A Report on Global Tigers Day 2016 Celebration at Chitwan.

Title: Global Tigers Day Celebration by Team Roar in Chitwan

Background: A group of students from Agriculture and Forestry University, assembled at Youth Leadership Training for Tiger Conservation (Hetauda) took a shape and formed a group called Team Roar. Team Roar consists of 11 members which comprises of 5 students pursuing Bachelors in Agriculture, 5 pursuing BVSc & AH and a member pursuing BSc Fisheries. Team Roar was mentored by Ms. Bindu Bhandari & Mr. Ashish Niraula, both mentee, TGG Mentorship program 2015. Team Roar executed the ideas it generated over the course of training, targeting the Global Tigers Day, July 29 2016.

Objectives:

·         To assess the level of awareness and extent of concern among people in Chitwan, around Chitwan National Park regarding Tiger conservation.

·         To identify the latent issues that hinder conservation actions, affect effective communication among stake holders

·         To explain the gravity of conservation action to students and members of community and motivate them to speak and act for Tiger conservation

Significance:

The number of Tigers in world is low and the target set to double the number by next Chinese year of tiger 2022 is really a lofty goal. To realize this dream countries like Nepal which have successfully achieved Zero Poaching needs to maintain  and improve their good work and while the conservation action is Nepal is carried out by Nepalese Army and handful of NGOs and INGOs in Nepal, the general audience, youths, children need to know about the current global predicament with Tiger population. So, to spread the word on the existence of Tigers day, raise awareness, brainstorm, have meaningful discourses, inspire youth activists and student researchers to work on the field of tiger conservation, Project Roar was executed.

Events:

First Paaanipuri Fellowship: This was one of the main activity on Project Roar. The first Paanipuri fellowship was conducted on July 21, 2016 at premises of Agriculture and Forestry University. The program began at 4 PM.. There were 40 participants in the fellowship. First of all Project Co-ordinator Abhisek Niraula gave orientation to the pariciapants about Paanipuri Fellowship and its objectives. This was followed by talk from Ashish Ghimire, member of Team Roar and Rotaract Shova Barali, President of Rotaract Club of Chitwan. Then the chief guest Associate Professor Dr. Hom Bahadur Basnet shared his views with the participants. After concluding remarks from Prashant Bhandari, Director of Project Roar, the formal program ended.

The informal program began with divison of 40 paricipants in 5 groups namely Tigers, NGOs/INGOs, Buffer Zone, Government & Students/Activist. This was a role playing game, each team had to represent the name they were assigned, for instance the group Tiger had to say things from the perspective of Tiger.

Participants were given 20 minutes to discuss within their group and during this time paanipuri was offered, particpants discussed things over the plate of Paanipuri. After discussions, a member from each team presented the conclusion of their group and the rest of the teams commented on that, the process continued thereby creating a multi-stake holders dialogue and helping everyone see and understand things from different perspectives. At the end, the participants were told about the global TX2 campaign and asked to join the global Thumbs Up For Tigers Campaign.

2^nd Paanipuri Fellowship: This was organized on27th July, 2016 at Balkumari College of Science, the participant consisted of 30 students of Balkumari College. The program was conducted the same way first Paanipuri fellowship was conducted.

Road Interviews:

we travelled to different places of Chitwan, interacted with people in campus and outside on the road, asked questions about Tiger conservation like What do you think should be done for conserving Tiger? Or Should Tiger be conserved? Or what do you think are the major threats for tiger?

The footage was used as content for online awareness campaign.

Flash mob:

This was organized on the morning of 29^th July, the program was scheduled for 9 AM but the continuous rain made us postpone the program to 11 AM. Volunteers from Third semester veterinary and Fisheries performed on the song “ROAR” by Katy Perry, the dance was choreographed by Mr. Amik Shrestha. It was conducted in the middle of Rampur bazzar targeting the people working in their shops and the residents. People had asked what was about to happen and we told them about the Tigers Day and TX2 Campaigns and asked them to stay around. The flash mob was viewed by in excess of 100 peoples which included Housewives, Shopkeepers, Workers, Childrens, Youths, Policemen etc.

Wall Painting:

Inittially the plan was to paint the image of Bengal Tiger in AFU, Rampur but upon discussion we came to a consensus that our wall painting should be in area where the mobility of people is higher and the target audience less familiar about Tiger Conservation and campaigns. With that in mind we identified the location of wall of District Development Office, Chitwan as the ideal venue. Akshar Samuha, bearing responsibility for artistic management of wall were positive and the official campaign photo of TX2 was painted there by Ms. Nisha Shrestha.

Documentary Show:

A collection of videos narrating stories, experiences and talk from conservationist, poachers and researchers was shown in AFU Conference Hall. Videos containing activities of Project Roar and the flash mob was also shown. The participants of this show were university students, lecturers, canteen owners and AFU staffs.

Formal Ending Program:

At 3 PM, 29^th July the formal program for conclusion of Project Roar was organized at AFU Conference Hall. The program was chaired by Mr. Prashant Bhandari, Director, Project Roar; Associate Professor Dr. Krishna Kafle, was invited as chief guest. The speakers of the program were Mr Ashish Ghimire, Mr. Abhisek Niraula, Ms. Bindu Bhandari and chief guest Dr. Kafle .The program ended with remarks from the chairman.

Conclusion:

The project first of all was a huge learning experience for the members of Team Roar about the magnificent animal tiger and the complexities around its conservation. The project was able to first inject the idea about the existence of Tigers day, secondly the success of Nepal in achieving Zero Poaching Years and finally motivating Youths and young researchers to understand, advocate and pursue research on Tigers.