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Water is the most basic natural building block of life. It comes from many sources - rivers, wetlands, lakes, and groundwater aquifers – and is essential to the survival of all living things; plant, animal and human. This is why we must do everything possible to maintain its quality and make sure that every drop of water we use counts, for today and for the future.

If enthused and guided, children can become responsible water consumers by taking simple steps at home, in school and outdoors. EcoAnimation, a two year animation project, aims to help children between 5 and 8 years of age to do this by creating a series of three fun animated films for TV broadcast. With the help of a fun and personable group of characters, stacks of adventure and plenty of humour, the animations will show kids between 5 and 8 years of age that, just like the characters in a cartoon, they too can make positive changes that make a difference to our natural environment, starting with water conservation.

The animation is available to broadcasters in several languages and is accompanied by a free teaching pack for use in schools and other informal educational environments.

Please download our brochure (pdf) to learn more about this exciting project.
With the help of leading environmental experts, children’s museums, educators, and children from five European countries, and with the backing of the European Union, the project took a holistic approach to cartoon animation production. With input from all partners, the animators created visuals and stories that aim to awaken the interest of television's youngest audience with this incredible resource.

Business Solutions Europa Project Coordination and Communications
Business Solutions Europa is a dynamic EU Projects and Communication agency which aims to bring Europe closer to Europeans through creative communication projects. Their team of project managers, communications and broadcast specialists has coordinated the EcoAnimation production throughout the two years of the project.www.bs-europa.eu
Griffilms Animation
GRIFFILMS has over 15 years’ experience in producing high-quality animated programming and graphics and is one of Wales’ most successful animation companies. www.griffilms.com
WWF European Policy Programme – Content and Messaging
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) is one of the largest and most respected independent conservation organisations in the world. WWF’s European Policy Office is the representation office to the European Union for the global WWF network, and contributes to strengthen EU policies for the protection of the European and global environment. www.panda.org/eu
Explora – Kids Coordinator
Explora – Il museo dei Bambini di Roma is a not-for-profit organization, and the first Italian museum designed primarily for children, school and families. In this child-sized play-town visitors come into contact with facts, phenomena and everyday events on the environment, communication, economy and new technologies. Children are offered the opportunity to discover the mystery of how things function through observation, touch and experiments, all with the help of facilitators. Explora welcomes more than 115.000 visitors each year. www.mdbr.it
The EcoAnimation team worked with children across five European countries to evaluate the content of the cartoon animation during its entire production phase. School children aged 5 to 8 from Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy and Poland took part in focus groups and filled in questionnaires to provide the animators with their honest feedback on the characters, concepts and messages. The 'pedagogic evaluation' was coordinated by Explora, the Children's Museum of Rome and local children's museums in each country. The approach was aimed to ensure that the final animations resonate with kids of this age range.

The children and their educators also worked with the project team to develop and test a teaching pack which complements the animations produced and gives pupils an opportunity to explore water conservation issues in more detail, and of course have a little fun too! The teaching pack is available in several languages and is downloadable from the Educators Section of the website www.myfriendboo.com

Country School Children Museum

Belgium

Vrije Basisschool Ursulinen, Mechelen

Technopolis

http://www.technopolis.be

Bulgaria

54 Sredno osnovno uchiliste "Sveti Ivan Rilski" - Sofia

Artland

http://www.artland-bg.com

Ireland

Willow Park Schools (Boys National School) - Dublin

Imaginosity

http://www.imaginosity.ie

Italy

Istituto Comprensivo Karol Woytjla - Rome

Explora – il museo dei bambini di Roma (partner)

http:// www.mdbr.it

Poland

- Primary School number 111 - Łódź
- Primary School im. Kościuszko's Infantry Division ul   - Łódź

ParkMiniatur S.A.

http://www. parkminiatur.pl


The results of the 1st Questionnaire are available here. 484 children in 5 European countries participated in the focus group and answered questions on water and cartoon animations. The results are a great source of information! They have been used by the animators to develop the storylines and scripts.

The results of the second questionnaire (November 2009) are available here. It involved 395 children from five countries. They gave their feedback on characters and scripts: the aim was to test the visual impact of the characters, as well as to evaluate if the storylines convey the messages in a clear, understandable, fun and engaging way. The results are encouraging: a large majority of the children interviewed would like to join Boo and his friends in their adventures to know more about water conservation!
NEWS!
The results of the third and final questionnaire are available to download. They collect feedback from children, parents and teachers on the final animation and on the teaching pack. Click here for the full report.

