Engaging and Empowering children and youth in the Climate Change Discourse Dr Elaine Tweneboah Lawson Prof Chris Gordon Dr Adelina Mensah Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies Experts Meeting on Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development in Africa Mauritius March 2013

We need to make climate change: How do we increase awareness of climate change issues among the children and youth? Generally climate change is seen as a scientific subject and is perceived among children and youth as:

Halting the Menace; Improving the Management of Ghana’s Coasts by Engaging and Empowering the Youth It aims to: Educate on environmental issues Understand perceptions on the environment as compared to reality Develop peer-to-peer communication tools which they use to share their knowledge, skills, and attitudes Document their abilities to adapt to a changing physical environment. Methodology: “EDSiR” Education; Development of communication tools;Sharing information (with other children and youth, parents, teachers, decision-makers, civil society); Replication of results in other schools and communities. The collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation uses interactive and participatory methods to engage children and youth in the coastal zone of Ghana

Target Group: children and youth (11-17 years) in Anlo-Ewe migrant communities An education and capacity building component was built into the project to support the identified groups. Topics were determined after initial community visits as well as consultation with community leaders. Posters and flyers were developed for this purpose. The topics were: o Erosion and sand winning o Declining fish catch o Marine pollution o Poor sanitation o Marine debris o Algal blooms o Availability of water o Over exploitation of forests/wood o Climate change o St. Paul’s wilt disease of coconut

An interactive session on the five most identified environmental issues was given. Because none of the participants readily mentioned climate change, the component on climate change was presented for all the communities.

IssuesFrequency Cutting down of trees93 Rubbish/Bush Burning73 Sand winning54 Indiscriminate throwing about of rubbish51 Over-grazing by animals49 Land Degradation / Pollution46 Open Defecation along the coast31 Using DDT to fish11 Climate Change10 SolutionsFrequency Stop cutting trees and/or Planting more trees85 Stop Air Pollution (Rubbish / Bush burning)73 Stop throwing rubbish about50 Stop defecating along the coast35 Finding food for our cattle so they stop over-grazing33 Stop sand winning/Prevent Soil erosion30 Stop using DDT to fish14

GroupEnvironmental issue Method of communication 1 Dumping rubbish along beaches Play 2 Water pollution Play 3 Defecating in water bodies Play 4 Defecating along the coast Play 5 Using ddt to fish Poetry 6 Land degradation Poetry 7 Defecating in water bodies Dancing 8 Defecating in water bodies Play 9 Defecating along the coast Play 10 Water pollution Singing Developing communication tools

Lessons learnt so far and the Future 1.“ Use what they know to teach them what they do not know” 2.Easier for children to identify with issues affecting their immediate environment. They see climate change as vague and in the future 3.Use examples of how climate change is interacting with factors in local environment and affecting them directly. 4.Make climate change real to them Further Work Sharing information Migration and environmental perceptions Coastal profiling Sensitisation programme for media personnel Sustainability: Use of existing environmental/sanitation/CC clubs in schools and communities

Thank you