THE ROLE OF ARTS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN KENYA.

KENYA NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY FORMULATION (NYANZA WORKSHOP) ON 15TH APRIL- AT KISUMU HOTEL

A PAPER PRESENTED BY
MR. AKECH OBAT-MASIRA
REGIONAL COORDINATOR, LAKE VICTORIA REGION ENVIRONMENTAL CULTURAL AND HEALTH AID (LAVIRECHA)

THE ROLE OF ARTS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN KENYA.

P.O BOX 6111 KISUMU, KENYA
TEL. 254-726164954

E-MAIL obatmasira@yahoo.com

In this paper an attempt is made to discuss the role of arts in the formulation of environmental policy in Kenya. This can be done by various artistic ways.

How does art influence environmental conservation and management?
How can art be used to integrate environmental concerns into various sectoral activities/policies?

Environmental education and awareness are crucial for sustainable development. This can be done through formal and informal education process to sensitize all to appreciate the limits in exploiting natural resources. Environmental education will empower the communities to participate more fully in conservation and management of their immediate environment.

“The theatre or drama can be particularly suitable for grassroot communication because of self sustaining potential, its entertainment, function, its flexibility in over coming language barriers and its huge capacity for popular participation in message design and planning” states Opiyo Mumma.

The analysis above is based on the viability of the role of theatre drama in the development of proactive education/ dissemination of information to the grassroots that have been looked down upon by development planners of environmental conservation and management.

“The concept of sustainability has grown out of need to reconcile conflicts between economic development and the conservation of environment sustainable development can be determined as “Development that meets the need of present without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs “Action Aid 1994.


OBJECTIVES
Developing awareness and understanding of environmental management and foster positive attitudes for its conservation
Promote environmental education and awareness
Advocate for the integration of environmental subjects into learning at all levels of education
Development and dissemination of environmental information
Mobilisation and sensitization
Understanding, appreciation, protection and utilization of natural resources


INTRODUCTION

In the third world countries development programmes/message hardly reach the programme beneficiaries. The mode of communication in development work is largely top- down, directive and authoritarian. Extension workers often assume the paternalistic and doctraine ‘I know- what is best for you’. Sociological and anthropological studies have dismissed this myth. The yawning gap between the change agents and the grassroots with whom and not for whom, the work must be bridged in order to promote dialogue and genuine participation foster better understanding and mutual confidence.

This new genre of theatre/drama has the potential of being a 2-way communication process. Its interpersonal and appropriate technology of grassroots development communication medium with in built mechanisms using the people’s language, people’s idiom and their performing its deals with problems of direct relevance to their socio-economic realities.

The theatre by its peculiar nature and particularly because of its communality can provide a graphic and vivid forum where dialogue can take place.

Participatory research has been described as a 3 pronged activity- an approach to social investigation with full active participation of the community at every stage of the research process, a means for taking action for development and an educational process of mobilisation.

Participatory research is a combination of education, research and action intertwined that the three components cannot really be separated from each other or approached serially. In short, it consists of 3 inter related and inter-dependent process namely;
i. COLLECTIVE IDENTIFICATION- of community problems and issues with the programme beneficiaries
ii. COLLECTIVE ANALYSIS- in which the people develop a better understanding not only of the problems in hand, but also of the underlying structural causes of the problems
iii. COLLECTIVE ACTION- by community aimed at short term as well as long term solutions to the problems. The 3 inter-related processes on participatory research are related to 3 functional and existential question in the foreseen process of conscientization, namely:
· What are the problems in our current situation? (Naming)
· Why do the problems exist? (Reflection)
· How can we rid ourselves of problems? (Action/Praxis)

In the final analysis, we would like to ensure that the theatrical arts and activities form an integral of our people’s community life mirroring their aspirations and codifying their total psyche. The control of this very powerful medium will then be in the hands of the people that is truly people’s theory, a theory aimed at using culture to engender and catalyse the process of environmental conservation and management.

THE JUSTIFICATION FOR USE OF ARTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

What is the definition of the word ‘Environment’?
‘‘Ecologically, the environment is the sum of all external conditions and influence affecting the life and development of organisms, including man’’ asserts Mc Craw in the Hill Encyclopaedia of Science and Technology. Again, what is culture?

‘‘Inevitably, there is a strong relationship between culture, environment and education. Education is always part of culture since culture is the collective memory of the ways of people have tried to solve common problems and education has always contributed to prepare the next generation for this task. As part of this task, education has to create the awareness of conserving, protecting and exploiting natural environment meaningfully’’ stated Ude Bude.

