2015
Annual Report
1
© Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy, 2015
MEGA Annual Report 2015
MEGA Annual Report 2015 presents the projects realized, services delivered, events organized, results achieved,
and impact created by Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy (MEGA) throughout the year 2015. The
publication also mentions awards received by the organization, its appearances in mass media, and financial
resources attracted and used. Finally, the contribution of partner organizations and companies to the MEGA
success described is recognized and appreciated.
For inquiries please contact the MEGA Team by e-mail: [email protected]
Photos: Alexandr Iscenco and Gabriela Isac
Design layout and icons: Ruxanda Vihrest
2
Why MEGA? 4
MEGA Vision, Mission, and Values 5
Projects 6
Services 10
Events 13
Publications 17
Awards 20
Finance 22
Media Appearances 24
Partners 26
Impact 28
Summary
3
4
Dear friends,
The year 2015 has been a very productive year for Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy (MEGA). We
have significantly progressed in the development of our main innovation, MEGA Game: The Game with Impact;
received funding support for it; organized the first edition of the annual initiative on its basis, the MEGA Impact
Championship; added another MEGA project to our portfolio, Operation P.E.A.C.E.; created the interactive Water
Map of Moldova; delivered gamification and game development services to our MEGA Partners in Moldova and
the Netherlands; presented MEGA at the UN Headquarters in Geneva; and celebrated 2 MEGA Years of activity,
results, and positive impact. You will find all these achievements described in this Annual Report.
Still, we could not do all of the activities and achieve such results alone. Throughout the year we were supported
by our MEGA Partners and Friends, as well as members of local communities, who had been inspired by our
mission, vision, and innovation, and believed in them. Altogether we have laid foundation for a community-based
environmental management and governance based not on the fear of environmental disaster, but on such
feelings as enjoyment, fun, and optimism for a bright and environmentally sustainable future. And therefore the
Report also serves as a gratitude message to all our MEGA Partners and Friends, who has walked side by side with
us throughout the year 2015.
Thus, we invite you to explore the pages of our Annual Report for 2015. We hope that the projects, initiatives,
and their results will inspire you to contribute to the protection of the environment as well. We also hope that
you will join us next year to move further in realizing the vision of a sustainable world and
MAKING IT MEGA TOGETHER!
With great respect and gratitude,
The MEGA Team
www.megageneration.com
5
Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy (MEGA) was established 2 years
ago, in November, 2013. Indeed, this is a very young organization, which is just a
drop of dew among large environmental organizations with long history of activity
on the market. However, this drop of dew has already refreshed and gave rise to
seedlings of MEGA great and important projects and initiatives. And these days
you can already see them blossom.
MEGA represents an innovative solution to the world’s most pressing social and
environmental issues, such as inefficient natural resource management,
environmental pollution with waste toxins, loss of biodiversity, climate change,
etc. through community participation and collaborative environmental
governance. It has been created in order to combine psychology + technology +
ecology in a unique and innovative way in order to use their combined advantages
to create an environmentally sustainable world not on the basis of fear of possible
environmental apocalypse, but on the basis of such positive feelings as fun,
enjoyment, and optimism about the future. To achieve this we apply the concepts
of gamification, open-source ecology, and citizen science that give communities
the “power” to create the clean, green, and environmentally prosperous world
they desire with their own hands and minds.
Why
MEGA?
6
Our MEGA Vision is a sustainable world, where every person lives an eco-friendly
life, has open access to practical learning opportunities, constructs own open-
source eco-innovations, and thus contributes to sustainable development and
creation of positive social and environmental impact in a collaborative, enjoyable,
and fun way anywhere in the world.
The MEGA Mission is to make people’s green dreams* come true.
*Under “green dreams” we understand sustainable solutions, eco-innovations,
and environmental projects / initiatives that improve both the social well-being of
communities and the quality of the environment they live in.
