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Good evening. Macae is an association
that tries to contribute our grain of sand
in order to solve and prevent social-environmental problems
in the Canaries, by working on
environmental education.
We design and develop various different projects
but today we'll focus on one of our lines of work,
which has to do with research and consulting
for environmental education facilities.
To this end we thought we'd start by telling a story
to help explain what our work entails.
Once upon a time, a paradise called the Canary Islands
was full of impressive natural resources.
But they say a being known as "human"
began to use this paradise to speculate at its whim
and destroy it,
like the goose that laid the golden eggs,
through destruction and speculation.
They say that, amidst this chaos in the 60's and 70's
a movement emerged
led by a group of madmen
the Environmental Education Facilities Movement
because educators, teachers, and ecologists began to build
and restore different facilities
for educational purposes,
claiming that environmental education was an essential tool
for solving existing problems.
From then until now, the story has changed.
Whereas, before, environmental facilities were
targeted only at school children and had a protectionist goal,
today, with the concept of educating for sustainability
the scope of work and analysis
has expanded.
In the Canaries we've counted over 150 environmental facilities
nature classrooms, shelters,
that pursue different goals: environmental education
linked to tourism, constructive leisure,
business
and we see they've diversified their uses
as well as the services they offer.
But we see that there are many limitations in this sector.
Environmental education is still considered secondary
the organizational and regulatory structure in this sector is weak,
with few educational planning strategies
and fraud in services offered as educational
which really are not,
job insecurity, etc.
And, yet, there are many positive aspects
because we believe environmental education facilities
can promote environmental education
and local economic development,
and also generate green jobs
and help solve the environmental problem
of contexts.
What are we offering?
To keep researching,
learning about the reality of environmental educational facilities
and, on the other hand, offer strategies
to help improve
performance and quality
for environmental education facilities in general.
Our tool is research-action.
We have a "file" that we can use to evaluate
and detect needs and "file them down"
and discover potential
or an "allen wrench", to open the gates
of discussion about how to work together
to improve the sector.
Our starting points are contextualized proposals.
We can zoom in and study specific facilities
or focus on context studies
like the one we did
analyzing the context of facilities in the Canaries
at the municipal level.
How do we do it?
It's nothing new.
We evaluate the situation in order to make decisions
for planning and executing.
It's a cyclical process
in which the evaluation always plays an important role.
We've created an application using GPS technology
that offers a diagnostic evaluation
with a conceptual and methodological framework
to channel that process of improvement.
The GPS has a template of indicators
that we've made
which allows us to address the needs and potentials
of the context, the educational management model
the services offered,
the profile, users' needs
educational team's needs...
Countless aspects.
The techniques used to gather information are not new.
We use a wide range of techniques
that give us a comprehensive view of reality
whether it's through interviews, questionnaires,
or by observing how the facilities are managed.
The issue of participation.
We believe the entire process of improvement,
when you work with people, should be approached holistically
with the educational teams the educational coordinators,
users, authorities...
The process should include everyone.
We are currently involved in this experience,
a process that includes research and action
carried out in the township of Santa Lucía
where we had 11 environmental facilities
public, private and subsidized,
which, on the one hand, involved
educational teams, direct management staff,
and interdisciplinary work with the Departments of Tourism,
the Environment and Education.
We're done with the diagnostic stage
and we're developing actions in order to make decisions
to improve quality.
Within this process, we've already carried out actions
to promote and publicize environmental facilities,
such as creating a guide,
and we're now starting a pilot experience
to do with waste management.
The goal is educational.