Man, sometimes because of greed and lack of appreciation of the environment, has often created a problem for himself, by himself through his direct or indirect destruction of his environment and its potentials.

What then is the role of arts in this scenario of environmental degradation? Art seeks to sensitize the communities on the effects of war in an area, desertification, overgrazing, over population, erosion, poor land management, mismanagement of wastes especially toxic wastes, deforestation, abuse wildlife and other natural heritage and sceneries.

Despite rigorous environmental education/information that have been disseminated yet there is still a gap in change of attitude. Environmental misuse and mismanagement is still rampant. This suggests that information/messages are not effectively communicated. This calls for a proactive communication strategy that is people driven (Entertainment- Education or EDUTAINMENT/INFORTAINMENT).
Art will be utilized in the dissemination of environmental information/messages through a methodology known as Participatory Educational and Theatre (P.E.T). This is a pedagogical and performance strategy that seeks to involve people right from grassroots in conceptualisation, diagnosis and formulation of pro-active measures in line with environmental management in general and specific objectives. It transforms people from being passive recipients of development goals/ideas to active participants and formulators of the same.

The artist-facilitators will formulate the basic skeleton artistic environmental management’s items that will be employed to provoke the people into thoughtful renditions in artistic manner of the environmental problems affecting them and proposed solutions.

The artistic performance of music, dance, drama, poems and narratives (story telling) will be accompanied by informal/formal group discussions (F.G.Ds) through which the environmental issues presented through art will be re-examined in details. This will be through the keep of artist-facilitators and selected environmental specialists.

Art have, since time immemorial, been related to the sustainability of society in its various manifestations. Education, access to it and its practice are all vital components of any working society. Education is the vehicle that allows for the development of society and its enhancement in various ways. Art is a very critical facilitator of education.

Drama, a perfomed art, is one genre of literature which cannot be underestimated in its inculcation of positive valves to society. Apart from supplementing education, drama in various ways, also does so many things. It empowers the society to see the problems critically.

Theatre provides a forum for meaningful debate on transformative dialogue on environmental conservation and management. To communicate effectively with the grassroots and expect an impact you need not only a medium. That medium should be immediate and familiar. The most immediate and familiar medium in the grassroots is drama/theatre (Folk media).

‘‘The Entertainment-Education strategy is a continuation of the 3 sequential stages of behaviour change known as knowledge, attitude and practice/behaviour. This is a process of purposively designing a media message both to entertain and educate, in order to increase audience member’s knowledge about educational and developmental issues to create a favourable attitude and change overt behaviour’’, states Singhal and Rogers.

Drama seeks to raise awareness of adverse impacts of socio-economic activities on environment and how environmental problems arising from human activities and how environment itself influences man and his activities. It will also seek the acquisition of knowledge of the natural environment and its utilization and also the dissemination of the same.

All in all, the incorporation of the arts, creative and preformed art, will add a great boost to the environmental conservation and management in Kenya. It will also assist in the environmental behavioural change that will also be geared towards reducing diseases and environmental management etc.

Ultimately, this incorporation of arts into environmental conservation and management, it is expected, should help achieve goals of environmental management in Kenya.

Art could be used in the development and dissemination of environmental information, sensitization and lastly in capacity building.

WHY IS ART A POWERFUL SOCIAL TOOL IN DEVELOPMENT WORK?
Attributes of drama in Development
Drama inspires trust in audience; trust in the content of the message.
It stimulates the process of change and community empowerment
Help community to make informed choices and decisions
It has power to bridge development gaps
It commands the attention of the audience
It uses people’s subconscious mind (brain)
It’s developmental, educational and entertaining.
It provides the community the motivation and occasion for people to come together and exchange views and ideas on development.
It’s a social forum where people meet and not only raise issues but also a platform for questioning and answering.
Drama has the power to show the audience how they could benefit from adoption of a new behaviour/ technology.

The theatre for development will reinforce the efforts of environmentalists/developmental workers by giving their efforts a greater audience attention, better impacts by spreading the information/ message widely. Art focuses on ordinary people as key agents of change; again focuses on their aspirations and strength to enable them meet their needs.

RECCOMMENDATIONS
Develop environmental education curriculum to be implemented at the primary and secondary levels of education by 2010.
Adopt art (both creative and performing) as a powerful tool in environmental information dissemination to create environmental awareness.
Propagate art as a strategy for ensuring behaviour/attitude change in so far as the management of our environment is concerned.
To use arts in harmonising conflicting environmental/ water/ agriculture Acts. Human conflicts/ human- animal conflicts.




15TH APRIL 2008, KISUMU.