MEGA functions on the basis of the 7 MEGA Values:
1. We exist to serve the nature and people;
2. We believe in the power of communities;
3. We act sustainably in everything we do;
4. We strive for excellence in all our endeavours;
5. We do serious work in a fun way;
6. We lead by example;
7. We make it MEGA TOGETHER!
MEGA
Vision,
Mission,
and
Values
7
Projects
8
MEGA Game: The Game with Impact is the primary innovation of MEGA and in a
way its “heart” that gives vital “blood” and therefore “life” to all our projects and
initiatives. It is the gamified web platform and smartphone application that give
young people knowledge and power to address environmental issues in a
collaborative and cost-efficient way and create sustainable world by playing for
impact. In such way MEGA Game represents the unique education-and-
collaboration system designed as a game for community-based environmental
and social education and eco-innovation development that improve resilient
social well-being of communities and health of natural environment they live in.
MEGA Game is accessible through the MEGA website at
www.megageneration.com.
In 2015 we managed to achieve significant progress in MEGA Game development.
We have tested the basic features of the on-line platform within a number of
projects and services, including UpGreat Journalism, 1000 Green Hours, MEGA
Impact 2015 Championship, and other. We have also activated the rewards and
experience earning mechanics, improved user statistics and leaderboard, added
the feedback feature, integrated e-learning courses and video trainings,
connected them to missions, and much more. All these features and additions are
now being tested and will be made accessible in MEGA Game early in 2016.
MEGA
Game:
The
Game
with
Impact
9
MEGA Impact Championship is the annual national initiative of MEGA that is
based on MEGA Game and aimed at stimulating cooperation among organizations
and companies around identifying and resolving social / environmental issues in
different places in a specific country. Innovation of this initiative is the usage of
the concepts of gamification and storytelling applied for stimulating participants
(teams consisting of members of various organizations and companies) to create
as much positive social / environmental impact as possible within a limited
timeframe. At the end of the Championship 3 winning teams are awarded, while
the rest of the participants can use their XP points for “buying” additional rewards
in the virtual “shop”.
In 2015 the first edition of the MEGA Impact Championship took place in
Moldova. Its focus topic was water quality and supply management in the
country. 5 teams from different youth organizations collaborated and competed
with each other during the 3 levels of the Championship: City Quest in Chisinau,
Semi-finals in the River Bic basin, and Finals in Comrat. As a result, 8 expeditions
have been made, 8 serious water-related issues have been identified, 3 plans for
resolving them have been developed, 20+ bags (approximately 1 tonne) of waste
have been gathered and removed from the shore of the lake in Comrat, 20+ trees
have been planted in Comrat, and the Water Map of Moldova have been
developed and made public at http://watermap.megageneration.com.
MEGA
Impact
Champi-
onship
10
Operation P.E.A.C.E. (Practical and Entertaining Adventure for Conflict-resolution
and English-teaching) is the „codename” of the Innovation Camp aimed at
implementing gamification and developing “serious games” on the topic of
teaching English through conflict resolution and peace building. Its innovation lies
in the collaborative design and development of games by teachers of English from
different countries and their distribution to schools and colleges that wish to
incorporate gamification on conflict resolution and peace building into their
curricula. The project is supervised by the American Councils for International
Education, organized in cooperation with Academia Nicolae Dumitrescu, and
sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, English Language Innovation Fund.
Operation P.E.A.C.E., like the MEGA Impact Championship, is also the “seed” of a
promising project that was planted in 2015. In its first edition 30 English teachers
from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine came to learn
about the concept of gamification and game development. As a result they
created the concepts and designs of 5 unique games: “Find the Gold”, “The
Inquisitive Snake”, “New World”, “Buddies”, and “Hidden Treasure”. All these
games are now being prepared, play-tested, and produced to be accessible to all
on an open source basis. Besides the games, Operation P.E.A.C.E. has also
resulted in a new MEGA publication entitled Operation PE.A.C.E.: Gamification
Handbook. It is now available for reading and downloading at
http://issuu.com/megageneration/docs/gamification_handbook.
