P.A.U.S.E- Pollinators/ Art/ Urban Agriculture/ Society/ and the Environment.

American Alliance of Museums and the United States Department of State.

Museums connect: Building Global Communities Grant 2012- 2013

The National Museums of Kenya has joined forces with the St. Louis Zoo and Tohono Chul to involve 30 young people, age 17-22, in planiting pollinator-friendly vegetable gardens and building pollinator habitat sculptures for their local communities. At the same time, the students will reach out to residents of these urban communities, sharing messages about the importance of pollinators, improved pollinator habitats and sustainable gardening.

The year-long project is called P.A.U.S.E for Pollinators/Art/Urban Agriculture/Society/and the Environment. Its nearly $200,000 cost is partially supported by an $86,000 Building Global Communities grant from Museums Connect (formerly Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad) made possible by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by the American Alliance of Museums (formerly the American Association of Museums). The remaining costs will be shared by Tohono Chul and its project co-sponsors.

The Museums Connect grant program was established to broaden and strengthen cultural understanding between people in the United States and abroad through collaborative and innovative projects facilitated by museums such as Tohono Chul. 

The P.A.U.S.E. Project 

Three Youth Teams consisting of ten students have been recruited from each of the three urban centers, St. Louis, Tucson and Tohono Chul. The Teams will now interact with Museum staff and community experts in a series of Learning Vents that focus on everything from native pollinators and urban gardening to artistic expression and project promotion through a variety of media. these Learning Events take place in each city with Teams linked electronically allowing for shared experiences and "cross-cultural pollination".This April, members of the Nairobi Team will have the opportunity to travel to both Tucson and St. Louis to work with U.S. Teams face-to-face and one-on-one and two lucky members of the Tohono Chul group will be selected to visit Nairobi in early June. Finally, each Teams works with local partners this spring to design and build gardens and pollinator habitats in each city, sharing all they have learned with their wider communities through social media and other methods.

 Follow our Team on Facebook  and Twitter  and see what we are up to!

Ann Mbatia	Carolyne Kambura	Isaac Guda
Ivy Cherop	Kelvin Macharia	Lanoi Sharon
Brook Tesfaye	FrankSampayian	GraceAmboka

Contact Us through:  

Dr. Mary W. Gikungu
Center for Bee Biology and Pollination
Zoology Department
National Museums of Kenya
P.O.Box 40658,
00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
Phone +254-20-8164134/35/36
Cell Phone: +254721308485, +254733296142
Fax +254 (20) 3741424

Or

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