WHAT IS THE COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM?
DAKTARI’s community program aims at extending our impact to a wider population and actively engage with the surrounding local communities. Our goal is to empower the children to become role models in their village and make sure we keep on building their environmental awareness. This is achieved through our two main programs which are the Outreach Campaigns and the Eco Club.
With the help of the children in the Eco Club, DAKTARI has initiated and sponsored several community projects such as community clean-up projects, reusing rubbish to build a dustbin and planting trees at the crêche and school. We aim to not only improve the aesthetics of the community, but to install a sense of pride and responsibility for their community into the children.
ECO CLUB
The Eco Club is taught by the Outreach Team and volunteers. Come and join us!
HOW IT STARTED
While at DAKTARI, many children developed a passion for environmental conservation. Driven by this passion, they created independent Eco Clubs at their schools as a way of sharing their newly found environmental knowledge with classmates.
HOW IT WORKS
The Eco Club is our main community program. It runs in 6 weeks cycles with a group of 30 students. Twice a week, we welcome our students after school hours to deepen their understanding about the environment. All Grade 9 students are welcome to attend the Eco Club and have to commit for the full teaching cycle.
The students learn about what constitutes healthy ecosystems, wildlife crime, waste management and how they can be actors in making South Africa a better place. At the end of the 6 weeks, they get a chance to present some of their work to their parents during a ceremony. This is a great chance for them to raise awareness about the environmental issues that their country is currently facing.
OUTREACH CAMPAIGNING
Every other month, DAKTARI takes the time to raise environmental awareness in primary schools, with Grade 7 students. This is a first chance to prepare the children for our on-site environmental education program as it introduces them to such topics.
Topics: Wildlife Crime and Poaching
The campaigns focus on Wildlife Crime and the illegal wildlife trade of animals. The villages we chose for these campaigns are important hotspots as there are surrounded by game reserves and have had numerous cases of poaching reported. Our aim is to engage with a younger public to ensure a personalised follow up and long-term positive impact on the environment. We encourage interactive work activities in smaller group settings.
As environmental education is at the core of our organisation, we felt the need to reach as many children as possible. Our goal is to empower them to bring positive change to their country. The campaigns are a way to widen our impact to the surrounding communities.
The campaigns are taught by the Outreach Team and volunteers. Find out when our next campaigning will be!
OUTREACH EXCURSIONS
Our outreach team has set up two possible excursions that allow you to get closer to the South African community.
Indeed, you can get a chance to experience life in the village through our outreach excursions!
Join us for a School Tour of the primary school and creche of our local village. This excursion ends with a delicious home cooked lunch at Maakosha’s house. It will leave you wanting more!
You can also spend a night in the village in our Home Stay Experience! Get a feel of what it is like to live in the village and discover how our host Maakosha lives.