MEdIES Activities for Rainwater Harvesting in Cyclades, April - May - June 2010

MIO-ECSDE through the MEdIES Secretariat in cooperation with the Heads of Environmental Education of Primary and Secondary level of the Prefecture of Cyclades and the local authorities organised a series of educational activities in seven (7) islands of the Cyclades, namely Milos, Ios, Santorini, Anafi, Naxos, Iraklia and Koufonisi during April-June 2010.

The scope of the project was the promotion of the updated version of the MEdIES educational material in Greek entitled "The Gift of Rain'.

The project included educational activities in schools targeted to primary and secondary level students as well as seminars for teachers in all islands.The educational material "The gift of rain" aims to raise awareness of students (11-14 yrs old) to deal with the traditional and modern techniques and practices of rainwater collection, and to develop the skills for the sustainable use of water.

The material was published in 2009 disseminated in the schools of Naxos, Syros and Tinos (Phase I). Following, the material was reviewed and approved by the Greek Pedagogical Institute, and its 2nd version was published in 2010, to cover the needs of the increasing number of involved schools and teachers (Phase II -2010).

MEdIES awareness activities in schools were coordinated by the ΜΕdIES Secretariat (Ms Vicky Malotidi and Ms Iro Alampei). They lasted approx. one hour and touched upon topics such as various cisterns found in Greece in the past, as well as the modern systems of rainwater harvesting, and also water consumption & water saving, uses of rainwater, and the water cycle. In total, more than 500 students participated in the educational activities. In all islands seminars for teachers were also organized, in collaboration with the EE departments of Primary and Secondary level, of the Cyclades Prefecture.

During the seminars, the educators were introduced to and provided with the educational material. In total more than 100 teachers participated in such meetings and trainings.The MEdIES rainwater harvesting activities are part of a wider programme implemented by the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med), which is member of MEdIES Task Group.

All activities were implemented in collaboration with the local authorities and with the support of the corporate social responsibility programme "Mission Water".