Opera-
tion
P.E.A.C.E
11
Services
12
The beginning of 2015 started for us with participation in the jury of the
competition Diamond Challenge Moldova. Our contribution consisted in
evaluating the social impact potential of the business ideas presented, awarding
the idea with the greatest potential, and generally working together with the jury
for selecting the most promising business ideas of young entrepreneurs in
Moldova. As a result, we made several teams of competition participants very
happy about their ideas, as well as gave them useful advice on how to develop
their entrepreneurial initiatives further.
UpGreat Journalism, the project organized by the NGO AIESEC Chisinau in spring
2015, became the first official test of the Beta version of our MEGA Game. The on-
line gamified platform was offered as an innovative technological mean to
implement the concept of gamification within this project. Due to such fruitful
cooperation, UpGreat Journalism benefitted from the on-line gamification based
on the first core features of MEGA Game, while we received 50+ subscribers and
players, who gave us valuable feedback and suggestions on how to improve the
user experience of our platform. This feedback and suggestions were then
integrated into the development plan of MEGA Game that is now being
implemented to prepare the next version of our on-line platform.
Diamond
Chal-
lenge
Moldova
Chisinau, Moldova
UpGreat
Journa-
lism
Chisinau, Moldova
13
1000 Green Hours, the project currently in progress by the organization
Landschap Overijssel in the Netherlands, is another initiative that uses MEGA
Game in its core. The project invites Dutch youth to become “Green Agents” by
volunteering for various environment-related initiatives in the region Overijssel
designed as “missions”. For this purpose we created a special customized version
of MEGA Game with its own landing page accessible at
http://1000greenhours.megageneration.com. Then 10 missions were designed
and put on this customized platform. Nowadays Landschap Overijssel is doing
active promotion of 1000 Green Hours to attract young people to register, play,
and thus contribute to a better environment in the Netherlands.
The Innovation Camp on gamification and game development in English teaching
and conflict resolution was organized by MEGA in October 2015 as part of the
project “Operation P.E.A.C.E.”. It was supervised by the American Councils for
International Education, organized in cooperation with Academia Nicolae
Dumitrescu, and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, English Language
Innovation Fund. Within the 5-days Camp in the resort town of Vadul lui Voda we
delivered a series of trainings on the basics of gamification, the gamification
design framework, types of players, and practical applications of gamification and
“serious games” to 30 English teachers from 6 different countries.
1000
Green
Hours
Dalfsen,
The Netherlands
Inno-
vation
Camp
Vadul lui Voda,
Moldova
14
15
Events
16
Besides organizing social and environmental projects and delivering
gamification services to our partners, we had also been active in
participating at various events in different countries throughout the
year 2015. The most prominent ones with their learning and practical
outputs are presented below:
Public consultations regarding water management of the river Bic
and the Ghidighici reservoir, organized in Moldova by our partner,
the National Health and Environment Platform. There we presented
the state of water quality in Moldova and specifically in the river Bic
to set the basis for further discussions among the Ministry of
Environment, local authorities, NGOs, and civil society
representatives.
Clean World conference, organized by Let’s Do It! in Riga, Latvia. At
our first conference of 2015 we learnt about the initiatives to
establish a zero-waste world and discussed concrete actions on how
we can do it.
Ideas for Change Award, organized by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva, Switzerland. This was an
international competition of new groundbreaking entrepreneurial
ideas with high social / environmental potential, where our MEGA
Game had been chosen as a finalist among 150 other ideas from 25
countries. Although we did not win the grand prize, we still
succeeded in presenting MEGA Game at the UN headquarters and
obtain new contacts, subscribers, and feedback.
World Environment Day cleanup, organized by National
Environmental Center in Chisinau, Moldova. In order to celebrate the
World Environment Day (WED) and contribute to cleaning of the
River Bic, we launched the MEGA WED Challenge mission in MEGA
Game and invited players to join us. Then together with other
organizations and volunteers we removed 50+ bags of polluting
municipal waste from the river and its banks.
17
E-waste recycling campaign, realized by e-Reciclare in Chisinau,
Moldova. We contributed to this campaign by collecting and giving
for recycling a box of batteries and a number of our old mobile
phones.
