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C R I T

(student intern program assisting CRGP)

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We work with students from Newcastle University's School of Natural and Environmental Sciences who assist in our conservation efforts each year. We work safely with social distancing and the use of video calls.  

 

Since 2016, CRGP has been working with students from the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences of Newcastle University, the enthusiasm and engagement of the students making a major contribution to the Cross River Gorilla project.

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C R I T 5 : 2020 - 2021

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The 12 students are working in teams to fundraise and make fantastic new resources to raise awareness for Conservation and Communities in Cameroon.

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Look out for their social media take over and campaigns in March-April 2021...

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Check out their Depop page and support the cause today!

C R I T 4 : 2019 - 2020

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The students worked on a scientific poster and a butterfly poster to sell and promote our work. The original aim was to sell these posters at a London based conference in June 2020, but unfortunately, this has had to be postponed due to the pandemic. We look forward to using these fantastic designs at future events and as designs on merchandise. 

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This was our largest group of SNES students yet, and they were certainly up for the challenge! They worked as an excellent team, not only to complete the task, but also to help organise our Gorilla Mingle at The Continental in March 2020 and fundraise, by holding bake sales at Newcastle University. 

C R I T 3: 2018 - 2019

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The task set for these students was to promote the biodiversity of the Lebialam Highlands in Cameroon, home to the critically endangered Cross River Gorilla. The challenge was to convey information about the biodiversity present in the area in an informative yet fun and creative manner. Sophie and Robyn came up with the idea of 'Lebialem Life' cards, a game based on the popular Top Trump card game.

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They researched the biodiversity of the Lebialem Highlands to identify the animals they would feature in these cards and designed them so that they could be used at fundraisers and for educational purposes. In fact, we used these fabulous cards to promote Cameroon's fauna at our Rainforest Ball held at Kew Gardens in March 2019, which was attended by Louis Nkembi, founder of our partner, ERuDeF. 

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To learn more about their placement experience, head to our blog page! If you are interested in doing a science communication project, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

C R I T 2 : 2017 - 2018

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We identified four main areas of interest and had groups working in each area to help with research as well as fundraising efforts to make our efforts sustainable.

These four groups were :

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ACTION GORILLA - animal conservation and research

ACTION ECO-TOURISM - development of eco-tourism in Tofala reserve

ACTION COMMUNITY - setting up a co-operative

ACTION EDUCATION - working to support students in the local areas

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We had experts in each ACTION GROUP on our board and with the help of our student program with Newcastle University as well as support from our partners, ERuDeF in Cameroon were able to work simultaneously on all ACTION GROUPS to help

SUPPORT CONSERVATION & SUPPORT COMMUNITY

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The CRIT students were working on ways to promote the proposal for a women and children’s centre in Besali, in order to try and engage and support those who live in the village more closely with the work of ERuDeF and CRGP.

 

This involved producing a booklet designed to make the case to the local community of the advantages of such a centre. This work has involved trying to consider the proposal from the perspective of the local population, a de-centring process.

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One of the students, Shannon Bowes used her graphic skills to produce a series of excellent illustrations for the booklet. The students then presented the first version of their work to Louis Nkembi, founder and director of ERuDeF for his comments and suggestions. This was a particularly valuable exercise, providing the group with direct information on the local communities in this area of South West Cameroon.

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A final version of the booklet was then produced incorporating Louis’s suggestions.

The CRIT2 group also produced papers on conservation work in the Lebialem Highlands and community support.

C R I T 1: 2016 - 2017

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The name Cross River Information Team was chosen by our first group of students and they produced a questionnaire {featured in image below} for students in the community of Besali in the Lebialem Highlands to find out more about the attitude of young people in the area to the presence of the critically endangered  gorilla and the surrounding rain forest. Questionnaires  were given and responses were collected from Cameroon students in February 2017, which made a valuable contribution to our community knowledge.

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Click here to read more about the outcomes of CRIT 1's Community Survey.

 

 In addition each member of the group produced a paper on some aspect of the conservation of the flora and fauna of the Lebialem Highlands and community support for this work.

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They produced a leaflet for a smaller fundraising event held at 'Kommunity' in Newcastle and an information board for the main event to explain their work. They made an invaluable contribution to the launch of CRGP at the inaugural 'Into the Wild' event held in the Newcastle Natural History Museum, the Great North Museum.

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