.
Replication of project activities
The goals, activities, results and materials will be shared with community members through the stakeholder meetings, newsletters, social media, informational flyers, and a final report with lessons learned. RK will raise awareness about marine plastic pollution through outreach at stakeholder meetings. In collaborating with community members, agencies, and Community Based Organizations, we will promote the results and successes so that they are replicated in other communities and programs. RK will provide educational material that community members, educators, and other stakeholders can use to replicate the project
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
This project does have Livelihood Objectives
SGP OP6 Component 1: Support sustainable livelihood activities within selected landscape/seascape
? RK Ambassadors will receive an intern stipend, and will have greater employ-ability in marine and natural resource fields as a result of the extra mentoring and learning opportunities.
? Educating students, and by proxy their families, about the marine environment fosters a Blue Economy in Belize?s marine resource based and marine tourism based economy provides increased chances of employment and a higher level of future income.
? Cleaner seascapes can ensure improved marine resource-based livelihoods (Blue Economy) by promoting biodiversity and ecosystem services for current and future generations.
Project Results
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges and constraints beyond everyone?s control but nonetheless the objectives of this project were in large part fully attained. The level of success for each objective is described below:
5.1 In the area of strengthening the collaboration with SWCMR, DOE, BSWMA, stakeholder groups, and communities to improve stakeholder engagement the following activities were undertaken:
? ReefKeeper collaborated with the Fisheries Department (FD) via: communication through Zoom during the Project Steering Committee meetings, Ines Cardenas (FD) participated in Undersea Belize TV shows, FD participated in the Educational Needs Assessment (ENA) and helped to coordinate the subsequent ENA focus group meeting with other stakeholders. The FD also participated in the Blue Economy meeting with fishers from Dangriga.
? Collaboration with SWCMR did not achieve the level intended. Nonetheless, Lindolfo Chicas (SWCMR) participated in the Undersea Belize TV Show.
? ReefKeeper met with the DOE and the BSWMA to plan and prepare for the ENA stakeholder meeting and worked together during summer camp to present information about plastic pollution to the children. Furthermore, DOE participated in a plastic pollution repurposing activity and on a field trip.
? ReefKeeper held meetings with other community stakeholders which included: Dangriga Town Council, BTIA Youth Arm/Nubueritinu, POWA, Girl POWA, SWAG, TIDE, and SEA. These stakeholders were apprised of the project goals and they committed to working together and contributed ideas toward working to achieve the project goals. These commitments came to fruition with collaboration from Dangriga Town Council, BTIA Youth Arm/Nubueritinu and SEA in the form of cleanup campaigns, exchange visits, workshops, and Reef Week activities. Due to circumstances beyond ReefKeeper?s control no further meetings or activities were conducted with POWA, Girl POWA, SWAG, and TIDE.
? ReefKeeper was able to engage other stakeholders through the Blue Economy Meetings. A first meeting on November 5th saw the participation of 9 attendees, which included representatives from education, tourism, and industry sectors. Participants displayed a high level of understanding based on the post-attendee survey. A second Blue Economy stakeholder meeting was held with 19 fishers from Dangriga. Topics presented were Blue Economy, the importance of caring for the marine environment, questions and concerns about Fisheries Department regulations. The meeting also included a presentation from the Development Finance Corporation on finance for alternative livelihoods. 8 End of Project Evaluation Report
? ReefKeeper collaborated with stakeholders in education during the development of the Educational Needs Assessment and the Community Outreach and Education Strategy. ReefKeeper conducted an ENA survey by sending questionnaires to 13 teachers and the Ministry of Education sent the questionnaire to an additional 58 email addresses representing the administration of all schools in the Stann Creek District. In all, the survey questionnaire obtained feedback from 24 persons. Furthermore, 13 teachers participated in the ENA focus group meeting. Results of the ENA revealed a high level of interest amongst teachers (and administrators) who realize the value of hands-on, minds-on programs and field experiences and moreover the value of what ReefKeeper Belize offers to the SWCMR community. The study revealed that 50% of teachers have participated in specialized professional development in marine/aquatic topics hence the need for additional training for teachers and/or experienced personnel (education partners) who can teach on these topics as guests in the classroom. The study identifies the areas of biodiversity and adaptation, marine/aquatic habitats, climate change and community, using technology and information, marine/freshwater pollution, marine careers and stewardship for teacher training.
5.2 In the area of increasing awareness of the importance of the BBRRS-WHS and coastal ecosystems, ReefKeeper was able to:
? Coordinate two online professional development workshops for primary and secondary school teachers in partnership with Pathlight International. Forty-five (45) primary teachers attended from all Districts in Belize. Topics were marine ecosystems and plastic pollution. Teachers were also given an electronic copy of the Teacher?s Manual previously developed by the Tobacco Caye Marine Station. Printed copies of the manual were made available at Pathlight International for distribution.
? Produce 4 episodes of the Educational TV Show Undersea Belize. The services of PlusTV were used for the production. EACH episode aired playing twice a week for a two-week period. There were four additional airings of each show on Plus and one airing of all episodes on Channel 5. The total broadcast period lasted 16 months. The videos are currently available for viewing on YouTube and ReefKeeper?s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/reefkeeperbelize/, and newly created webpage, https://reefkeeperbelize.org.
