Academy for Educational Development

AED Partnership with Egyptian Cartoon Studio Promotes Environmental Awareness Among Children

A unique public-private alliance between Cairo Cartoon, the Middle East’s first private animation studio, and the AED Center for Environmental Strategies is promoting sustainable development of the coastlines and protectorates of the Egyptian Red Sea. Formed to expand the impact of the Center’s GreenCOM project, this partnership has increased environmental awareness among children by incorporating environmental values into Egypt’s most popular cartoon series, Bakkar.

Bakkar revolves around on the adventures of a young Nubian boy of the same name, and was the first Egyptian cartoon on television. The series, which airs every evening during the 30 days of Ramadan, regularly draws 40 million viewers—two thirds of the population of Egypt—adults and children alike.

Bakkar, the popular star of an Egyptian cartoon series, was the messenger for a recent GreenCOM campaign.

Red Sea Rangers

For the past three years, the AED Center for Environmental Strategies has collaborated with the show’s producers to create two environmentally-themed episodes each year in which Bakkar encounters situations that reinforce environmentally responsible behaviors.

For example, one episode features Bakkar plotting the rescue of endangered animals from a greedy villain to expose children to the negative effects of collecting marine life, fishing, and digging in protectorates.

The episodes also promote some of the Center’s other initiatives in Egypt, such as a communications and training program to increase the enforcement capacity of the Red Sea Rangers, a Coast Guard-like corps within the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency that monitors compliance with mooring and waste-disposal regulations.

Important Environmental Concepts

Audience research conducted in late 2003 illustrated the show’s ability to communicate important environmental concepts to children between the ages of 7 to 11. An independent evaluation found that before the broadcast, none of the children surveyed were familiar with the Red Sea protectorates and only 2% had heard of the Red Sea Rangers.

Bakkar standing next to a dry stream bed. Episodes like this one teach children about the importance of conservation efforts.

After the special episodes were aired, however, the percentages jumped: 45% of the children knew about the protectorates and 42% understood the role of the Red Sea Rangers. In addition, their awareness of Red Sea coral and marine life also increased significantly.

Bakkar’s success in reaching Egyptian children has encouraged the show’s producers, who are planning more environmental excursions for Bakkar and the Rangers next year.

Increasing Knowledge and Understanding

The partnership between the AED Center for Environmental Strategies and Cairo Cartoon makes use of new media to accelerate behavior change and is a good example of the sort of public-private partnerships that GreenCOM leverages to expand the impact of its programs.

To date, GreenCOM has also trained 150 teachers at 60 schools in the Red Sea area to increase knowledge and understanding of basic environmental issues, and how to incorporate them into their classrooms to reach children.

In partnership with the Egyptian Government, the Center has distributed environmental education materials to 1,000 secondary industrial, hotel, and agriculture technical schools. The Ministry of Education subsequently trained 2,000 technical school teachers on environmental education.

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For more information, please contact Nicholas Wedeman.