Water Alert

This initiative uses information and communication technology (ICT) to create an "edutainment"-style educational resource that introduces children and youth to environmental sustainability issues in an interactive way. Available with audio in English and Spanish (and in French, without audio), the game is intended to engage young people in an adventure of strategy and survival that explores real-life situations. The object of the game is to ensure that the people in a drought-challenged village in a fictional region in Africa, who are facing the threat of a flood, have water that is safe to drink and a clean and healthy school environment.

Water Alert! is designed to be played individually or in a small group. Organisers explain that, although individual play is encouraged, "learning and life skills are enhanced in a group setting. Decision making in a peer circle requires problem solving and negotiation, as players debate on urgent matters to move ahead in agreement." Points are awarded for "right" decisions and lost for "wrong" decisions; consistent with "real life" learning (where one learns from mistakes), the game's creators have included what they describe as a great deal of useful information in the "wrong" decision pathways. Water Alert! offers a number of options and potential outcomes that encourage playing the game more than once; when ending the game, players are asked to record a code which can be entered in the welcome screen upon return.

The game may be played free online; click here to access it. Several interactive options are available on this web page in an effort to enhance the learning experience, including brain teasers (e.g., "We use faeces (dung) as a fertilizer. Why worry about keeping it out of water and food?"), photo journals, a quiz, a glossary, and several polls (e.g., "Which is the biggest environmental/sanitation problem where you live?"). Also offered here is a field facilitator's guide [PDF] with instructions for use of the game as a teaching tool. The guide highlights inter-sectoral activities for practical application and classroom activities relating to water, sanitation and hygiene education - with a focus on literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies.

Water & Sanitation, Environment, Education.

To order free copies of Water Alert! on CD (the CD version of the game also includes the facilitator's guide) or to express an interest in translating the game for local use, please send a message to VOY at voy@unicef.org