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Nature Education

Canopy Collective’s Nature Education Working Group is a space for collaboration, sharing ideas and resources, and the documentation of active projects related to nature education in Northeast India. Our current focus is on building capacity at the site-level across our network, the creation of educational resources that can be contextualised in the Northeast, and bringing together teams and individuals implementing education projects across the region through a collaborative network. The working group serves as a space for individuals involved in different projects to find a common space for sharing, learning, and documenting ideas and updates.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Changlangshu Place-based Nature Education Project

A locally-led nature education program in Changlangshu village of Mon district, Nagaland, to support community-based eco-restoration efforts by the local Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC). This collaborative seed project by Canopy Collective, the Changlangshu BMC, and the Green Hub Project aims to foster local leadership for education and engagement based on place-values and local ways of learning.

Towards the end of a year of working on the program, we put together our extensively documented processes and insights into a booklet called Rooted in Place: Insights on ground-up nature education from Changlangshu, Nagaland. It is meant to be used as a toolkit for nature educators and grassroots practitioners on place-based approaches to nature education, and includes simple worksheets for program-building and activity design. The booklet was officially launched at the Green Hub Festival 2024, and is available for download on our Resources page. The worksheets can also be downloaded separately.

The Team

Nayantara Siruguri (project lead, author), H Eangba (nature educator and Eco-Club leader), Angki Konyak (nature educator), Leyan Monyu (field assistant), Wanmai Konyak (field mentor), W Moba Konyak (field mentor), Aditya Sonwane (illustrator), Nandini Velho (project supervisor)

Supported by Inlaks-Ravi Sankaran Conservation Small Grants, Royal Enfield Social Mission, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, WWF India, and the people of Changlangshu.

Super Meimei Program, Green School Gobuk

Enabling women-led nature education in Arunachal Pradesh

Green School is a nature education program initiated by Joyshree Gogoi, Tahaj Hussain, and Apping Libang (previously Responsible Tourism fellows at Green Hub) in Gobuk, Arunachal Pradesh. Green School began with a dream to transform the relationship between the children and their natural surroundings by engaging them through creative expression, outdoor exploration, storytelling and movie screenings. Since early 2023, the Green School team has been conducting nature learning sessions inspired by local ecology and culture. 

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Now, in collaboration with Canopy Collective, they have initiated efforts to transfer the leadership of Green School to women from the local self-help groups -- who are fondly called “meimei” (elder sister) in the local Adi dialect! This effort is called the Super Meimei Program, a series of training and sharing sessions with local women to empower them to lead nature education sessions at Green School on their own. The training program, led by the Green School team, will cover 5 key themes: art, storytelling and drama, games and activities, films, and outdoor activities like birding and nature walks.

The Tale of Tangkung's Tail is an illustrated storybook published by the Green School team based on an Adi folk tale about the tangkung bird or the hill partridge. The delightful story set in the forests of Siang valley was first narrated to them by a young student of Green School, which was brought to life through illustrations by Moniya Umbrey, a designer and educator from Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh.

The Tale of Tangkung's Tale was launched at the Green Hub Festival 2024, and now finds a place at the Green School library. A digital copy can be downloaded through our Resources section.

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The Team

Joyshree Gogoi, Tahaj Hussain, Ahi Miyu, Nayantara Siruguri, Nandini Velho

Supported by Royal Enfield Social Mission as part of the Green Hub-Royal Enfield Responsible Tourism grants.

Canopy of Learning

Capacity and network-building for nature educators in Northeast India

Canopy of Learning is an initiative to foster collaboration, networking, and capacity-building among grassroots nature educators in Northeast India. The idea of this network began with the Decoding Nature Education workshop for educators organised by Nature Conservation Foundation in association with Canopy Collective and Green Hub in October 2023. The four-day workshop, facilitated by Dr Pranav Trivedi and Sangeetha Trivedi, brought together 34 nature educators working in different parts of the Northeast.

Following the workshop, many of the attendees kept in touch, visited each other's sites and collaborated to enhance their own projects. To foster such opportunities for collaboration and strengthen links across sites, we created the Canopy of Learning network.

In November 2024, Nature Conservation Foundation and Canopy Collective will organise a follow-up workshop for nature educators focusing on activity creation.

People

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Nayantara Siruguri

Nature Education Coordinator

Angki.HEIC

Angki Konyak

Nature Educator, Changlangshu

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Joyshree Gogoi

Green School Co-Lead,

Green Hub

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Wanmai Konyak

Project Mentor, Changlangshu

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Tahaj Hussain

Green School Co-Lead,

Green Hub

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Nandini Velho

Project Supervisor & Working Group Mentor

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H Eangba

Nature Educator, Changlangshu

From the Blog

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