Virtual School
The Virtual School is a school – online dedicated to Climate Change issues. In its pilot year (2010) the Virtual School had More than 300 participants from 19 countries worldwide.
Since then DRI has a group of highly motivated Alumni. The Virtual School is winner of 5 Awards.
Available tools on this learning platform are:
• A Virtual Library, the K-Hub
• Discussion Forum
• Access to participants from around the world
• Access to Guest Lecturers from around the world
Current the course on offer is four weeks long and entitled Mainstreaming Climate Change in Development Planning and Implementation (MCC101) and is targeted at programme managers, policy makers, planners, community based leaders, opinion leaders, researchers and the general public. The course aims to raise awareness on the effects of climate change to development in Zimbabwe. It also aims to build the capacity of development partners to interpret, comprehend and mainstream climate change in development issues within their communities. Its specific objectives are as follows:
• To educate participants on the danger posed by climate change and implications for action;
• To spearhead discussion on adaptation strategies to climate change in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.
• To allow participants to share experiences on climate change, environment and development and the politics of global climate change
• To raise awareness on the climate proofing and mainstreaming tools that have been developed for mitigation and adaptation strategies.
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Knowledge Management
Over the course of centuries humans have developed ways of coping with changing weather conditions. Communities possess a lot of valuable untapped knowledge that can help predict droughts and floods. In Africa numerous adaptation techniques are used by poorer farmers to deal with anticipated drought. These include water and soil management techniques, resistant crop varieties, and food production methods. Floods, earthquakes and other such natural hazards have been predicted throughout the ages by observing wind orientation, the sun and moon, animal behaviours and plants blossoming. However, these techniques are often known only locally, or to certain ethnic groups and, more often than not, undocumented thus inaccessible to local development partners. It is therefore important to harness this knowledge (for posterity), and complement it with scientific knowledge for better policy formulation and implementation.
The 21st century has been nicknamed 'the information revolution era', where knowledge production is taking place at a fast pace and becoming obsolete rapidly. To be competitive globally, Africa not only needs to be able to access global knowledge but also contribute to it by harnessing local knowledge and producing content. In its endeavour to create a knowledge hub that will act as an evidence based reference for climate proofing, DRI has embarked on a mission to initiate the generation of climate change content from Africa.
Under the Knowledge Management programme aspect, DRI aims at:
• Establishing an information hub, K-Hub on CC related issues. Find out more about the K-Hub...
• Initiating the generation of climate change content from Africa
• Establishing the challenges that the country and southern region currently face in managing the present risk of climate change
• Harnessing local knowledge about climate change using documentaries. "Community Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change: experiences from Gutu" is the first documentary produced under this programme.
The Cool clubs
Through the Cool clubs initiative DRI seeks to harness the energy and innovation of young people and children in school to effectively change perceptions and implement practical solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe. The Cool clubs concept integrates the corporate social responsibility and business model of responding to climate change. It provides young people with exciting opportunities to initiate social enterprises concepts and ideas, take the lead, have fun, and stop the climate crisis.
Objectives
Enhance Community Interventions: pupils will have an opportunity to take part in activities that help in making the community a cleaner and more pleasant environment to live in.
Achieve Environmental education: help pupils have a basic understanding of the environment, how it functions how people interact with it and how issues and problems pertaining to the environment arise and how they can be resolved
Youth Awareness Raising: raise awareness and sensitivity to the total environment and its problems and use this new knowledge in a variety of contexts
Encourage Change of Attitudes: Helping pupils acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment. Once the pupils acquire a "green attitude'' they can influence their family, friends and relatives to do the same
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