Madelaine Awarded Wingate Scholarship
Prestigious Award Will Fund Research into Roadshow Effectiveness
GAFI's Director, Madelaine Westwood
GAFI is delighted to announce that Madelaine Westwood, GAFI’s director, has been awarded a scholarship from the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation.
These scholarships are awarded anually to “outstanding individuals of great potential or proven excellence who need financial support to undertake creative or original work of intellectual, scientific, artistic, social or environmental value and to musicians for advanced training.”
The scholarship money will enable Madelaine to undertake research that will refine the effectiveness of using film for conservation education, not just for GAFI’s projects, but for NGO’s working throughout the world.
GAFI’s film roadshows have reached a huge audience in Indonesia and Africa, connecting local people to the issues related to the apes they share their environment with. Now this research will help us to improve the effectiveness of the conservation messages that the films deliver.
Over the course of the next three years, Madelaine will use questionnaire data from film roadshows run by GAFI in conjuction with the Gorilla Organization (in Uganda) and the Sumatran Orangutan Society (in Sumatra) to establish criteria for creating the most effective film screening programmes.
A set of guidelines will be published for the benefit of all NGO’s that use films and media in education and outreach and for educational establishments.
The research will also lead to the creation and distribution of new films that match the criteria defined in these new guidelines. Ngo partners will collaborate on the issues raised in each film and local communities will be invited to participate in the creation and content of the film.
The award of this scholarship is not only a deserved recognition of Madelaine’s contribution to conservation, but it will help GAFI to rectify the absence of worldwide guidelines to support conservation education screenings and the creation of new conservation films to local communities.