Asia
2007 is the first year in which WSPA started working on the IN AWE programme in Asia. Previously WSPA had supported the Kindness Club run by Member Society ‘Yayasan Yudisthira’ (Bali Street Dog Foundation) in Bali for five years. However, the focus now is on embedding animal welfare in the curriculum. Work will begin in Thailand (where the WSPA Asia office is based) and Vietnam.
Initial contacts have been made with animal protection groups conducting animal welfare education in Thailand and throughout Asia. Contacts have also been made with schools in Bangkok to establish plans for teacher training in 2008. A guide to planning and delivering animal welfare education was drafted alongside identifying resources that need adapting/translating for use in the Asia region (‘Bears of the World’ education pack into Thai; ‘Caring for Cats and Caring for Dogs’ leaflets and rabies prevention leaflet into Japanese and Korean).
In 2008 we aim to:
- Initiate relationships and formalise an agreement with Ministries of Education of Thailand and Vietnam.
- Conduct an audit of the Thai and Vietnamese educational system.
- Initiate contact with a teacher training institute in Bangkok and Hanoi (Vietnam), and to implement a pilot teacher training scheme for 50 teachers from 20 schools in Bangkok.
- Adapt and translate existing animal welfare education resources.
- Establish contact with UNESCO in Bangkok.
