The FCAW Programme in Brazil
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In 2003, WSPA-Brazil started the "Amazon Ark" education programme in partnership with the Secretaries of Education of four municipalities and the main support of the Institute of Environment (IBAMA) and the Center for Conservation and Research of Aquatic Mammals (CPPMA), based on the "Respect for All Forms of Life" teacher guidelines developed by the WSPA-Costa Rica office and Olga Rodriguez and Dina Ortega. The programme also comprised other components as sustainable agriculture courses and the rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals.
This prgramme was expanded to Brasilia, capital city of Brazil, where, in 2007, an agreement was signed with their Secretary of Education to form the “Escola é o Bicho” project, which also encompassed GBEAs, groups of teachers to carry out extra-curricular activities. After two years, a new education initiative, “Reading Windows”, was created in a pilot school where every student participates in a 1-hour session per week in which they learn to "read the world" through a humane perspective.
The teacher-training strategy works on developing values such as compassion and citizenship within education and encouraging positive changes in attitudes towards animals and their living conditions, recognizing the interdependence between human beings, the environment and animals and helping to break the cycle of violence, in line with the ethical principles of UNESCO’s resolution Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). The approach is based on the integration of animal welfare topics in the lesson planning of various existing formal disciplines, and specially in the environment education subject, which is already embedded in the Brazilian national education curriculum.
Presently 15 Brazilian municipalities participate in WSPA’s FCAW programme, under a formal agreement with their Municipal Secretaries of Education. Over 800 teachers have already been trained in workshops and have received educational resources, reaching thousands of students in seven Brazilian states.
