An Action Research on Using Environmental Education Ambassadors to Activate Environmental Volunteers

• Main Authors: Jui-Ling Jao, 饒瑞玲
• Other Authors: Min-Hwang Liang
• Format: Others
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/es5f69

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 自然資源與環境學系 === 105 === Environmental volunteering group in Hualien County was created 17 years ago. Since 2000, the environmental volunteers have been cleaning up beaches, mountains, streets and recycling resources. In 2004, new teams started to scout rivers to prevent the potential pollution. In 2007, other volunteers were trained to serve as office guides. Finally in 2010, these three teams were integrated and restructured into an “Environmental Volunteering Group, Hualien County”. Nonetheless, as time goes by, several problems emerged. The average age of volunteers were gradually increasing and volunteers started to feel stale when conducting the routine work of environmental cleaning and recycling. Furthermore, environmental issues have become more and more complicated, which makes the volunteers feel unable to fulfill the expectation of society. Therefore, activation of organization and innovation are required for this group to move on. To solve the problem, action research was applied in this study. An action research team was formed in 2016-2017 to engage in four stages of process, namely problem diagnosis, strategy searching, action and reflection/revision. For the first stage, a survey aimed at strengthening and activating environmental volunteering group was conducted to help diagnose the root causes of problem of organization management, and searching for alternative solutions. For the second stage, the strategies for change were decided by action research group. As for the third stage, the structure of volunteering group was reorganized, and a new environmental education ambassador team was recruited and trained. The logistics for operating ambassador team were also addressed. For the fourth stage, the alternatives for future improvement and development for volunteering group were proposed based on result of in-depth interviews of ambassador and reflections of action research group. The research revealed the issue why the environmental volunteering group failed to function well on environmental service is due to the dysfunction of organization management and lack of innovation as well as integration ability. Hence, through evaluation process of internal administration, the Environmental Protection Bureau, Hualien County has progressively solved the problem by reelecting commanders, extending deputy commander position and creating of environmental education ambassador service team. Some initiativeshave started to show positive effects on environmental volunteering group; however, there should be more capacity building programs for volunteering group and more monitoring process on examining the interaction, linkage and integration between volunteers and ambassadors. In addition, how to engage more appropriately a professional group to help adjusting operation model that can drive both teams of environmental volunteering group and environmental education ambassadors toward more sustainable management is also needed to be thought of carefully in the next step.