Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/13
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Broader MyCOE-Rio+20 engagement effort estimates outputs exceeding original targeted metrics: Outreach to 36+ countries worldwide: Latin America, Africa, Asia, beyond target of 20. Compiled/adapted materials on Sustainable Development: Food Security, Climate Change, Green Economy, Hazards/Vulnerability, Youth Leadership www.aag.org/mycoe. Organized 39 web maps from ArcGIS Online into MyCOE community; Data from USDA Forest Service, NRCS, other forestry/agricultural organizations. Engaged 78 teachers in 69 secondary schools in 16 US states + 113 teachers in 29 foreign schools = 191 educators, 98 schools, beyond targeted 150 teachers, 20 schools. Engaged about 2,374 US high school students and thousands more in foreign classrooms; beyond target of 3,000. To date achieved 186 new projects involving 517 youth, 148 posted on youth portal, another 201 in progress, another 147 to finalize next year; total 534 new youth-led MyCOE projects leveraged by Rio+20 participation; trajectory will exceed target of 500. Partners' institutional networks estimated to reach audience of 15,000+ and 60 youth/youth-serving organizations. Among the most significant dissemination activities, major advances were: Integrating USDA sustainable development programs, extension activities, partnerships, data, resources, into www.mycoe.org, a new online GIS & social networking platform. MyCOE promoted key USDA themes, encouraged use of USDA data/materials in youth projects on Food Security, Climate Change, Green Economy and subthemes like water/drought management, carbon management, sustainable forestry, etc. New participation by youth teams around Food Security, in support of US government-wide Feed the Future, by focused youth outreach in Ghana, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and by informing existing youth networks. Feed the Future is featured at www.aag.org/gcefoodsecurity. MyCOE specifically invited US youth and youth-serving audiences in land grant universities, US Forest Service FSGeodata Clearinghouse; NIFA Cooperative Extension System eXtension networks, Communities of Practice, Map@Syst, National Geospatial Technology Extension Network, National 4-H networks; NRCS WebSoilSurvey user community. Heavily leveraged social media, engendering ample comments on project pages, ie the Rio+20 youth featured projects gallery. MyCOE facebook group of 256 members and growing; AAG MyCOE Knowledge Community of 175 users is second most active group. General publicity included news alerts to 1124 individuals, 43 listservs, 8069 AAG Geogram subscribers; 7094 AAG SmartBrief readers, 46 Twitter followers, 395 tweets and 60,599 retweets in the run-up to Rio+20. Significant publicity on AAG Staff Astrid Ng, MyCOE Social Networking Coordinator who wrote an essay on Youth Leadership published as lead feature article in State Department's eJournal USA, translated into 5 languages for a readership of 48 million. Ongoing work to showcase and engage new participation will occur at AAG Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 2013, with special poster session on agriculture/food security, biodiversity, climate change, forestry, green economy, hazards/vulnerability, poverty eradication, and water. PARTICIPANTS: Other active partners: AAG (Secretariat) with USDA, Esri, Department of State, NASA, USAID, USGS. Trimble also donated GPS units to MyCOE youth selected projects. TARGET AUDIENCES: Youth and Policymakers comprise the main target audiences. The metrics of youth audience engagement were reported above. Activities directed to policy- and decision-makers occurred during preparations for and at the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil, June 15-20, 2012. MyCOE Featured Presentation at Youth Innovators Event, Grand Finale of the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development, organized by International Council for Science and UN Major Group on Scientific and Technical Communities. Over 1000 people attended, with 1000+ watching live webcasts. See www.icsu.org/rio20/science-and-technology-forum and MyCOE Video at www.youtube.com/watchv=2p37B9FQ_80. MyCOE Display at UN Major Group on Youth and Children Exhibit Hall at Rio Centro, which shared youth projects from among 144 submitted for Rio+20, from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, DRC, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Spain, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Italy, Mexico, Moldova, Nicaragua, Philippines, Russia, Tanzania, Togo, US, Venezuela. The display also permitted a meeting space to connect past, current and future MyCOE participants able to attend Rio+20 thanks to accreditation from the IGU. Citizen Engagement + Geodesign = Sustainable + Resilient Cities Side Event Sessions organized