Friends for Change project was implemented with the support of Disney India. The focus of the project was to revive ecological balance through creating biodiversity parks in selected areas of Delhi. Neighbourhood schools and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) were among the key stakeholders of the project and were assigned key responsibilities such as monitoring of the development work, active role in the plantation and more importantly taking ownership of the park once redeveloped. Renowned landscape architects and horticulturist also played a significant role in shaping this intervention.
For this project, 8 parks in total were identified across Delhi and National Capital Region and over the course of a year were redeveloped.
Key Achievements:
- All the 8 parks developed on the theme of promoting and conserving ecology with prime focus on native species
- Sensitization of RWAs, school children and teachers on the importance of native species and the need to promote and conserve the wilderness in the urban areas
- About 33,338 different types of native herbs and species were planted in 9.5 acres of land with the invaluable contribution from 7 schools 16 teachers and 500 students and 30 project staff from 4 organizations
Quote:
“This project gave us a good insight towards the environment and has completely changed our perspective towards different environment related issues. Through this project we not only contributed towards the environment but through different activities we also learned about different native species, and different role they play in maintaining a soothing and livable environment for all of us. We are looking this project as our first step towards promoting wilderness and would like that this project to continue in the coming years as well and enlighten us”. – Sreya, Student, Somerville School.
