SECAD Partnership will be launching the Junior Wild Work Programme at Bloom in the Phoenix Park on Saturday, 1st June 2024. We have been invited to present as guests of the Dept of Environment, Climate and Communications during the session which will take place between 12:15 pm – 1.00 pm at the Sustainable Living Stage.
Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Transport and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications will lead the session, which will involve presentations from Minister Ryan, SECAD and 2 other organisations – Pocket Forests and Frontline Bikes. The session will conclude with a discussion around the theme for the session – Climate Actions Work: Demonstrating the Impact of Community Climate Action in Ireland.
During the presentation, Ryan Howard, CEO of SECAD will outline how the organisation has, over the past decade, developed a twin-track approach to supporting community-led positive climate actions. SECAD manages community benefit funds on behalf of many of Ireland’s renewable energy companies, which in turn enables SECAD to invest in the research, design and delivery of nature based, local development approaches to community development, social inclusion, mental health, intergenerational and integration focused projects. SECAD has called this the Wild Work initiative.
Ryan said, “SECAD will be launching a special project at Bloom 2024, the Junior Wild Work Programme. From September 2024 this will be delivered with a select number of primary schools and their local communities. The aims of the Junior Wild Work Programme include learning to address a number of emerging issues including the biodiversity crisis, youth mental health resilience, and developing a pathway to support positive integration of new residents into Irish communities”.
The Junior Wild Work programme allows young people to explore biodiversity in the Irish landscape. The participants are encouraged to go out into nature to experience wild spaces first-hand and to learn through interacting with the natural world. The outdoor learning is supported by online interactive learning and virtual reality experiences, to ensure a fun and fulfilling programme. No prior experience in ecology, conservation, or biodiversity is necessary. All that is needed is a desire to learn in nature and from nature!
Details about the Junior Wild Work programme can be found at: Wild Work Junior Toolkit and in this short video: Introduction to the Junior Wild Work Toolkit
For full details on what is happening at Bloom over the weekend, go to Bord Bia Bloom Schedule.
The Sustainable Living Stage can be found in the Conservation Area highlighted in yellow on the map. Click on the map to download it.