To ensure that the episodes of the animation hit the right message, our animation team worked with leading environmental experts from WWF throughout the entire production process.

Click here to see their Information Material on water: mia2
Eco Animation Information Material_WWF Presentation
 

Here are some sites with useful information about water conservation – both for children and adults too.
WWF website on the work WWF is doing in the capital of Europe including on EU’s water policies www.panda.org/eu
The Water Information System for Europe – or WISE – is "Your Gateway to Water" compiles useful data and information collected at a European level by various institutions or bodies. The site allows you to check the status of a river or lake near you and to find out what your government and others are doing. http://water.europa.eu
The European Commission’s website mainly on the groundbreaking new water legislation – the Water Framework Directive which offers real hope for an alternative situation. The Directive aims to keep our rivers clean and healthy and our wetlands wet; ensure we are less wasteful of our water; and that the water we use is priced fairly and those who pollute it are made to pay; and our waste is properly treated and not washed straight into waterways. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water
The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. On this website you can find out more about it and also calculate your water footprint. http://www.waterfootprint.org
An interactive resource featuring stunning color photos to help teach about water and its significance. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/
resources/water_for_all
Learn zone is a free teaching resource for primary and secondary schools about water around the world. http://www.wateraid.org/uk/learn_zone
The European Environmental Agency website for kids on various environmental issues including water. http://ecoagents.eea.europa.eu
The Water School – an interactive initiative to guide children through the world of water conservation http://www.thewaterschool.co.uk/main.htm
Teachers’ corner – An European Commission website offering a wide range of teaching material about Europe, including about environmental issues http://europa.eu/teachers-corner/index_en.htm
Le climat, ma planète… et moi? – A French education project on sustainable development targeted to children, teachers and parents http://www.lamap.fr/climat/
European Water Partnership and their project “Aquawareness” works on several projects with young people and aims to create an information exchange platform http://www.ewp.eu/projects/aquawareness
ebroNAUTAS – a young company working for the development of the Ebro river in the North of Spain. It organises educational activities with groups of schoolchildren through the experience of river navigation with the aim to raise awareness on sustainable river management and development http://www.ebronautas.com/eng/es/intro.php
Fundação Nova Cultura da Água  - An Iberian not-for-profit organisation which aims to promote and develop scientific research activities, technical training as well as educational activities in the field of environment protection and sustainable water management http://www.unizar.es/fnca/index3.php?pag=11&id=2
Report of the 2nd European Water Conference – April 2009 Link to Report_EWC2009
“Quantifying the energy and carbon effect of saving water” – Summary report of the research project run jointly by the Energy Saving Trust and the Environment Agency to help understand the carbon emissions from water use at home and the potential for savings Link to EST_EA_Water summary report

In this section you will find relevant news articles and press releases about EcoAnimation.

We will continue to keep you up to date with Eco-Animation in the My Friend Boo newsroom

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One of the main aims of EcoAnimation is to ensure that as many children as possible are able to watch the final cartoon animation. We therefore actively welcome broadcaster interest. Below we have already anticipated some common questions you might have. If you have additional questions please do contact us.

Why would Eco-Animation be a suitable programme for my channel?
This project presents excellent opportunities for broadcasters to:
- Profile their commitment to socially responsible programming.
- Play an active part in raising awareness on environmental, nature protection and conservation issues.
The project is also supported by the European Commission – a worthy accolade.

What are your rates?
As we have been co-funded by the EU’s LIFE+ programme we are able to waive the usual acquisition rates for broadcasters. This is a fantastic opportunity for broadcasters and we look forward to discussing this with you.

When will the animation be ready for broadcast?

The completed animation is ready for broadcast. Three 8-minute episodes have been produced: 'Victoria's Wetlands', 'It's Only Water' and 'The Big Picture'. In addition to that, some short video clips are also available here.

Can you send me more information/ a screener?

If you would like more information about the project or to find out how you as a broadcaster can get involved then please contact boo@bs-europa.eu

Where can I watch the series?
Eco-Animation has already been acquired by several broadcasters across EU and further afield. To find out more, please visit http://www.myfriendboo.com/map.html

Luigi Petito
Project Leader
luigi@bs-europa.eu

phone
fax

0032 2 894 96 27
0032 2 894 96 28

Siân Hughes
Communication & Media Enquires
sian@bs-europa.eu

 

 

 
 
EcoAnimation is supported by the EU's LIFE+ programme - Information & Communication strand.
This strand co-finances projects that implement communication and awareness raising campaigns on environmental, nature protection or biodiversity conservation issues.
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