ClimateLaunchpad competition, organized by Climate-KIC on the
European level and implemented by our partner organization
EcoVisio on Chisinau, Moldova. As a result of the Moldovan part of
the competition our MEGA Game received the National Winner
Award and was chosen to compete on the European level in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Although we did not get the grand
prize, we still demonstrated our MEGA Game in Amsterdam and
established a number of valuable contacts for future cooperation.
Networking and cooperation-building expedition to Bender and
conference in Lalova, Moldova, done by EcoVisio. At these events we
succeeded in making our first expedition to Transnistria in a climate-
friendly way (on bicycles) and get to know other environmental
organizations in Moldova. Since then we are also in close partnership
and friendship with EcoVisio.
Seminar “Consolidation of Rural Tourism in Moldova”, realized by
our partner organization INQUA-Moldova on Chisinau, Moldova. At
this seminar we presented the recently tested and improved Beta
version of our MEGA Game, as well as developed the concept of the
MEGA Impact Championship to be implemented during the following
months.
IarmarEco, an exhibition of environmental organizations and green
businesses organized by EcoVisio in Chisinau, Moldova. At this event
we showcased the latest version of our MEGA Game and the results
of the recently realized MEGA Impact Championship. We also
registered organizations and young people willing to participate in
the next edition of the Championship.
18
Civic Fest, organized by Synergetica Eur/Est in Orheiul Vechi (Old
Orhei), Moldova. At this festival of civic organizations and initiatives
we invited youth and environmental organizations to the MEGA
Impact Championship and registered the first interested ones.
Klaus Toepfer Fellowship on biodiversity conservation, implemented
by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) on the
Isle of Vilm in Germany. As part of the first module of this fellowship
we learnt about processes, approaches, and tools to protect
ecosystems and endangered species. At the same time we elaborated
the idea for the next edition of the MEGA Impact Championship with
focus on the topic of biodiversity conservation in Moldova.
Regional Conference for Eastern Cooperation Countries, organized
by Let’s Do It, Ukraine! In Kiev, Ukraine. At this conference we learnt
about interesting environmental initiatives that also use gamification
and noted several important ideas for our MEGA Game. Besides that
we delivered the training “Psychology of Ecology” and presented how
we plan to revive and evolve the national cleanup campaign “Hai,
Moldova!” on the basis of gamification and MEGA Game.
Small Grants Programme training, implemented by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) and delivered by AEGIS TRAINING. There
we received valuable information on preparing the application for
the Small Grants Programme (SGP) next year.
Forum of environmental NGOs in Moldova, organized by EcoContact
in Chisinau, Moldova. Various topics related to the involvement of
environmental organizations into nature conservation in Moldova
were discussed with our contribution. At the Forum we also
benefitted from the opportunity to present MEGA Game, the MEGA
Impact Championship, and the first results of our initiative “MEGA
Game: Strengthening Environmental Governance in Moldova through
Innovative E-learning and Collaboration Platform for Environmental
Action”.
19
Publications
20
MEGA is focused on practical hands-on engagement in environment protection, management, and governance.
Still, we also conduct scientific research on environmental management and gamification and on its basis publish
scientific reports and research articles. In 2015 we released and presented 2 articles and 1 publication, as well as
updated our MEGA Game Book.
Collaborative Sustainability in Open Workshops: The Potential of Co-creation
Spaces to contribute to Sustainable Development. Oekologisches Wirtschaften,
Nr 30, May 2015, pp. 35 – 40 [Online]. Available at http://www.oekologisches-
wirtschaften.de/index.php/oew/article/view/1431
The article is written based on the results of our research project “Collaborative
Sustainability in Open Workshops: The Potential of Co-creation Spaces to
Contribute to Sustainable Development in the Case of Berlin” conducted at the
Institute of Ecologic Economy Research (IÖW) in Berlin, Germany in 2014. It
explores and explains how open workshops (specifically hackerspaces,
makerspaces, and fablabs), collaborative open-source innovation, and desktop
manufacturing by using 3D printers can contribute to sustainable development of
a city such as Berlin.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Animal Husbandry and Strategy for Their
Reduction in Indonesian Villages. In: NATURAL RESOURCES: Sustainable Targets,
Technologies, Lifestyles and Governance. October, 2015, pp. 100 - 105. [Online].
