Marine Education Program in Borneo

There are many threats on the marine ecosystem in Sabah, North Borneo, Malaysia. These threats include poaching of endangered marine animals such as the sea turtles and their eggs, destruction of marine habitat such as coral reefs by fish bombing and use of sodium cyanide to catch fish, as well the dumping of trash into the sea that eventually kill marine animals such as sea turtles, dolphins and whales. Many of the local coastal communities who are involved in these distructive practices are hardcore poor and have limited access to educational programs. This contribute to their lack of awareness and knowledge on conservation issues. Reef People is a Non-Profit Organization based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The organization was formerly known as KK Reefwatch https://www.rufford.org/rsg/projects/salha_hassan_... . The reason for the name change is because we want to highlight the people's participation in marine conservation. The focus is to raise awareness and knowledge on marine conservation, targeting school children and local youths living along the coastal area in Sabah. The current target is to conduct 10 education awareness program for 30 participants at one time within 1 year period. The program will include training the local youths to conduct the education awareness program. Each program will take 3 days and conducted with the help of local youths who will be trained to facilitate the program. The marine program hopefully will enlighten the school children, their teachers and the local youths on the issues that threatens the marine environment and will act upon it. Below are the materials needed for the education program:
1) Snorkelling equipments - mask, snorkel, fin (15 sets): $750
2) Life jackets (15 sets): $300
3) Reference books on marine animals (30 books): $500
4) Boat rental (10 times): $1500
5) Camera (2 units): $600
6) Underwater camera casings (2 units):600
7) Laptop (1): $800
8) Allowances for youth facilitators (30 people for 5 days): $1,800
9) Allowances for project manager (1 person for 120 days): $2,000
10) Slateboards (30 sets): $150
11) Stationeries - printers ink, pencils, pen, sharpies, papers: $500
12) Meals for participants (30 people X 3 days X 10 times): $4,000
Total overall expenses is $13,500.
The plan is to start the program in March 2019 during dry season.
In order to appreciate the donors, any donor who donated a minimum of $50 will be able to join the activitiy as co-facilitator, their local expenses will be covered. A facebook and instagram accounts will be created for this program to update the donors and public.