The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Supports Three Students and their Communities along the Brahmaputra River
Students in the Future Generations Graduate School are beginning Term IV of a Master’s Degree in Applied Community Change and Conservation. Their coursework in community-based approaches to child health, sustainable development, nature conservation, governance, and peace building prepares them be more effective community change agents.
The program’s learning cycle, which blends online coursework with international field residentials and an applied thesis project, allows them to be based in their communities throughout the two-year program. In Tibet, China, Tsering Digi, works in Lhasa as an English teacher at Tibet University and reaches out beyond the classroom through Hope Corner, a non-profit organization dedicated to learning and service opportunities for youth. Digi is working with the Lhasa Municipal Youth League to sponsor a range of activities for youth, including field learning in Lhasa’s large urban wetland. In the future, she also hopes to address the high rates of alcoholism among adolescents. According to Digi, “there has been so much focus on the material development of Lhasa that we are forgetting to attend to the well-being of youth.” Downstream, in the remote reaches of northeast India, Atul Tayeng works as a government development officer for the state of Arunachal Pradesh. His primary job is to provide training and support for the Shimong/ Eko Dhumbing Community Forestry Reserve, featured in the book Deep Economy by author Bill McKibben. Indigenous communities in this region have managed their own community forests for centuries and in 2006 registered their land as a community forest under new Indian legislation. Today, the communities have formed committees of local volunteers to address such issues as: biodiversity monitoring, sustainable income generation including eco-tourism, and health and hygiene.
When the Brahmaputra enters Bangladesh, the magnitude of population pressures calls for an integrated community-based approach for ensuring clean water. Future Generations student, Rezaul Karim, works for the non-profit organization BRAC on a large regional water, sanitation, and hygiene program serving more than 37 million people. In seven districts, Rezaul works with village level committees to promote preventative health behaviors and ensure that the village water supply is well maintained and protected. More details about the Future Generations Graduate School are available at: www.future.org.
The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation was established in 2006 by HSH Prince Albert to continue the Principality of Monaco's legacy of environmental stewardship and its commitment to conserve and preserve the world’s natural environment and resources, by supporting sustainable and ethical projects around the world. Its focus is on three main challenges: climate change and developing renewable energies; combating the loss of biodiversity; and water management and fighting desertification. In just three years, the Foundation has extended its international outreach by opening chapters across Europe (France, Switzerland, the UK, Italy and in 2009 in Germany) in Canada and, in 2008, the United States of America. Since its inception, 95 projects have benefited from Foundation grants, totaling almost $US20 million (14.6 million euros). In 2009 alone, the Foundation has approved 13 new projects in 2009, worth approx. $US2.2 million (1.6 million euros). For more information, please visit www.pa2f.org and www.visitmonaco.com/pa2f.
