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Case Study - Africa
Chad
Two years into a five-year project, African Parks has completed two of its ‘elephant
schools’ in the Zakouma National Park periphery and is working on a third.
and conservation meet
When
Education
Z
akouma National Park has a unique system whereby
the elephant herds use the park in the dry season but
migrate up to 130km away when the rains come. These
migration corridors and the wet season feeding grounds
are critical to the survival of Zakouma’s elephants and
are shared by local villages and, at certain times, the
nomads as well.
The aim of the Elephant Schools project is to provide
much needed schools and teachers in key villages within
the extended elephant range. These ‘elephant schools’
will form an important link between local communities
and the park by providing a platform for conventional
as well as environmental education.
Hamida Bourma, manager of African Parks, explains:
“Chad does not have a large commercial brick-making
factory. All bricks are made out of either mud (raw and
burnt) or cement. And cement costs about US$30 per
bag delivered in the park, so we needed a method of
construction that is not only environmentally friendly but
also uses minimal cement. Hydraform was the perfect
choice.”
Furthermore, since Hydraformmachines aremobile, the
machine can be moved to wherever the construction is
taking place. Other advantages highlighted by Bourma
are the relatively low cost (no mortar, minimal cement
in block), and ease of construction, which is critical
because most of the available labour in the rural areas
is unskilled.
African Parks received its first Hydraform blockmaking
machine in April 2013 after it was flown in thanks to a
private donation. Since then, the organisation has
completed the construction of one primary school and
one secondary school. Work continues on a second
primary school and, at the time of writing, the block of
three classrooms was already at lintel height.
When the project is complete, it is expected that six
primary and two secondary schools in key villages will
have been built. Thereafter, and since the Hydraform
belongs to Zakouma National Park, it will stay there to be
used for other construction work or, perhaps, to continue
with the school building programme after the initial
phase is complete.