Return to previous page
Impacts and Accomplishments |
Give Water A Hand |
 |
How can young people make a difference for the environment in their local communities? How can young
people gain environmental stewardship skills? These are the questions we asked when developing Give
Water A Hand (GWAH) - a watershed education program for youth. Through its Action Guide for youth, a
Leader Guide, and a training manual, this innovative program helps young people protect and improve
natural resources in their watersheds. More than 20 Federal agencies and national organizations
contributed to program content, and continue to promote and disseminate the program materials.
Supporting Leaders
Our experience indicates that leaders who practice using GWAH in training sessions are better able to
assess youth readiness to take responsibility for projects, feel more comfortable delegating responsibility
to youth, and know how to work with community resources.
Partners train leaders in facilitating youth service projects.
In the year we published our training manual (1997) we held 20 workshops, resulting in more than
1,750 adults who have improved their abilities to facilitate GWAH. Our partners and Extension state
contacts have provided additional training.
Youth leaders access GWAH materials and training.
From 1994 to 1998, water educators requested approximately 100,000 copies of the Action Guide.
In addition, our national partners provided materials to employees and clients as needed.
- In 45 states, county and state 4-H faculty can contact an Extension person to access
materials and training.
- Five national partners act as distributors: The National Drinking Water Clearinghouse,
Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN), the Water Environment Federation (WEF),
the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), and the University of Wisconsin.
- The Action Guide, Leader Guide, and the Spanish translation of the
Action Guide may be downloaded from the GWAH web page at
http://www.uwex.edu/erc/gwah. This page is currently
accessed approximately 1400 times per month.
Leaders involve youth in watershed action projects.
In a 1998 mail survey, participants said Give Water A Hand helped them:
- Learn new ideas for youth activities (68%)
- Find out how to teach youth about watersheds (48%)
- Understand how to organize a service-learning project (35%)
- Guide youth through a watershed service project (26%).
Involving Youth In Communities
Investigating water concerns connecting with local natural resource experts, and solving
real community problems are the essence of Give Water A Hand.
Give Water A Hand encourages voluntary community involvement.
A phone survey of our national partners indicated that in one year alone (1996-1997)
approximately 25,000 youth and 15,000 adult volunteers contributed more than 845,000 volunteer
hours on community service project.
The Action Guide helps youth develop self-esteem.
Middle School teachers in Eau Claire, WI and Mobile, AL used materials primarily to help youth
with special needs. Water-education was a secondary goal. Give Water A Hand helped these
youth develop skills and apply them in solving real-life problems.
Building And Fostering Partnerships
Helping diverse Federal agencies and other organizations work together to create the best youth
water-education programming is important to Cooperative Extension. Give Water A Hand provides
opportunities for national leaders to work together and involve young people in solving environmental
problems.
Partners use Give Water A Hand to encourage voluntary youth involvement.
Beginning with 19 partners in 1994, Give Water A Hand now works with 29 national agency and
organization partners who actively support or use the Action Guide.
Give Water A Hand accelerates adoption of community-based approaches to youth water education.
Several government agencies and non-government organizations, including the National Wildlife Federation and
Adopt-A-Watershed, have adapted our materials for their own education publications.
Return to previous page
