Green Ideas Project Empowers Youth-led Climate Actions in Ghana

From the 2nd to the 7th of July 2023, the Ghana YMCA and YMCA Africa joined forces to implement the Green Ideas project, a carefully designed initiative aimed at empowering young people to innovate youth-led climate actions for environmental preservation. The project also focuses on increasing the participation of females in the plastics value chain, thereby enhancing their capacity within this sector.

Held at the Western Regional YMCA in Takoradi, the week-long project combined classroom learnings with field trips to provide participants with practical insights into the impact of climate change and inspire them to take action. The project, funded by KFUM Sverige, aligns closely with the Sustainable Planet pillar of the World YMCA's Vision 2030 framework.

Dr. Michael Addaney, a highly experienced academician and practitioner in climate sustainability, served as the lead facilitator for the Green Ideas workshop. With extensive expertise in the field, Dr. Addaney is a lecturer and postgraduate coordinator at the Department of Geography and Sustainability Science of the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Public Management and Governance at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Project at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Throughout the week, Dr. Addaney engaged participants in specially designed lessons and activities, deepening their understanding of climate sustainability and enhancing their capacity to innovate community-based, youth-led climate actions.

On Day 2 of the project, participants embarked on a field trip to Bakano, a small town in Sekondi in the Western Region, to witness firsthand the visible effects of climate change on the coastline. Equipped with a climate action toolkit, the participants recorded and interpreted their observations before brainstorming community-based approaches to address coastal erosion.

Day 3 of the project saw Programme Executive, Lloyd Wamai Muriuki, and Programme Assistant Lawrence Senamu Dolo leading sessions on the YMCA PowerSpace and human design thinking approaches to community-based climate actions. These sessions aimed to inspire participants to generate ideas for community-based climate actions and equip them with the necessary tools to evaluate their solutions before implementation.

One important aspect of the Green Ideas workshop emphasized practical implementation. By substituting single-use plastic bottles with reusable ones, the workshop successfully eliminated plastic waste while showcasing the potential for avoiding single-use plastics in such events. Encouraging participants and readers alike to be intentional in avoiding single-use plastics, the workshop emphasized the importance of reusing plastics as long as they are useful and segregating plastic waste for recycling into new products.

Throughout the project, participants engaged in brainstorming, discussion, and ideation to develop local solutions for mitigating the effects of climate change in their communities. Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Addaney, expert climate change practitioner and academic, as well as the support of project staff from the Ghana YMCA and YMCA Africa, the participants crafted solutions encompassing urban smart farming, plastic recycling, and public education and advocacy to influence climate policy. Over the following months, the participants will receive guidance and support to further refine and implement their solutions within their local communities.

The Green Ideas project, funded by KFUM Sverige, represents a significant effort to enhance the capacity of young people and actors within the plastics recycling value chain. With a firm alignment to the Sustainable Planet pillar of the World YMCA's Vision 2030 framework, the project aims to empower youth-led climate actions, paving the way for a sustainable and resilient future.