Partnerships with local NGOs

MAP’s goal is to adapt and introduce the curriculum, in partnership with local NGOs and Education and Environmental Ministries, throughout tropical and subtropical coastal regions.

The translation and adaptation process, however, is long and arduous, as it is necessary to assure that material in the guide relates specifically to the region in which it will be used.

For example, the Caribbean version could not be simply translated into a local language for use in African nations, as the curriculum covers not only mangroves ecosystems, including topics such as migratory birds, shellfish and other related species, but also human impacts, and each adaptation must be geared to a specific region.

Culture and Science

Cultural diversity must be taken into account so that activities and programs within the curriculum are as culturally as they are scientifically sound, while at the same time considering the local realities in which teachers find themselves and the availability, or lack of, teaching resources.

Following the well-established and extremely successful principles found in North American environmental education programs such as Projects WILD and WET, MAP is working to spread the curriculum in concentric circles outside of the Caribbean in order to ensure the adaptations are logical and cumulative.

	MAP Education Director Martin Keeley (center) reviews the Honduras version of the curriculum for a Guatemala adaptation with Amigos del Bosque director Ligia M. de León Gamboa (right) and translator Juanita Bunch at Tilapa, on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, April 2005.
	Brazilian partners Renato de Almeida (left) of Instituto BiomaBrasil, Luciana Maria da Silva (center) of Centro Escola Mangue, and Alineide Lucena (right) of the Federal University of San Carlos, review the Portuguese translation of the curriculum in preparation of adapting it for Brazil. Cananeia, Sao Paulo, November 2006.

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