by University of California Berkeley, US Department of State, Esri, Ushahidi, Ecocity Builders. AAG. Geography and Spatial Technologies Empowering Sustainable Futures Side Event organized by US Department of State, US Department of Agriculture, AAG, Esri, NASA at the US Center. See recorded session at www.ustream.tv/recorded/23422724.This side event showcased sustainability partnerships and technologies developed by the US and shared with the world: MyCOE; USDA's programs creating communities around food security and sustainable agriculture; NASA and USGS earth observation satellites and 40th anniversary of Landsat; private sector contributions made freely available by Esri. Panelists included Elise Golan, USDA Director of Sustainable Development. MyCOE Card Exchange: at multiple venues throughout the week, MyCOE business cards and postcards distributed broadly, 1500 cards, 1500 MyCOE / SERVIR Fellowship announcement cards, 500 MyCOE Rio+20 postcards. Cards from session attendees/exhibit visitors were collected and mapped on ArcGIS Online. Country and Regional Pavilions Visits: MyCOE information distributed and shared with individuals in the various Country and Regional Pavilions at Athletes Park, and also shared through Eye on Earth events and the UAE Pavilion. MyCOE Outreach from Rio to Global Participants: In celebration of the many youth-led projects submitted for Rio+20, 130 postcards were mailed to students and classrooms as a memento of their participation. AAG Staff Astrid Ng served as Youth Juror for the "Date With History" Contest, judged by prominent people like Christiana Figueres, Timothy Wirth, Linkin Park, Leonardo DiCaprio. Through the jury and peer-voting of youth-made video speeches about the "Future We Want," one inspiring young visionary was selected to address Rio+20 leaders. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The main goals of this project were thus addressed through many activities: **Strengthening of the MyCOE public-private partnership around the priority areas of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and building upon this momentum for continuing the program beyond the June 2012 event. **Showcasing the influence of MyCOE on the lives of participants, in institutions, and on policy and decisions for more sustainable communities resulting from the past decade of sustained programs, activities, youth and mentor networks, and resources that have been developed by this public-private-NGO partnership and by respective partners, which include US Department of Agriculture and many other US government agencies at the Rio+20 Conference in Brazil, June 2012 (see also http://www.aag.org/cs/http://www.aag.org/cs/mycoe/our-approach/mycoe_ impacts. **Support provided to individual youth-led projects at high school and university levels to advance geographic learning; to help demonstrate various approaches to sustainable development; and provided to youth around the necessary technical resources to learn about sustainable development issues and present them to international leaders. **Significant expansion and innovative engagement of many more new youth participants and partners, including from within the USDA agencies, stakeholder and customer groups, in interactive ways using social networking and online GIS tools, focused around a set of priority areas of importance to the partnership and to Rio+20, through a consolidated framework that provides virtual access to technical and human resources, making them more widely available and integrated, reinvigorating the partnership, synergizing ongoing activities, and establishing a platform for ongoing and future MyCOE activities for Rio+20 and beyond. **Promotion of existing USDA sustainable development resources such as information, best practices, databases, extension activities, partnerships, and priorities with the MyCOE network of federal agencies, stakeholder communities, youth, and policymakers. **Integrated, multidisciplinary research and educational opportunities for students around the world to connect with each other more interactively using new social media. **Sustained the successful public-private partnership model of MyCOE, award-winning, and recognized as one of the longest continually operating program of its kind. **An updated implementation model for grassroots sustainable practices that utilize geographic technologies and social media that will continue to provide a platform for the future phases of MyCOE. **Expansion of a global network of youth, youth serving communities, and scientists. **Access to MyCOE projects and associated sustainable development ideas by policy makers, educators, scientists, and students, including use of geographic technologies such as an online map portal to access them.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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