Since 2007, the Jane Goodall Institute has worked together with together with NLI, supporting its mission to provide young people in environmental and humanitarian education for youth around the world through Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots. Since then, NLI has provided programs and support at schools across Africa and in the United States. These intensive digital arts workshops have given local young people the chance to create and share personal messages about the environment with their communities and with the rest of the world.
Early in 2008, the parties announced a global partnership, beginning with an extended digital arts session offered at Jane Goodall's Global Youth Summit in Orlando, Florida, on Earth Day (April 22). There, the Pearson Foundation shared tools and techniques from its New Learning Institute program, introducing digital filmmaking, media strategies, and leadership skills to 100 young leaders from around the world. Participants created personal video messages and made plans to share those short films in their local communities. In intensive digital arts workshops, Roots & Shoots members created a series of digital “public service announcements” – videos that inspire others to help make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment. Their films encourage others to respect the planet and they offer a platform for cross-cultural exchange and understanding among youth around the world.
These same messages have provided a foundation for the New Learning Institute Earth Day Challenge, which was also formally announced on April 22, 2008.
In 2009, NLI again assisted at the Jane Goodall National Leadership Retreat, where we extended the digital arts lessons in a new format, to help build the capacity among young leaders to communicate their message in short films, to express the goals of the organization, and to express their own sense of humanity in the Superhero’s project.
NLI continues to work with Jane Goodall Institute on projects around the world, and to support youth leadership and action.