February 28, 2004
Peace Corps celebrates its 43nd Anniversary
March 21-28, 2004
"Ecology Days Pehcevo"
April 7, 2004
7 year anniversary of Kladenec's establishment
April 22, 2004
Earth Day
June 5, 2004
World Environmental Awareness Day
September 7, 2004
The Day of the Municipality - Liberation of the Town
check out http://www.earthday.net to learn about planning your own Earth Day celebrations!!
KLADENEC
Introduction...
After I was sworn in as a PCV on January 31, 2003, I departed for Pehcevo, and my 2 year assignment! I am now living in the village and working for an Ecology Association called Kladenec. You can read a brief summary of the organization here, but their website has much more information, including pictures! We are planning to update the website sometime before April to include my arrival, as well as new projects currently in the works...
Structure...
Assembly:
supreme body
members of all ages
in session at least once per year
Presidency:
managing/executive body
7 members
in session at least once per year
informs assembly about its work
Supervisory:
in charge of financial supervision
informs the assembly about its work
September 15, 1997 to March 31, 1998
Pehcevo with no illegal dumps
financed by ISC Skopje
September 1, 1998 to March 31, 2000
LEAP Development
financed by ISC Skopje
cooperation between NGOs, industry & local government
adopted by Municipality Council March 10, 2000
August 1, 1999 to December 21, 1999
To Protect Natural Rarities in Our Region
financed by REC - Regional Environmental Centre - Skopje
August 2000 - current
Implementation of Municipality LEAP
project-plan for implementation and partial realization financed by ISC Skopje
Current Activities...
Currently we are working towards the opening of the Eco-Tourism Center, 10 kilometres into the forest, which is scheduled for July. We talked about establishing a Community Indigenous Knowledge book. We are in the middle of a grant application for renovation of the local culture house, as well as working with community farmers on a project in which they will be able to sell their organically produced food at markets in Skopje, as well as from their farms. We are promoting clean-up actions around the town, taking unofficial surveys to determine public interest, and waiting for the ground to thaw in order to plant 1,000 trees which were donated by the Ministry of Agriculture. I will soon be introducing formally the World Wise Schools program into the local elementary school. This is a Peace Corps program in which Volunteers write to a teacher and class of Americans back in the States. (If you are a teacher interested in getting involved with this program, you can find lots of information on the official Peace Corps website on the matching process and getting started, as well as the benefits to your class.) I am going to include a class of students here in the letter-writing in order to best facilitate cross-cultural learning and exchange. Also, Peace Corps is holding inservice trainings in the next couple of months to introduce various programs to aid Volunteers in environmental education on an informal basis in local schools.
This year Ecology Association Kladenec made the White Eco List; a survey conducted across the country to determine who citizens feel are both the top five polluters (Black Eco List) and the top five contributors to the environment (White Eco List). Kladenec is also a member of EMM - Ecologist Movement of Macedonia.
Current Direction and Goals...
Capacity-strengthening, realization of primary LEAP activities, biodiversity protection, pollution protection and water monitoring, protection against forest degradation, and raising environmental awareness among youth.