Community Action in Honduras
Added to website: 19 July 2003
Find out how CCC Bay Island Project works with the local community to effect change.
Community action at Project Bay Islands in Honduras aims to increase local awareness about the coral reefs. Each specific community project targets a number of different groups within the community.
Community days
Groups of around 15 students from a local bi-lingual school in Coxen Hole visit our project CCC site in Sandy Bay for half a day to participate in numerous activities aimed at providing education about the coral reefs. During the morning, the pupils are given a talk by CCC science staff about the marine environment and potential threats to the reefs of Roatan. The students are given the opportunity to go snorkeling with Volunteers to see the variety of organisms found in our lagoon including fish, corals, eels, squid, and octopus before heading out on one of our boats to look at the reef through our marine viewer.
Community days provide an excellent opportunity for local children to gain knowledge and experience of the reef environment. The Volunteers involved have all said that they enjoy being part of the community days, and feel that they are tangibly contributing to local education.
Community Meetings
A number of meetings with various community groups throughout the area are frequently organised. Community meetings provide a chance to talk to local people about the work we do and share some basic information on what they can do to help protect the reef. Through these meetings, we have been able to promote activities such as beach clean ups. Volunteers were also involved with a dive site clean up organized through the dive shops in the West End.
Training local divers
From May 19th 2003, we have begun to offer dive training for local people through a new partnership established with NABIPLA (Native Bay Islands Peoples and Laborers Association). We aim to train people from PADI Open Water through to Dive Master over a number of months in order to generate a long-term partnership between CCC and NABIPLA members.
Science training
New science training programs are currently in development. The aim is to train influential community leaders including tour guides, local dive masters and teachers, to be able to share scientific and conservation information to both local people and tourists. The simplified science week training schedule, concentrates on reef ecology and threats to the reef. Training is tailored to meet the requirements of each group, for example more emphasis is placed on species identification for dive masters.
Training is provided over a number of half days and includes dives with our Volunteers, an important practical lesson in underwater species identification.
Internship
In January 2003, 3 students from UNAH in Tegucigalpa attended the expedition for a month to participate in scuba and science training. This scheme was a huge success and we are intending to repeat these internships during the forthcoming months. 5 students from UNAH are expected to join the expedition at the end of June and we are hoping to maintain links with universities in Teguce. The internship is offered to students at the university who are studying biology or related subjects and is intended to provide them with the unique opportunity to receive scuba and science training, including reef ecology, species identification and survey methodology.
The program has been extended to provide training for older students at the local bi-lingual school. The scheme will be run on a daily basis, enabling students to visit the site every day for 2 weeks during their summer vacation period. The students will be given basic science and SCUBA training up to a level of PADI advanced open water.
