• BGCI Home
• Welcome to Education
  • Introduction to Education
• News
• GSPC and Education
• Roots
  • Latest Issue
  • Roots Archive
  • Roots Back Issue PDFs
  • Resources from Roots
  • Subscribe to Roots
• Education E-Update
• Case Studies
  • Formal Education
  • Public Education
  • Interpretation
  • Evaluation
  • Community Engagement
  • Working with Volunteers
  • Teacher Training
  • Resource Development
  • Administration
  • Funding
• Key Reading
  • ESD Guidelines
  • EE Guidelines
  • Interpretation Guidelines
  • Background Reading
  • BGCI Publications List
• Resources
  • Worth a Look - the Noticeboard
  • Website Links
  • How-to Guides
  • Resource Reviews
  • Communicating Climate Change
• Congresses
  • Proceedings
  • The Nature of Success: Success for Nature

Identifying target groups

An important step in the formation of an education plan is to decide exactly whom the programmes will be targeted at.

A garden may decide to target groups of people who already visit the garden or they may hope to reach people who have not previously visited.

Part of deciding on who to target may involve carrying out a visitor survey but the main target groups for most gardens will include at least some of the following:

• schools - infant, primary and secondary.
• teachers - both in-service and pre-service (by training 30 teachers, a garden can reach 30 times the number of children in each class)
• colleges and universities - plant science, botany in particular, as a subject in tertiary institutions is diminishing in many countries and botanic gardens are increasingly being called on to fill this role.
• youth clubs - most countries have a co-ordinating body.
• parents - many parents help out in schools and clubs and botanic gardens are beginning to recognise the potential of this group for spreading the conservation message.
• farmers and horticulturists - botanic gardens could work with farmers and horticulturists to develop more sustainable ways of farming the land.
• businesses - the economies of most countries are based to a substantial degree on the exploitation of plants, gardens have an important part to play in educating the business community and in developing partnerships with them.
• general public - including a) visitors to the botanic garden b) non-visitors to the botanic garden.
• potential sponsors - business, the education authority, local and national government, charitable trusts, non governmental organisations (NGOs)
• botanists and conservationists at botanic gardens and elsewhere - their collaboration is often vital to the success of education programmes
• botanic garden staff - it is important to involve all garden staff. This will mean internal staff training on education.
• landscape architects - gardens could work with landscape architects to design landscapes which include a variety of plants including species which are endangered in the wild.
• amateur or home gardeners - gardens can encourage environmentally responsible gardening, involving organic methods, composting etc.
• gardens can educate tourists about the trade in plants and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
• 'friends' of the garden - friends are important ambassadors for many gardens
• community groups - gardens can work with local groups on local greening issues
  

Financial constraints usually mean that it is almost impossible to target all these groups. Each garden has to set priorities according to the message they want to get across and the facilities that are available.