45. Stakeholders Perception and Satisfaction with Ecosystem Stewardship Education in Urban Coastal Communities

One critical avenue for improving Ecosystem Stewardship is education. This paper provides information on the issues pertaining to aquatic ecosystems in a cluster of urban coastal communities in Ghana. Through focus group discussions and key informant interviews, major stakeholders proposed that ecosystem stewardship education should be structured to integrate indigenous knowledge systems of the local environment, practical approaches and sustainable solutions. Five integrated non-formal educational materials were designed following the proposed educational model. These were tested on selected groups of students and community members on a pilot basis. Evaluators and participants’ satisfaction was used to assess the effectiveness of the model through questionnaire surveys in descriptive studies. The assessment factors were scored on a Likert-type scale. These factors addressed the opinions of evaluators on the educational strategy, in terms of content fairness and accuracy, development, instructional soundness and usability of the model for enhancing ecosystem stewardship in urban communities. The results suggest that there is a high level of satisfaction with the use of the proposed educational approach to enhance ecosystem health and resilience.