Malamine Badiane: Putting African youth in the driver's sear: Lessons learnt from CorpsAfrica Green Initiative
In this engaging TED-style talk, I will share transformative stories of CorpsAfrica Volunteers who are African youth and rural women at the forefront of climate action through the CorpsAfrica Green Initiative. Each story highlights the journeys of volunteers and community leaders across ten African countries who are empowering rural communities to build resilience in the face of climate change. One powerful example is Aicha, a young volunteer in Senegal who, despite the isolation of the remote community of Sass Mack in Fatick, led a life-changing project to replace firewood with eco-friendly charcoal briquettes. Aicha taught the women of Sass Mack to make these smokeless briquettes, significantly improving their health and creating new income streams by establishing a local startup for charcoal production. Now, these women not only experience better air quality in their homes but also have the financial means to send their children to school. Another story comes from Amy, who worked with refugee women who are widows in Malawi's Dzaleka camp. Together, they built community gardens to fight hunger and foster resilience in one of the continent's most vulnerable settings. These stories showcase the strength and leadership of women who, despite facing the harshest climate impacts, are pioneering solutions that drive resilience. Additionally, I will highlight the efforts of over 500 CorpsAfrica volunteers, working across 500 communities, who are implementing diverse, high-impact projects from reforestation and sustainable agriculture to clean energy initiatives and water conservation. Together, these small-scale actions illustrate how youth- and women-led grassroots initiatives are paving the way for climate resilience across Africa.
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