Environmental Innovation Using creative strategies to promote learners’ health and well-being Liesl Kent

Background  Occupational Therapist  Facing Up  Based at a service in Lavender Hill, Cape Flats  What is “occupation?” “The ordinary and familiar things people do everyday.” American Occupational Therapy Association

Facing Up  Service initiated in 2000 in Lavender Hill by Roshan Galvaan (UCT Occupational Therapy lecturer)  Emerging service model  Organisation that works with youth at risk through occupation-based strategies to create sustainable livelihoods and personal change  Developed in response to the occupational marginalisation that may be experienced by youth in disadvantaged communities (Wilcock and Townsend, 2004)  Based on components of occupational enrichment (Cronin- Davis et al, 2004)

Building partnerships…  In 2005 Facing Up formed a partnership with the Eskom Energy and Sustainability Programme  Programme provides opportunities for learners to do projects with a focus on energy and sustainability issues and learn about environmental issues  Use of these projects as a means in the Facing Up intervention process

An intervention story…  “Energywise”  Two health-promoting schools in Lavender Hill  Three Grade 7 learners from each school  One teacher from each school interested in getting involved

Theoretical basis for intervention  Agency (Polkinghorne, 1997) was a key factor in the intervention  Based on the 5 strategies of health promotion from the OTTOWA charter, particularly building supportive environments, developing personal skills, and strengthening community action

What was done…  Workshops over a four-month period  Learners thought critically about their own environment in Lavender Hill  Researched what other children knew  “They don’t know what we now know”  Decided to do something about it…

What was done…  A game to teach others  Learning would be “fun”  Development of basic research skills  Content should be relevant for their school and community context

The end-product

About the product  Based on reality in Lavender Hill  Taken back and played with the learners own Grade 7 classes at school  Energy Girls observed the effects of their actions

Implicit Outcomes…  Creativity and problem-solving skills  Group and team work skills  Communication skills  Negotiation skills  Decision-making skills  Improved agency  Reflection on themselves as agentic beings

Other Outcomes…  Teachers skilled in group work processes  Opportunities to travel  “There is something more than Lavender Hill”

The real deal…  Video clip filmed for the ETA awards  A glimpse into what the project was all about…

Key learning from the process  The process is more important than the end-product  The learners must own the process for the project to be a success  Think big – all things are possible!  Use the process to its maximum potential  Be creative and fearless  Look for the point of highest leverage in the system (Senge, 2006)  Create win-win solutions for change

Where to from here?  Facing Up continues to partner with the Eskom Energy and Sustainability Programme  2006/2007 year: - Teachers involved in the process last year have begun their own project processes - UCT occupational therapy students involved at Facing Up are using environmental strategies as a means for intervention

For more information…  Facing Up Roshan Galvaan: (021) Liesl Kent:  Eskom Energy and Sustainability Programme Avril Wilkinson: (036) (National co-ordinator)

References:  Senge, P. (1994) The fifth discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organisation. New York: Currency Doubleday.  Senge, P. (2006) The Fifth Discipline. Random House Business Books.  Galvaan, R. Personal Communication.  Polkinghorne, D.E. (1997) Transformative Narratives: From Victimic to Agentic Life Plots. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. April Volume 50. Number 4.  Cronin-Davis, J; Lang, A; Molineux. (2004) Occupational Science: The Forensic Challenge. In: Molineux, M (Ed) Occupation for Occupational Therapists. Blackwell Publishing.  Townsend, E; Wilcock, A.A. (2004) Occupational Justice and Client- centred practice: A dialogue in progress. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. April Volume 71. Number 2. pp