Available at http://www.wrforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/WRF-2013-
2014-Natural-Resources.pdf
The article has its foundation in another research project conducted at BINTARI
Foundation in Semarang, Indonesia back in 2012. It presents the results of
estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock and manure
management in the village Indrokilo in Indonesia during the period of 2008 –
2012, suggests strategies on emissions reduction to be realized there, assesses
the potential of such strategies to decrease emissions of methane and nitrous
oxide, proposes the optimal strategy to pursue by the village community and
concludes with recommendations on ensuring sustainability and success of the
climate change mitigation program in the Indrokilo village, as well as other rural
communities in Indonesia that are part of the “1000 Climate Villages” initiative.
Re-
search
Articles
21
Operation P.E.A.C.E.: Gamification Handbook is a handy compendium of the
most important tools, guidelines, and frameworks for implementing gamification
and “serious games” in English teaching with specific focus on the topic of conflict
resolution and peace building. It is aimed to be used by English teachers
interested in developing games for their students, as well as for any person willing
to use the power of games in teaching and learning. The Handbook is not a book
or a manual on teaching what gamification is and how to use it. It is more of a
visual support tool to recall and implement the main aspects of gamification and
“serious game” development.
The Gamification Handbook was developed by American Councils for International
Education in Moldova, Moldovan Environmental Governance Academy (MEGA),
and Academia Nicolae Dumitrescu (AND) as part of the project “Operation
P.E.A.C.E.: Practical & Entertaining Adventure for Conflict-resolution and English-
teaching” implemented in Moldova in October, 2015, and sponsored by the U.S.
Department of State, English Language Innovation Fund. It is now available on-line
at http://issuu.com/megageneration/docs/gamification_handbook.
MEGA Game Book is a compendium of educational games (on-line games, activity
games, and board games) on the topics of environmental protection,
management, and governance from around the world. Its purpose is to help
environmental organizations, teachers of classes on ecology and environment,
trainers delivering sessions on these topics at various events, and other educators
to enhance their education and learning practice through play, entertainment,
and fun. MEGA Game Book is also meant to support research on applying the
concept of gamification and “serious games” in environmental education.
MEGA Game Book was released in 2014. This year thanks to the contributions of
Huyen Do Thi Thanh from Vietnam and Valeria Svart-Gröger from Moldova, as
well as due to our own inputs, it has been enriched with 10+ more games.
The latest version of MEGA Game Book can be found at
http://issuu.com/megageneration/docs/mega_game_book.
Contributions can be made via our Projects page at
http://megageneration.com/projects#/projects/mega-game-book.
Gamifi-
cation
Hand-
book
MEGA
Game
Book
22
23
Awards
24
Although the year 2015 was not so rich in recognitions and awards for MEGA as the previous year, we were still
lucky enough to receive important national award and international awards. They were given for the idea and
concept of our MEGA Game, as well as its potential to bring positive social / environmental change to the world.
UNECE Ideas for Change International Finalist was awarded to MEGA by the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva, Switzerland.
ClimateLaunchpad National Winner was the award given to MEGA by Climate-KIC
and EcoVisio in Chisinau, Moldova.
UNECE
Ideas for
Change
Finalist
Climate
Launch-
pad
National
Winner
Geneva, Switzerland
Chisinau, Moldova
25
Finance
26
In 2015 MEGA operated with several budgets for its projects and initiatives. Some of the budgets were
administered at the accounts of MEGA, while others were managed through our partners and customers. The
financial resources of the budgets were directed entirely towards covering the costs of the projects.
In addition, our organization has received certain financial and in-kind contributions from our partners. In turn,
MEGA sponsored an initiative of another partner we are closely connected with.
