How can students help communities prepare for natural disasters like Katrina and recent floods in Pakistan? How can they play a role in school rehabilitation and consoling peers whose lives have been impacted? These are just two of the questions that students in the U.S., Pakistan and Uzbekistan will address in a new technology-based digital animation exchange and training program. The International Education and Resource Network (iEARN), in partnership with AnimAction and the Red Stick International Animation Festival last week announced the launch of their Community CATALYST Program. This program will help youth in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and the U.S. make a meaningful contribution to their communities through the use of Internet-based interaction to create and share animated public service announcements on the topic of natural disaster preparedness.
Students around the U.S. will be asked to submit their successful models of youth engagement in natural disaster preparation and relief projects. iEARN will recruit, select, prepare and send two educators and four youth from both Pakistan and Uzbekistan to Baton Rouge, La., in January 2008 to review these models and participate in a two-week training with students who have been impacted by hurricane Katrina. In the summer of 2008, six U.S. educators and youth will travel to Uzbekistan for two weeks for comprehensive animation training programs in all three countries. The program will include community service activities, classroom presentations, field trips, animation production and exhibitions.
In additional to gaining valuable 21st century technology skills, participants will acquire listening, communication and negotiation skills. They will exchange information on the role that government agencies and private-sector organizations can play in times of crises and explore cooperation and coordination across non-governmental sectors of a society -- all in a context of the crucial role young citizens can play within a civil society.
The 16-month Internet and exchange project is made possible through a $300,000 grant from the Office of Citizen Exchanges within the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. The Community CATALYST project, said iEARN in a release, will result in: deeper personal and institutional ties between U.S., Pakistani and Uzbek educators and youth; dynamic, multilingual resources for natural disaster preparedness, the production of engaging public service announcements, and a replicable model for youth who may want to replicate the project in their own communities and countries.
