Children planting trees around lake Muhazi in Kayonza district, Western Province in Rwanda. Photo by Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA)
Based on the growing concerns that education has not empowered individuals to adopt the right behaviors and disputations to sustain the social, capital and critical thinking that is requisite for fostering a sustainable future in Rwanda, this One Child One Tree (OCOT) study proposes an interdisciplinary tree planting and community awareness actions. For that, it proposes to work with 600 children aged between 6-10 years of age, and 600 parents to develop two ‘Children’s Forests’, one in an urban and one in a rural setting, and to investigate knowledge and perceptions of/connectedness and affinity to nature using established measurement scales. The study plans to work in partnership with Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (RWCA) and proposes to conduct research activities that aim at collect scientific evidences on the role of children engagement in One Child One Tree and to analyze the impact of community engagement in rapid scale up of OCOT initiatives. At the end, the project proposes to create two children forests, elaborate guidelines to disseminate OCOT model, produce videos, organize community events, create website, weekly blogs, monthly newsletters, and realize radio, television and journals appearances to enhance the engagement with Rwandan wider community