? ReefKeeper estimates a viewership of 40,000 at the time of this evaluation. Originally, outreach was to be conducted as presentations to students in the schools however the closure of schools in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated that an alternative be found.
? Nonetheless, of the 16 planned sessions in 8 schools, ReefKeeper was able to hold three in-person classroom sessions: marine ecosystems and plastic pollution for 9 End of Project Evaluation Report Silk Grass Methodist School and Gulisi Community Primary, and on the harms of plastic pollution at Solid Rock Academy Primary School.
? Additionally, ReefKeeper conducted seven online presentations with students at Our Lady of Guadalupe High School (2 classes), Delille Academy High School (2 classes), and the Agricultural and Natural Resources Institute High School, Georgetown Technical High School, and Epworth Methodist Primary to present about plastic pollution and Blue Economy. The sessions were delivered by Alex Moore (Education Specialist), Lisa Mulcahy (RK), Zevawn Martinez (RK Ambassador), and Kaleah Rowland (RK Ambassador).
? ReefKeeper participated in a summer camp in partnership with the Dangriga BTIA Youth Arm. In a two-day session, ReefKeeper provided students with marine activities, information about marine ecosystems, a presentation from Department of the Environment about plastic pollution, and a presentation from Belize Solid Waste Management Authority on waste and environmental stewardship.
? ReefKeeper conducted eight (8) trips to Tobacco Caye, Tobacco Range, and Mano-war Caye. The trips catered to: Rotaract/BTIA Dangriga Youth arm (21 participants), Upper division primary school teachers from Stann Creek District (11 participants), 5 trips with primary schools which included snorkeling (76 total participants), and BTIA Dangriga Youth Arm summer camp participants aged 6 to 15 accompanied by the 4 ReefKeeper Ambassadors (20 participants).
? Additionally, ReefKeeper?s international intern, Mathis Couturier, is developing a ?Marine Chalupa? board game in partnership with Dr. Gwen Nunez Gonzalez, in both Garifuna and English, for primary school children for use as a classroom teaching tool about marine ecosystems.
5.3 In the area of increasing knowledge in students about the hazards of plastic POPs in the SWCMR area ReefKeeper:
? Recruited and trained Four (4) RKB Ambassador interns, representing 3 Garifuna persons (1 male and 2 females) and 1 Kriol female. The interns were recruited from BTIA Youth Arm/Rotaract/Nubueritinu in Dangriga who participated in a youth field trip. Teacher and community organizer, Russel Murray, made suggestions for suitable candidates. Students were chosen after informal interviews held during the field trip, their resumes, and on the basis of their participation in community activities.
? The ambassadors were trained via exchange visits and mentoring for all of their activities. The first exchange trip was with Mr. Goby and Friends in Placencia where the interns learned about maintaining recycling receptacles, recycling, sorting, and beach cleanup techniques. The second exchange trip was with Southern Environmental Association?s summer camp focusing on the marine environment and plastic pollution. All interns also participated in SEA?s online stakeholder meetings 10 End of Project Evaluation Report about plastic pollution). The third exchange trip was held with the National Garifuna Council, where students learned about Garifuna culture as it relates to the marine environment. Plans were made to work on a presentation that incorporates Garinagu stewardship values and cultural practices into school presentations. Two of the interns were also able to visit Laughing Bird Caye.
? As previously described, the RK Ambassadors delivered information-packed online presentations about plastics POPs to Epworth Methodist, Delille Academy and Solid Rock Academy (in-person).
? RKB worked with existing environmental clubs (E-Clubs) at the youth, high school, college, and adult level for cleanups. (Rotaract, BTIA Youth Arm, Nubueritinu, BFLA YAM, and Oceana Wavemakers). The original intent was for the ambassadors to establish environmental clubs at schools, but due the closure of schools, this was not possible. Fortunately, there were preexisting environmental clubs.
? The RK Ambassador Interns participated in E-club environmental stewardship activities with primary school students including cleanups, crafts, barrel decoration, and plastic repurposing. Cleanups were held on Dangriga Beach on March 13th, April 24th and June 5, 2021. At Pen Cayetano?s Art Studio, children and adults learned to crochet with used plastic bags along with DOE. One enthusiastic intern conducted a plastic repurposing project in Sarawee to create garden planters from recycled bottles and develop a park with local children.
? ReefKeeper?s effort to reduce plastic litter has come in several forms. Twenty barrels donated by BTIA Dangriga were decorated during the summer camp with environmental themes and placed around Dangriga Town to decrease littering. ReefKeeper met with the mayor of Dangriga to place the recycling receptacle, ?Gari the Goliath grouper? and received approval from the Town Council. The receptacle is currently on Havana Beach in Dangriga and will include interpretive signage on recycling and the status of the Goliath grouper. ReefKeeper produced a commercial aimed at getting people to remove litter and stop plastic pollution. The commercial aired on Plus TV. Additionally, ReefKeeper has partnered and signed a Memorandum of Association (MOA) with Humana/Full Circle Belize to recycle hard plastics.
