Scholarship Program Recipients Selected in the Solomon Islands |
EGCF is pleased to report on the outcomes of its partnership with Conservation International (CI) to support the innovative Tetepare Scholarship Fund in the Solomon Islands.
As the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific, Tetepare's pristine Rainforest has been untouched for over a century and represents a key conservation target of biodiversity. The indigenous landowners of Tetepare formed an organization in 2003, TDA, to protect Tetepare from the imminent commercial logging that has taken most of the country's remaining rainforests. The EU has committed to funding the operating costs of TDA through the year 2010. In return for the significant income forgone from choosing conservation over logging, economic incentive agreements from CI provide tangible benefits for TDA members in 14 villages. One of the most vital incentives is a program that provides educational scholarships for children unable to afford basic school attendance fees. This spring, EGCF supported the selection of 14 scholarship recipients from various villages. Out of nearly 145 applicants, 89 students were selected overall.
As the EU grant is set to expire in two years, it is critical that a long-term endowment is established for TDA to provide ongoing educational scholarships for children and thus strengthen the commitment for continued conservation. In 2008 EGCF is exploring the opportunities to endow a permanent scholarship fund for children in Tetepare. This unique program achieves key conservation objectives and would permanently benefit children into perpetuity. Learn more about this program by contacting EGCF or CI. The mission of CI is to conserve the Earth's living heritage – our global biodiversity – and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature. For more on CI, visit www.conservation.org.