The Jane Goodall Institute's Roots and Shoots Program

The Jane Goodall Institute and the Pearson Foundation together support digital arts and environmental and humanitarian education for youth around the world.

Pearson first teamed up with Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program in 2007, hosting intensive digital arts workshops in Kigoma and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that gave local young people the chance to create and share personal messages about the environment with their communities and with rest of the world.

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.

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, Fla., on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. There, the Pearson Foundation shared tools and techniques from its Mobile Learning Institute program, introducing digital filmmaking, media strategies, and leadership skills to 100 young leaders from around the world. Participants created their personal video messages and made plans to share these short films in their local communities. These same messages also served as the foundation for the Mobile Learning Institute Earth Day Challenge, which was formally announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2008.