Following the success of a similar project in Tunisia, SPANA would like to operate a mobile exhibition that will visit schools throughout Syria. This project will help children question and reflect upon current damaging practices to both animals and the countryside: many animals suffer unnecessary ill-health, pain and misery, and the countryside has been wrecked by overuse and lack of conservation measures. Education is badly needed as working animals often suffer and die unnecessarily from excruciating harness wounds, lameness, malnutrition and overloading. Most of the time it is not so much cruelty, as poverty, ignorance, cultural traditions and superstitious beliefs such as ‘firing’ animals with a red-hot iron that lead to animals suffering – and consequently not working. In many rural families children are given the task of tending the animals. They learn from parents or older brothers and sisters. Instructions are passed from generation to generation, often becoming muddled or distorted along the way. There is also a worrying lack of awareness or appreciation of the natural environment amongst the Syrian population. Like many countries in the region, poverty, drought and poor land management in Syria have resulted in vast swathes of unproductive land, exacerbated by industrial pollution, lack of recycling and the indiscriminate dumping of rubbish and waste. SPANA’s mobile exhibition will teach children about the importance of biodiversity and ecosystems, how endangered species rely on healthy and diverse flora and fauna to survive and how plastic bags - currently littered all over Syria’s countryside and cities – cause agonising deaths of domestic animals and wildlife. In addition to the interactive and motivating displays inside the converted bus, information will be transferred, at greater depth, by a team of SPANA personnel trained to deliver lessons that trigger empathy and inspire humane attitudes towards animals, and help children understand the benefits of biodiversity and conservation. We anticipate educating approximately 12,000 children every year and could begin this 2 year project at the end of 2009. Budget: SPANA has received enough funding to cover the first year of this project and part of the second year: from major donors and a number of trusts including the Global Environment Facility, who are willing to provide 50% of the funding, a grant of £34,000. SPANA is now looking for £12,350 to fully fund the second year of this project. A detailed breakdown of likely costs and full project information is available upon request.