Case 2-6 Creating tools for awareness activities 2: character creation and animation production

Capacity development of fishermen’s leaders, dissemination tools, characters, animated video production

What kind of awareness-raising tools should be created to educate more people in the targeted fishing communities on resource management activities, to gain their understanding, and to have more residents participate in the activities? Let’s take a look at the case of a campaign to release juvenile cymbiums proposed by COPAO, a JICA project.

As an educational tool for resource management activities, COPAO created a character logo to call for participation in a campaign to release juvenile cymbium shells, and an animation using the character was created in a participatory workshop. To ensure that local people like and use the character, several designs were created with the juvenile cymbidium as the character with a smile, and the final character logo was adopted at a meeting attended by all CLPA representatives. During the COPAO implementation, the adopted character logo was used on stamp cards and printed materials in the campaign for releasing juvenile cymbium clams, as well as on T-shirts distributed to contributors to the campaign and those who achieved outstanding results.

In the production of an animation featuring the character, COPAO devised a storyline that would attract people’s attention. As part of the environmental education program for local elementary and junior high school students, the students were asked to draw a scene for each of the ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of the story, play the roles of the characters, and record their voices in the Wolof language. Local children were asked to participate in various aspects of the animation production, and the video was completed in cooperation with them.

The video was made available on YouTube so that it could be enjoyed and used by not only the Fisheries Department and CLPA members, but also the local community as a whole as a tool for promoting and educating the public on resource management (https://youtu.be/GouALCuO-OE).

Chapter 2　Establishing and strengthening the resource management implementation system

2.2 Training of stakeholder leaders from fishing villages

Awareness-raising activities are an effective means for leaders to strengthen their capacities. Organisations that promote resource management activities, such as fisheries departments, local governments, and donor agencies, should work with local resource management organisations to create tools such as awareness-raising materials by creating characters and using animated videos.

Awareness-raising activities by leaders are an effective means of strengthening their capacities. This case study shows exactly the types of such activities to prepare and practice, and necessary tools for the activities.