Saving the Planet: Winning ideas selected Regional project moves into next stage | TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP): Moving images moving people

15 May 2007

Saving the Planet: Winning ideas selected
Regional project moves into next stage

A youth theatre group that tours the Philippines, engaging small groups on history, culture and development.

A public radio station that takes up development issues through on air reporting and discussions in Nepal’s Kathmandu valley.

A project that brings together Thai school children and farmers to study and understand farmland biodiversity.

These are among the winning projects that have just been selected to be featured in TVE Asia Pacific’s new regional TV series, Saving the Planet.

Six projects or activities – each addressing an aspect of education for sustainable development (ESD) – have been chosen from public nominations.

Commenting on the selection process, TVE Asia Pacific said in a statement: “The selection panel was impressed by the breadth and scope of nominated activities, which indicates that all across developing Asia, there is an upsurge of concern and commitment to living within the planet’s resources.”

And the winners are…
Based on worldwide public nominations, a regional section panel has chosen these six projects for the first series of Saving the Planet TV programmes.
•	Environmental Education for children and adults in three floating villages on the Tonle Sap lake, Cambodia
•	School and Community Farmland Bio-Diversity Conservation, Thailand
•	Biyaheng Ayta, a theater cum workshop educational initiative of indigenous youth, Philippines
•	Young People Transforming Education, Lao PDR
•	“Kude Se Dhan” – Growing food on waste, Dindigul, southern India
•	Radio Sagarmatha public radio station, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

It added: “Men, women and children are being encouraged and assisted to take individual action in the cities and villages across the world’s most populous region.”

Commenting on the dozens of nominations received between mid February and end March 2007, the statement further said: “We were much encouraged by the enthusiastic response to our open call for nominations,” TVE Asia Pacific said in a statement issued today. “Individuals and institutions from many parts of the world nominated projects, initiatives or activities that they knew, admired or were personally associated with.”

These entries covered not just traditional ‘green’ environmental education and awareness raising activities, but a broad range of pursuits addressing many aspects of sustainable development.

The project custodians or implementers were equally diverse. Among the nominations were activities carried out by non-governmental organisations, private sector companies, community groups, networks, government agencies or academic institutions.

Click here for TVEAP’s full statement about the selection process

The selection of winning stories completes the first phase of this regional exercise. Each winning organisation will be invited to send two representatives to attend a five-day workshop in Thailand in July 2007 that will build their audio-visual communication capacity.

During this workshop, TVEAP’s regional production team will also agree on plans and schedules for location filming the winning project activities for the regional TV series, Saving the Planet.

Saving the Planet, dedicated to the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005 – 2014), aims to produce, distribute and promote a TV series that will showcase innovative ESD activities that can inspire others. It will also strengthen the communication capacity of national and local institutions engaged in ESD.

The ‘Saving the Planet’ website allowed online nominations through a simple form. The same nomination form was also available as a Microsoft Word document that could be downloaded from the website, completed offline and emailed back to the organisers.

Promoting renewable energy is part of Climate challenge

All nominations received by the deadline were screened by TVEAP programme staff for preliminary eligibility according to the criteria published on the website. To be eligible, projects had to be located in one or more of 21 developing countries in the sub-regions of East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. At least one year’s implementation was required. Projects managed by public as well as private entities were all eligible, as long as their primary focus was in Education for Sustainable Development, as defined by UNESCO.

All eligible and qualifying entries were turned over to an international selection panel drawn from different parts of the Asia Pacific region, and representing a diversity of backgrounds and professions. Click here for names and profiles of selection panel members.

Each selector individually ranked the eligible entries in a specially designed online voting system, according to the following six criteria, assigning scores on a common marking scheme:
•	Relevance to goals and objectives of ESD
•	Innovation shown in project design, approach and methodology
•	Accomplishments in project implementation
•	Cost effectiveness: how the project has optimised on limited resources
•	Replicability (can others facing similar situations easily adapt this approach?)
•	Visual appeal: to be featured in a TV series, how much the project offers in terms of filmable content

ACCU Logo

Saving the Planet’ is implemented in collaboration with the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU),Tokyo, Japan, under the framework of ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Programme with support from the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for the Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development.

Click here for TVEAP’s full statement about the selection process.

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Saving the Planet: Winning ideas selected Six projects or activities – each addressing an aspect of education for sustainable development (ESD) – have been chosen from public nominations.