For the initiative “MEGA Game: Strengthening Environmental Governance in
Moldova through Innovative E-learning and Collaboration Platform for
Environmental Action” and the MEGA Impact Championship as part of it MEGA
received financial support in the value of 8,758 USD from the program “EU-NGO:
Strengthening Environmental Governance by Building the Capacity Of Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs)”, funded by the European Union,
implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and
delivered by the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP). In addition to that the
organization benefited from sponsorship in the value of 1,259 MDL (63 USD) from
the company Spark Research Labs.
Within the project “Operation P.E.A.C.E. (Practical and Entertaining Adventure for
Conflict-resolution and English-teaching)” MEGA operated with the budget of
27,000 USD. The funds were provided by the U.S. Department of State, English
Language Innovation Fund, through the American Councils for International
Education.
MEGA did not only receive financial resources, but also gave them for promising
initiatives. Thus, a total donation of 75 USD was sent to the organization EcoVisio
for its crowdfunding campaign on building an environmental training center in the
eco-village Riscova, Moldova.
Grants
and
Sponsor-
ships
External
Budget
Dona-
tions
27
Media
Appear-
ances
28
AIESEC Alumni International. Change the World Campaign: Moldovan
Environmental Governance Academy (MEGA). August, 2015. Available at
http://aiesec-alumni.org/change-the-world-campaign-moldovan-environmental-
governance-agency-mega
American Councils. News: Operation P.E.A.C.E. November, 2015. Available at
http://americancouncils.md/news/1447
Civic.md. Campionatul MEGA Impact 2015: Salvează natura și distrează-te!
October, 2015. Available at http://www.civic.md/evenimente/29935-
campionatul-mega-impact-2015-salveaza-natura-si-distreaza-te.html
Eye on Earth. A Better World through Knowledge and Information. September,
2015. Available at http://www.eoesummit.org/a-better-world-through-
knowledge-and-information
GagauzMedia. У комратского озера волонтеры собрали 20 мешков мусора.
November, 2015. Available at http://gagauzmedia.md/index.php?newsid=5167
Gagauzinfo. Унионисты провели в Комрате социальную акцию. October, 2015.
Available at http://gagauzinfo.md/index.php?newsid=21275
InfoPrut. Echipa „Uniţi sub tricolor”, câștigătoare într-o competiţie încheiată la
Comrat. October, 2015. Available at http://infoprut.ro/41704-echipa-uniti-sub-
tricolor-castigatoare-intr-o-competitie-incheiata-la-comrat.html
Ministerul Mediului. Consultări Publice privind situaţia lacului Ghidighici. January,
2015. Available at http://mediu.gov.md/index.php/serviciul-de-
presa/noutati/1966-consultari-publice-privind-situatia-lacului-ghidighici
TNT Bravo. Istorii Urbane. September, 2015. Available at
https://www.facebook.com/637422239640759/videos/886134764769504
Zugo. Salvează natura și distrează-te la prima ediţie a Campionatului MEGA 2015.
October, 2015. Available at http://zugo.md/article/Salveaz-natura-i-distreaz-te-la-
prima-edi-ie-a-Campionatului-MEGA-2015.htm
29
Partners
30
The organization of all the projects and initiatives of MEGA described in this Report, the achievement of their
results, the obtaining of the awards, and the creation of positive social and environmental impact in 2015 would
had been impossible or extremely costly without the great support from our MEGA Partners and Friends.
Therefore here we express our gratitude, respect, and appreciation to the following partner organizations,
companies, and institutions:
31
Impact
32
WE MADE IT
TOGETHER!
Beta 2.0
of MEGA Game is
available
Water Map
of water issues in
Moldova created
8 Issues
of water quality in
Moldova documented
200+ Users
learnt to protect the
environment in practice
28+ NGOs
connected during
environmental initiatives
14 Sessions
on environment and
gamification delivered
2 Articles
with new research
results published
20+ Trees
planted in Moldova
during our projects
3 Events
related to environment &
gamification organized
1+ Tonne
of waste removed from
the environment
33
For more information please
visit us at www.megageneration.com
write us to [email protected]
and follow us at www.facebook.com/mega.md
Playing
For Impact